A selection of exercises for girls in the gym for their arms.

Who said that biceps and triceps training is only for guys? Shaped arms, toned inner surfaces and armpit areas allow women to wear sleeveless clothes and not feel complex about their imperfections. Girls don't need to be afraid to include arm exercises and lift heavy weights in their gym routines. Biceps are not voluminous because there is little testosterone in the female body. Bodybuilders know how difficult it is to pump them up, even for men.

How to work until the result

Women do not need to spend a lot of time to develop biceps and triceps. When doing presses and push-ups, the triceps muscles are simultaneously loaded. If the complex includes rows for the back, the biceps are partially worked out. Therefore, it is enough for girls to purposefully pump their arms in the gym once a week.

The set of arm exercises is based on 2 basic techniques - lifting and extension, and their modifications. The heavier the dumbbells in your hands, the faster the muscle fibers increase in volume. Training with 2 kg equipment, even despite numerous repetitions, will not give any effect. So, without a doubt, grab some heavy dumbbells or a barbell and do 12 reps for 3 sets, resting 30 seconds between sets.

Essence and basic principles

Arm exercises that are performed in the gym are based on the principles given below, which, subject to regular training, will lead to the achievement of the goal.

Basic principles	The essence of physical exercises for the arm muscles
Strengthening muscle fibers and tendons	The primary stage of implementing a training program in the gym is to gradually strengthen the muscles of the upper extremities. It consists of performing basic exercises on the bar and with dumbbells. Pumps up the forearm, biceps and triceps. You use your own body weight (exercises on the horizontal bar), as well as small dumbbell weights (no more than 3-5 kg, depending on physical capabilities). At the initial stage of the training process, simulators and barbells are not used, as they can lead to injury to the limbs and strained tendons. The average duration of the stage of strengthening the arm muscles and preparing them for intense physical activity lasts 7-10 days.
Building physical strength	This is one of the principles of the training process, which consists of performing a set of exercises that develops arm strength. The training effect extends to the power of the grasping reflex of the hand, forearm, and the pulling power of the biceps and triceps. Increasing physical power is achieved by lifting heavy weights. The training program can use weights weighing at least 8-12 kg, dumbbells 10-12 kg, pull-ups on a horizontal bar with additional weight (with weighting), when a barbell or other sports equipment is fixed to the belt with a special belt. If arm exercises are performed using a simulator, then in this case weights of 14-16 kg are inserted, which the girl can lift no more than 2-3 times, but at the same time they will be performed correctly and without violating the technique. Physical strength of the upper limb muscles is achieved through maximum weights of sports equipment and a minimum number of repetitions of lifting them.
Relief and architecture of arm muscles	One of the principles of the arm training program, which is carried out in the gym, is to achieve a relief effect. It is ensured by regular pumping of one or a complex of muscle fibers. This uses light weights of sports equipment and a large number of repetitions. The muscles are dried out, they become more prominent and stand out against the general background of the skin surface. The principle of relief can be combined with a program for increasing physical strength of the arms, but on the condition that the training process is divided into 2 courses. For example, for the first 2 weeks a girl does exclusively heavy weights to develop muscle power, and for the remaining 14 days she focuses on the relief of muscle fibers.
Correctness of exercises	Every physical exercise on the arms that is performed in a gym must be done correctly while respecting the technical aspect. To do this, the training program must be supervised by an instructor or personal trainer, who will promptly point out errors and prevent possible injury to the upper limb, shoulder girdle or back. Failure to comply with the technique of performing arm exercises can lead to a lack of positive results aimed at achieving the effect of relief, physical strength or general strengthening of the tendons.
Achieving the effect of physical endurance	Providing physical endurance, provides for the rapid restoration of muscle fibers of the upper extremities. This applies to the time interval between training days, as well as approaches and repetitions while in the gym. The principle of achieving the effect of physical muscle endurance ensures a minimal risk of injury and sprains even when performing exercises with heavy weights.
Pumping all arm muscle groups	In order for a positive result to be obtained from training in the gym, and for the muscle fibers of the arms to become sufficiently strong, sculpted and visually attractive, it is necessary to develop all muscle groups evenly. For this purpose, an individual training program is drawn up. For example, if a girl works out in the gym 3 times a week, then the first day of classes should be devoted to doing exercises for the hand and forearm, the second for the biceps, and the third for the triceps. This division of the training process ensures uniform development of all muscle groups, as well as their sufficient recovery after physical activity. The development of muscle fibers, an increase in mass and strength is achieved. At the same time, the girl’s body does not experience stress overload.
Combination of cardiological training	During physical exercises, additional stress on the cardiovascular system is created on the arms. To avoid developing heart disease during the training process, in which dumbbells, weights, barbells and exercise machines are used, you should pay attention to cardiac exercises 1-2 times a day. This can be jogging in the fresh air covering a distance of 1-2 km, cycling, race walking, swimming, skiing in the winter. The main goal of cardiological training is the parallel strengthening of the heart muscle and the walls of the great vessels.

