Build functional strength and upper body definition with this full body and arm workout routine. This arm-focused total body workout combines the best upper body exercises with full body movements to increase calorie-burn and improve functional fitness. I love the superset format of today’s workout – it’s one of the best ways to build muscle at home.
Level up your basic arm workout routine with this full body fusion workout: combining the best upper body exercises with functional full body movements.
Day six of our 2-Week Build 30 Program is a full body workout that focuses on the upper body, with a dedicated arm exercise in each circuit to hit the biceps, triceps, back, shoulders and chest muscles.
Combining total body training and arm-specific exercises is a great compromise for anyone who wants to increase arm definition without sacrificing functional fitness or balanced strength gains.
We’ll superset each arm exercise with a full body exercise to reap the benefits of both types of training.
Isolated arm exercises are great for building muscle definition in the upper body, while compound full body exercises are better for burning calories and boosting our resting metabolic rate.
Build functional strength and upper body definition with this full body and arm day workout routine.
This full body workout has an emphasis on the upper body, combining compound full body movements with the best arm exercises at home.
I suggest doing this full body workout once a week as part of a well-rounded workout routine.
A medium-to-heavy set of dumbbells. I suggest anywhere from 8-25 lbs. We’re using 10-20 lb dumbbells in this workout.
Follow along with the guided Full Body and Arms Workout Routine on YouTube, led by certified personal trainer and fitness instructor, Lindsey Bomgren.
Your Workout Looks Like This:
30 Rep Challenge: Push Press
SUPERSET ONE:
SUPERSET TWO:
SUPERSET THREE:
SUPERSET FOUR:
SUPERSET FIVE:
SUPERSET SIX:
LADDER:
Targets: Latissimus dorsi (or lats; the largest back muscle known for its large, flat “V” shape).
Targets: The bicep muscles (upper arms), the brachialis (mid-arm) and brachioradialis (forearm).
The flip grip curl combines a standard bicep curl with a hammer curl – hitting both heads of the bicep muscle from different angles.
Targets: All three heads of the tricep muscle (lateral head, medial head, and long head).
The tricep kickback is one of best isolation exercises for targeting the triceps brachii muscle.
Targets: The lateral deltoid (also engages the anterior deltoids and posterior deltoid).
Targets: The chest muscles (pectoralis major, pectoralis minor, serratus anterior and subclavius) and deltoids (shoulders)
The best arm workout routine includes a combination of compound upper body exercises (such as a bench press, dumbbell pullover, push ups and pull ups) and arm isolation exercises (or exercises that focus on a specific muscle group, such as chest exercises, tricep exercises, back exercises, bicep exercises and shoulder exercises) to address muscle imbalances or weaknesses.
This varies depending on your personal fitness and training goals. It’s important to allow your body proper recovery time to repair the muscles you broke down during strength training. I recommend training arms once to twice a week as part of a well-rounded workout plan.
Some trainers prefer high-rep, lower weight sets, while other trainers recommend lifting heavier weights for more limited rep ranges. I personally think both methods of training offer different benefits, and should be included in a well-rounded routine. You’ll know you chose the right weight if the last 2-3 reps in a set are challenging (The American Council on Exercise).
A beginner arm workout should focus on compound exercises that hit multiple muscle groups at once. This is a time-efficient way to train, and can help prevent muscle imbalances or injuries from overtraining one specific muscle group.
A 2-week strength training program designed to build muscle in 30 minutes a day.
If you liked this full body arm workout routine at home, download the FREE 2-Week Workout Plan.
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