April 11, 2025, 9:31 am | Read time: 6 minutes
We have woken up from hibernation and are looking towards spring and summer. That means it’s time to get our bodies ready for short clothes and lots of free skin. A goal that many of us are striving for is beautifully defined arms. To achieve this, we can choose from a variety of exercises. That’s good because variety is important for training success. Here are seven exercises that you can do at home — you don’t need a lot of space or equipment. Our tip to boost fat burning and build muscle is to complete the arm exercises in supersets.
First things first: every body is a summer body! Everyone, no matter how much they weigh and how they look, should look forward to wearing airy and short clothes in high temperatures — and bikinis or swimming trunks in the outdoor pool, at the lake, or by the sea. But in reality, many people only feel really well once they have got themselves in shape for the summer season. And as exercise is essential for good health anyway, we want to support this with our workout inspiration. On offer this time: seven arm exercises for strong arms, for which you need nothing but motivation and which you can make even more challenging with the help of weights if necessary.
Overview
7 Arm Exercises That Make Your Arms Burn
Shoulder Circles
To mobilize the shoulders, chest muscles, and muscles in the upper back, start your workout with shoulder circles. Start with large circles forward, then change direction. Then, do the circling movement with as small a radius as possible so that your arms essentially remain stretched out to the side, and also circle in both directions.
Do 3 sets of 12 repetitions for each direction and each range of motion.
If you want to intensify these arm exercises and have dumbbells, you can use them here.
Goal Posts
This exercise also shapes beautiful shoulders. Here’s how it works: Raise your upper arms sideways and bend your forearms 90 degrees. In this position, your hands and fingers should be pointing forward, away from your body, with your palms facing downwards. Now, move your forearms towards the floor so that your palms are facing backward and the front of your arms are facing forward. Then, move the forearms back up to chest height and to the starting position slowly and with controlled muscle movement. The upper arms remain in position and do not move. Then, repeat the rotation movement downwards.
Now, modify the goalposts slightly. In the starting position, the hands and forearms point upwards this time — the palms and front of the arms therefore point backward. The sequence of movements is similar to the first variation. The forearms move forward so that the arms and forearms point forward away from the body. Here, too, the upper arms remain at shoulder height and do not move. Then, move the arms upwards again.
3 sets of 12 repetitions for each variation.
To increase the challenge, you can hold a dumbbell in each hand.
Butterfly Variation
Many people will be familiar with the butterfly exercise on the machine in the gym, where the arms are brought together almost fully extended in front of the chest. At home, without weights or a band, a modified version of the exercise is suitable for working the shoulders, back, and chest. To do this, raise your arms sideways and bend your elbows upwards so that your forearms and fingers are pointing upwards. Now, bring your bent arms together in front of your chest at chest height so that your elbows are almost touching. It is important that you tense your arm and chest muscles when moving forward and your arm and back muscles when moving backward and that you perform the movement slowly and in a controlled manner.
3 sets of 12 repetitions.
It is also possible to increase the level of difficulty with dumbbells.
Dips in Reverse Plank
This exercise mainly works the triceps. To do this, get down on the floor with your back on the mat. Now, push your body up with bent legs and straight arms and come into a reverse plank position. Important: Tighten your core, i.e., abdominal, back, and bottom muscles. Maintain this position and body tension and move down slowly and in a controlled manner by bending your arms. Do not lower your buttocks to the floor, but stop briefly in the air beforehand and then move your body back up to the starting position by stretching your arms.
3 sets of 12 repetitions.
A weight plate on your stomach makes the dips even more of a challenge.
Up & Down with Support
From the inverted plank, we now move into the classic plank (in yoga, the exercise is also called a plank.) Up-and-down work is done by first placing one elbow on the floor, then extending the arm again and coming onto the hand, and then doing the same with the other side. Here, too, it is important that the rest of the body remains under tension and only the arms perform the movement in isolation.
For those who experience wrist strain, a variation is to start in a forearm plank and alternate, extending each arm briefly.
For a simpler version, perform the plank on your knees without extending your legs.
In any variation, the exercise is challenging because it trains not only the arms but also the abdomen and back at the same time.
3 sets of 12 repetitions.
Push-Ups — Classic Arm Exercises
A classic strength exercise is also a must for training arms without equipment: the push-up. If you’re already trained enough, do the push-ups on your feet; it’s easier on your knees.
We perform this exercise in two variations: one with the arms in a wide position to focus on the biceps and work the chest and back at the same time. We also do push-ups with our arms in a narrow position (palms facing forward, elbows back) to get the triceps burning.
3 sets of 12 repetitions per variation.
Mountain Climber
Since we’re already on the mat, we finish the workout with a round of mountain climbers. The advantage of this is that it not only trains the arms — and as we start from the plank position, also the abdomen and back — but also gets our heart rate up for a short cardio peak. So, get into the plank position, tense your body, pull your legs alternately, and bend them towards your chest as quickly as possible for 30 seconds. If you’re not out of breath, you may need to adjust your technique or increase your pace!
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Tip: Arm Exercises in Supersets
The arm exercises mentioned above can be used to create different workouts. They are ideal for traditional bodyweight strength training with breaks of two or three minutes between each set. As already mentioned in the individual exercises, some of them can also be performed with weights.
However, if you want to boost fat burning in addition to building muscle, you can do the workout in the form of supersets. This means that you don’t perform several sets of arm exercises but instead alternate between exercises that are very short or even have no rest.
One option would be to do a set of push-ups, then after a 30-second break, do the mountain climber, followed by a 45-second break, after which you do push-ups again. You would then do a total of three rounds of these two exercises before moving on to the next set of two.
This approach not only intensifies muscle training but also boosts metabolism, aiding in fat burn. Additionally, this method saves time throughout the entire workout.