You use your arms and shoulders daily (think pushing, pulling, and lifting items above your head), so it’s imperative you incorporate upper-body exercises into your workout routine.
“Strengthening the arms and shoulders can reduce the risk of overuse injuries, which are common due to repetitive motions in daily life like opening doors, carrying groceries, and lifting children or objects,” says fitness coach J’zotta Rolle.
If you enjoy playing sports, strong arms can also help your performance. Rolle says, “In sports like swimming, tennis, basketball, and weightlifting, training [arms and shoulders] helps in generating power and controlling movements.”
Strong arms and shoulders aren’t just for your single joint movements. They can also level up your entire fitness routine. “Many compound movements like bench presses, deadlifts, and rows rely secondarily on strong arms and shoulders. Developing them enhances your ability to perform these exercises effectively and safely,” says Rolle.
These are some of the best arm and shoulder exercises to help you strengthen your upper body. They’re great because they can be modified to fit your fitness level, and when done from start to finish, work of the major muscles in your arms and shoulders. As a bonus, all of these exercises also require core engagement, so you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck.
All you need is a light to medium set of dumbbells, and you aren’t sure which weight is right for you, you can use this guide to help.
You can add these exercises into your regular upper-body workout, but you can also stack them into one workout for an effective arm-and-shoulder day. Perform them one after the other for the recommended number of reps, resting for 30 to 90 seconds between each move. Then repeat the sequence again three to four times for a full, quick strength workout.