Achieving all of the above principles of performing physical exercises on the arm muscles ensures the achievement of a positive result and the development of the upper limbs. Further correction of the training program depends on the purpose of visiting the gym.

To improve the relief, one training program is selected. To develop physical power and strength, a completely different number of approaches and repetitions are used, and heavier weights and sports equipment are selected. General strengthening of the muscles and tendons of the arms requires the selection of a balanced training course.

Arm training for girls in the gym with a barbell

Start the workout by bending and moving your elbows back. They simultaneously load several muscle groups and allow you to lift heavy weights.

While standing, grab the bar with your palms facing forward, pressing your hands to your body.
Bend your limbs, bringing the barbell closer to your collarbone, while simultaneously moving your elbows straight back without raising your shoulders.
As you inhale, return to the starting position along a vertical trajectory.

Alternative: Work with dumbbells or a Smith machine.

Shoulder program

Shoulder strengthening exercises are isolation exercises. This suggests that they are focused on one muscle group, in this case, the shoulders. If you have dumbbells, then you can start doing exercises at home. If they are not there, go to the hall.

In order to learn how to properly pump your arms with dumbbells, let's look at a few basic exercises. Seated dumbbell press for girls:

Sit on a bench, holding a dumbbell in each hand.

Performing seated dumbbell press

Keep your back straight and bend your arms at the elbows.
Now we raise the dumbbells up, but in such a way that the arms do not fully straighten at the elbows.
After pausing for a second in the top position, we slowly return to the starting position.

Advice! This exercise must be performed smoothly and in such a way that the arms are constantly parallel to each other.

We also recommend studying this topic:

Basic shoulder exercises in the gym

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Arnold Press:

We sit on a chair and take dumbbells.

The Arnold Press is quite simple to perform.

Bend your elbows and press them to your body (as in the photo).
This exercise is performed with supination, that is, when raising your arms up, you must simultaneously rotate your wrists.
By lowering your arms, you also supinate, but in the other direction.

Another exercise for tightening muscles for women is lifting dumbbells to the sides and forward. In order to pump up your arms and shoulders, perform the following steps:

Stand up straight, holding dumbbells in your hands.

Perform dumbbell lifts forward and to the sides.

Begin to alternately spread your arms to the sides and raise them in front of you. The top point should be parallel to the floor or just above parallel.

Important! To perform this exercise, you need to select such a weight that lifts occur only through the movement of your arms, and in no case with your torso.

To lose weight, you need to perform the above exercises in 3 sets with 12–15 repetitions in each. If you want to gain muscle mass, then take heavier dumbbells and limit yourself to 10 repetitions for 3 sets.

We previously wrote about effective workouts for girls in the gym and recommended bookmarking this article.

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Pull-ups in a gravitron with a counterweight

The design successfully replaces the outdoor horizontal bar and allows girls to master the technique perfectly. The compound exercise involves the arms, shoulders, deltoids, trapezius, and latissimus back.

Place one knee on the support, grab the handles with a wide grip, pull yourself up and place the other one.
Relax your body, lower the pillow and hang with straight arms. Move your body back a little, and with a powerful movement of your core muscles, pull your chin above the handles.
Pause at the top and lower down.

Also read how to learn how to do pull-ups for a girl from scratch →

Zottman Curls

This technique works the forearms, biceps, arm flexors, and brachioradialis muscles.

