How To Build Muscle for Beginners and Advanced
Let me tell you straight, there’s nothing wrong with using dumbbells to build your arms.
Using dumbbells is a great way to workout. You don’t need to go to a gym, you don’t need a whole lot of space, you really don’t need any fancy equipment, and you can use dumbbells anywhere in the house.
I personally love to train with dumbbells and I strongly believe that they can offer benefits that you that you simply can’t get with a barbell.
For example, since dumbbell forces muscle groups to work independently of one another, you can work your right and left side muscle groups evenly. Have you ever noticed how one arm is always stronger than the other? If you answered yes to this question, your going to have to start using dumbbells in your training routine.
I vividly remember how my left arm was always stronger than the right. Since I primarily used barbells and machines, (at that time) for most of my exercises, my left arm got most of the benefit. The balance is set up on the barbells and machines in favour of your stronger muscle groups. This in turn, throws you muscle balance off because your stronger body part will most always grow bigger than it’s weaker counterpart.
Anyways, after some guidance, I started all my workouts with dumbbells. After about three months, my right arm caught up with my left. In fact, today, my right arm is a little stronger than my left. I’ll tell you this though, dumbbells don’t lie and 50 pounds is 50 pounds. With barbells and machines, you can get away with moving a certain amount of weight because your stronger muscle group compensates for the weaker muscle group. With dumbbells, you can’t do that. Each side has to pull it’s own weight, so to speak.
Another great thing about working out with dumbbells is the fact that they provide a different plane of motion than barbells. Take the seated dumbbell curl for example. With a barbell, the weight comes up and goes down. However, with a slight twist of the wrist, you can greatly enhance the exercise using dumbbells. Take a look at this page here
With that in mind, I want to pass on a dumbbell arm workout that will help strengthen and build your arms. You will train biceps first, and than train the triceps. The biceps routine has three exercises while the triceps routine has 2. I suggest performing this dumbbell arm workout routine once per week, twice at the most.
Also, I suggest you start the workout with a 5 minute, light aerobic exercise such as the elliptical trainer, treadmill, or exercise bike. If you don’t have any aerobic equipment, try running on the spot for 3 to 5 minutes. It is very important to the blood flowing throughout the body before exercising.
Lets take a look at the exercises for the dumbbell arm routine:
Biceps Exercises:
1) The Standing Dumbbell Curl;
2) The Incline Dumbbell Curl;
3) The Concentration Curl
Triceps Exercises:
1) Seated Single Dumbbell Extensions;
2) The Triceps Kick Back
Exercise #1 – The Standing Dumbbell Curl
Warm up: 1 x 15 repetitions
3 sets of 10 repetitions
Exercise #2 – The Incline Dumbbell Curl
3 sets of 10 repetitions
Exercise #3 – The Dumbbell Concentration Curl
2 sets of 12 repetitions
Exercise #4 – Seated Single Dumbbell Extensions
Warm up: 1 x 15 repetitions
3 sets of 12 repetitions
Exercise #5 – The Triceps Kick Back
3 sets of 12 repetitions
This is a pretty simple dumbbell routine but it will work if you remember to be consistent and to constantly try and improve. Remember, buying more weight because your getting stronger is a good thing. This means your arms are growing so don’t worry if you have to go out and get more weight.
I’d like to pass on some valuable tips for you to use in combination with the arm routine. Follow the weight training advice on this page and you’ll start gaining quality muscle mass. Click here.
There you have it, a simple dumbbell arm workout routine that you can perform at the gym or at home. It’s a very basic dumbbell routine but an effective one. If you feel that the weight is getting light, you might want to add some more weight to the dumbbell.
Good luck and all the best,
Blake
Blake has been weight lifting for about 28 years now. He's 45 years of age and started seriously training when he was 18 years old.
Blake is the founder of Building-Muscle101.com, a successful fitness website that has been around for more than 15 years.
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Building-muscle101.com is not intended for use as a substitute for consultation or advice given by a qualified medical practitioner, health practitioner, or fitness professional.