You’ll get huge benefits when you workout at Biofit Performance in Oviedo, FL, but working toward fitness shouldn’t end when you leave the gym. Staying fit should be part of your daily life, so having workouts you can do anywhere are important. We saw how important recently, when many states were locked down and gyms were closed. Here are some exercises and home workouts for arms that you can add to your total fitness program.
Start with exercises that don’t require special equipment.
A lot of upper body and arm exercises require weights of some type. Most people immediately think of dumbbells or using a barbell, but resistance bands, which are inexpensive and easy to store, are also used for arms. You don’t have to have any of those types of equipment when you workout at home. You can make your own equipment from things you have around the house. Dumbbells and weights can be soup cans or milk/detergent bottles filled with sand to achieve a specific weight. Tricep overhead extensions are one example of arm exercises at home. Hold your “weight” in both hands and lift it above your head. Bend your arms at the elbow to lower it behind your back at 90 degrees. Lift it back to above your head and repeat.
Do bench dips using your chair or furniture.
If you’re at the office and have a sturdy chair without rollers, you can do chair dips. For those at home, sitting on the edge of a coffee table and doing dips is the perfect situation. Sit on the edge of the chair or table with legs extended and heels on the floor. Grasp the sides of the chair seat or front of the table and lift yourself forward and down with your heels touching the floor and legs extended. Lower your body until your arms are bent at a 90 degree angle, then lift your body back to seated position. The more fit you become, adjust the workout to make it harder by dipping lower.
The old standby, push-ups, can be modified to work all parts of the arms, back and chest.
Two of the best exercises for arm strength are push-ups and pull-ups. Both can be modified by body position and hand position. The standard push-up works the biceps, but when you modify push-ups you’ll get even more benefits. Do the modified one as you would a regular one, on all fours with palms and toes touching, legs straight, but instead of hands shoulder width, hold them closer together. There should be just a few inches between your hands as you raise and lower your body, keeping your back straight.
- Keep it simple and build core and arm strength, do a plank. Get into push-up position and hold. If you’re watching TV and can hold that position through one commercial break, you’ll be a champ!
- Use a towel to do towel curls. You can even adjust your resistance. Fold a towel and make it a sling for your leg, putting it behind your thigh and holding an end in each hand. Pull until you lift your leg, using it for resistance.
- Make sure you’re eating healthy and have plenty of collagen in your diet. Collagen is the necessary protein for building muscles and improving skin elasticity.
- You can modify most basic exercises, such as the plank, to work other upper body muscles. A one arm plank where you roll your body to the side as you lift the other arm in the air works other muscles. Doing an incline or decline push-up or plank also works muscles in a different way.
For more information, contact us today at BioFit Performance