Standing with your knees bent, take the shells with your palms facing inward.
Slowly bend your elbow and point it toward your shoulder.
When lifting, perform supination - turn the hand 180°.
Hold at the top, lower the projectile in the reverse order, remembering to turn your hand.

Recommendations for training

Due to the small size of muscles and the possibility of cheating in exercises, there are the following training recommendations:

We recommend reading: A set of exercises for all muscle groups at home

Work one arm muscle group per workout. For example, back + biceps or chest + triceps (the principle of training synergistic muscles). This optimizes the workflow and allows you to combine heavy basic movements with special ones. Experienced athletes can specialize in arms, training them completely in one day. This approach is not recommended for beginners.
If you do biceps after back or triceps after chest, a couple of exercises will be enough for them. If you do 4-5, this will lead to overtraining and your arms will not grow. The same thing can happen if your split is built like this: back + triceps, chest + biceps. In this case, the biceps will work 2 times a week, and the triceps will work 3 times a week (another time on shoulder day during presses). It's too much.
Work in a multi-rep style - 10-15 repetitions. This reduces the risk of injury and increases blood flow into the muscles. Small muscles respond better to such a load, since they were not originally designed to lift large weights.
Perform exercises with strict technique. Leave cheating to professional athletes. It will be much more effective to lift a 25 kg barbell absolutely cleanly on your biceps than to throw 35 kg with your body and shoulders.
Don’t get carried away with pumping, supersets and drop sets. Using the example above, again, it will be more effective to lift a 25 kg barbell for biceps for 12 reps than to do 15 kg for 20 reps or 15-10-5 kg for 10 reps (drop set). These techniques are best used when you reach a certain plateau in weight gain, already having experience in strength training and decent working weights.

"Hammer" for muscle mass

In addition to the biceps, the muscles that are targeted are the brachioradialis, brachialis, and pronator teres muscles.

With pronated palms, the load is focused on the brachialis;
with supinated heads - on double-headed heads;
a neutral grip loads both equally effectively.

In a standing position, press your elbows to your sides.
Raise your hands with dumbbells to your shoulders, focus on peak muscle contraction and go into the negative phase.

To finish off the target muscles, add 2 isolation techniques each to the biceps and triceps, performing repetitions at a slow pace until failure on the last set.

Effective exercises for women's hands

Only strength exercises, and not cardio training, provide high-quality pumping of women's arms. We bring to your attention several effective movements that should definitely be in your program.

Dumbbell row to the chin

A simple but incredibly effective exercise for the arms. More aimed at working the shoulders. Additionally, it has a positive effect on the back, biceps and triceps muscles. The technique is as follows:

We take dumbbells or bottles filled with water in our hands so that our palms face inward. We place them on the front of the thighs.
In this position, we raise the shells to the chin, bending the elbow joints in the process.

Curling your arms behind your head

This exercise is aimed at pumping the target muscles. With it you can achieve a beautiful relief of the inner part of the arms, without increasing the volume. Do it as follows:

We use only one dumbbell or other suitable available item.
We grab the projectile with two (or one at a time) hands and lift it up.
Dumbbell at outstretched arms is the initial position.
Bend your elbows and place the dumbbell behind your head.
Pull until your arms reach a right angle position.

Interesting fact. An important condition for correct execution of the exercise is that the movement is carried out exclusively by the elbow joints. The shoulder itself remains motionless.

Pull-up on the horizontal bar

This exercise is effective not only for men, but also for women. Trainers recommend performing a feasible number of repetitions, which will be quite enough to provide the muscles with the required volume of load.

Technique is very important. For example, a serious condition that cannot be neglected is that when lifting, the chin must touch the crossbar of the machine. We pull ourselves up with a narrow reverse grip, just like men do.

Plank

One of the most favorite and popular exercises for women. It not only perfectly loads muscles, burns fat deposits, but also forms beautiful posture. The plank pumps your arms well and prevents sagging skin. Do it like this:

We rest our palms and toes on the floor surface.
We stretch the body into one straight line. We control the position of the lower back. It shouldn't sag.
In the accepted position we “stand” motionless for 1 minute. If you are doing the plank for the first time, start with 15 seconds, gradually increasing the time.

