Arm Workout At Home With Dumbbells!

May 8, 2023

The home gym craze is well and alive. But if you’re starting slowly with equipment purchases and only have a few dumbbells lying around the house, it can take some creativity to design an effective arm workout.

So, I’ve got you covered. I have two arm workouts with dumbbells you can do at home based on how much time you have available.

Ultimate Dumbbell Arm Workout At Home

Biceps & Triceps Superset Workout

Exercise

Set/Rep

Load

A1) Rolling DB Triceps Extension

3 x 15-20

9 RPE

A2) DB Curl

3 x 10-12

9 RPE

B1) Overhead Triceps Extension

3 x 10-15

9 RPE

B2) DB Hammer Curl

3 x 10-12

9 RPE

C1) Decline Close Grip Push-Up On DB Handles

2 x 20-30

Bodyweight

C2) DB Zottman Curl

2 x 10-12

9 RPE

Supersetting biceps and triceps for your dumbbell arm workout is a time-efficient strategy. The idea is to perform a triceps than a biceps exercise before resting. A workout like this may takes approximately 20 minutes, perfect for busy bodies at home!

One Muscle Group At A Time Workout

Exercise

Set/Rep

Load

A1) Rolling DB Triceps Extension

3 x 15-20

9 RPE

B1) Overhead Triceps Extension

3 x 10-15

9 RPE

C1) Decline Close Grip Push-Up On DB Handles

2 x 20-30

Bodyweight

D1) DB Curl

3 x 10-12

9 RPE

E1) DB Hammer Curl

3 x 10-12

9 RPE

F1) DB Zottman Curl

2 x 10-12

9 RPE

The advantage of training one muscle group at a time is completely fatiguing the muscle group before training the other, potentially leading to greater muscle growth.

Dumbbell Arm Exercises At Home

Rolling DB Triceps Extension

The rolling dumbbell triceps extension is the elbow-friendly version of the skull crusher. The great thing about it is that you don't need a bench, even though you can perform it lying on a bench. So, if you only have dumbbells at home, you’re in luck. You can lie on the floor and get these done. Here’s how:

  • This is a hybrid dumbbell bench press and skull crusher. Lower the dumbbells in a bench press motion from the top of the bench press position.
  • Once halfway, start to "roll" your shoulders back so the dumbbells come either side of your head.
  • Pull the elbows forward and extend your arms simultaneously to reverse the movement.

Overhead Triceps Extension

The overhead triceps extension is one of the best triceps dumbbell exercises for mass. The overhead position puts the triceps long head under extreme stretch, stimulating a strong hypertrophic response. Using the overhead position led to 1.5 greater gains in triceps mass than triceps pushdowns [1]. Here’s how to do it:

  • Seated or standing, hold the end of the dumbbell in your palms with the handle running between your hands overhead.
  • Slowly lower the dumbbell behind your head from a straight arm position by flexing the elbow. The shoulders should not move.
  • Get a deep stretch. The deeper the stretch, the better the muscle-building response. Extend the elbows and squeeze your triceps at the top.

Decline Close Grip Push-Up On DB Handles

The push-up is slept on when getting big triceps. Adding dumbbells increases the range of motion, improving the muscle-building response. By elevating the feet, you place more body weight over the arms making it more powerful! Here's how to do it:

  • Set dumbbells slightly outside shoulder width and angle the top of the dumbbell in. Elevate your feet on a bench or couch and support your body with your hands on the dumbbell handles.
  • Slowly lower your chest to an inch from the floor with your elbows staying close to your ribs to target the triceps. Maintain a straight line from your feet to your head.
  • Extend your arms to initiate the push-up.

Dumbbell Biceps Curl

The dumbbell curl is a staple biceps exercise. The supinated position preferentially targets the biceps brachii, which is responsible for building big upper arms.

Some lifters will start in a neutral hand position and supinate the dumbbells as they curl to target the secondary movement the biceps perform. However, maintaining the supinated position is a stronger stimulus in my experience and will build bigger biceps. Here’s how to do it:

  • Hold dumbbells by your side with your palms facing forward. Curl the dumbbells to upper chest height.
  • You can have the elbows move slightly forward at the end to add shoulder flexion to shorten the biceps further.
  • Slowly extend your arms to the starting position and avoid swinging the dumbbells next rep.

DB Hammer Curl

The hammer curl attacks the biceps brachii but preferentially targets the strongest elbow flexor, the brachialis. It will add thickness to your biceps when looking from the side. Because the neutral hand position is advantageous for the brachialis muscle, you can lift the most weight with this curl variation. Here's how to do it:

  • Hold dumbbells by your side with your palms in a neutral position facing your body. Curl the dumbbells to upper chest height.
  • Keep your elbows close to your body, and don't let them shift forward.
  • Slowly extend your arms to the starting position and avoid swinging the dumbbells next rep.

DB Zottman Curl

The Zottman curl is a two-in-one, hitting the biceps brachii during the concentric phase and targeting the brachioradialis during the eccentric phase. This will add meat to the top of your forearms, rounding out your biceps training. Here's how to do it:

  • Hold dumbbells by your side with your palms facing forward. Curl the dumbbells to upper chest height. You can have the elbows move slightly forward at the end to add shoulder flexion to shorten the biceps further.
  • Pronate your forearms so your palms face the floor. Slowly lower the dumbbells until your arms are fully extended. Supinate your hands to start the next rep.

Summary

Only having a pair of dumbbells at home is enough to get an epic arm workout done. Use these workouts to blast through muscle growth plateaus and add variety to your arm training.

References

1. Maeo, S., Wu, Y., Huang, M., Sakurai, H., Kusagawa, Y., Sugiyama, T., … & Isaka, T. (2022). Triceps brachii hypertrophy is substantially greater after elbow extension training performed in the overhead versus neutral arm position. European Journal of Sport Science, 1-11.

About the Author

I am a professional strength & conditioning coach that works with professional and international teams and athletes. I am a published scientific researcher and have completed my Masters in Sport & Exercise Science. I've combined my knowledge of research and experience to bring you the most practical bites to be applied to your training.

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