Dumbbell Curls

The exercise is designed to pump the biceps - the biceps muscle of the arms. The technique is as follows:

Let's get straight. We straighten our shoulders. Keep your chin straight.
We take dumbbells in our hands so that our palms face forward. We place the limbs on the hips.
We bend and straighten our arms. We perform movements with both limbs simultaneously or in turn. The second option is suitable for beginners.
During the process, we follow the rule - only the elbow joint works.

Bent over dumbbell row

Another effective exercise for pumping up the arms, which also works well on the latissimus dorsi muscles. Do it like this:

We take the starting position - we stand on a flat surface, bending our legs and tilting our back to 45 degrees relative to the floor. We lower our hands with dumbbells. Keep them vertical.
In this position, we pull our arms to our sides. During this process, we try to keep the elbow joints as close to the body as possible. At the highest point we bring the shoulder blades together.
We return to the starting point.

Alternating biceps curls

Training on an incline bench provides a wide range of motion and allows you to move your elbows far back. This optimally loads the outer bundle, which is always lagging behind in development, and forms a beautiful shape of the arms.

Sit down, take the dumbbells and lower them to the bottom, pressing your elbows to your sides.
Raise your left limb to your shoulder. During this process, keep your arm motionless from elbow to shoulder.
Perform movements until the biceps are contracted to the limit. Pause at the top for a moment.
Lower and repeat with the other hand.

Working with a barbell on a Scott bench

The targeted technique works on the biceps. It is preferable to work with a curved EZ-bar.

Rest your armpits in the fold of the bench, support your forearms on the cushions.
Grab the bottom of the dumbbells without crossing your shoulder line. If you spread your palms wider, the emphasis will shift to the inner head.
Without lifting your elbows, perform a series of smooth bends.

Bench triceps press

This exercise forces all 3 heads to work.

Place your hands at shoulder level.
Keeping your elbows close to your body, as you inhale, lower the bar to your solar plexus and immediately move into the positive phase.

Traction in the block

Instead of isolating barbell curls, you can use lat curls with one or both arms. In combination with a simulator, arm training in the gym gives better results.

When working with a barbell, where the biceps is resting at the top, due to the tension of the cable, the load on it increases and is equally distributed along the entire trajectory.

The farther you stand from the block, the harder it is on the muscles.

To increase efficiency, straighten your arms.
Grab a straight or curved handle with an underhand grip.
Press your elbows towards you and pull the cable to your belt with your shoulder blades pressed.

Example of a training program on simulators

A training program for the arms should include a variety of types of exercises to comprehensively work the muscles. You need to regularly change the sequence and types of training sequences, otherwise you will not see progress from the classes.

Example program:

Warm-up (cardio, jumping rope + joint exercises for arms) – 15-20 minutes.
Pull-ups in the simulator - 3 sets of 10 times.
Lifting the barbell on a Scott bench – 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
Arm extensions in the simulator (ropes) – 3 sets of 8-10 times.
“Hammers” in the simulator (ropes) – 3-4 sets of 10 times.

Important ! At the end of each workout, use stretching elements - this will help relax the muscles and improve their recovery.

How can a girl pump up her arms from the inside?

Dumbbells will help get rid of sagging and fat in hard-to-reach areas.

Start with your biceps.

Sit down, spread your legs wide, squeeze your shoulder blades together.
Bend your arms, turn your fingers forward and lift them along the body towards the collarbone.

Move on to the triceps.

Raise your limbs with dumbbells above your head with your palms facing forward.
Gently bend them towards the crown.

Bent-over arm extension option

From a standing position, tilt your body forward;
move your arms with 1 kg dumbbells behind your back;
do 15 down-up movements.

A set of basic exercises with dumbbells in the gym

Regularly performing arm exercises with dumbbells will strengthen your muscles and increase their tone.

Example lesson program:

Warm-up (running, jumping rope, elements of joint gymnastics) – 15-20 minutes.
French press with dumbbells – 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions.
“Hammers” – 3-4 sets of 10-12 repetitions.
Dumbbell lateral raises – 3 sets of 10 reps.
Bench press - 3-4 sets of 12 reps.

Note! The best option for women is an additional weight of 1 to 5 kg. Gradually increase the weight of the weight as you train. The first approach to any exercise is best done with minimal weight.