Have you ever stared longingly from your elliptical trainer or treadmill over at the free weights and though “if only I knew what I was doing over there”? Or even if you’re a seasoned dumbbell veteran do you have the urge to add a little variety to your workouts? Regardless of who you are… get your tickets ready; the gun show is coming to town! Today on T&T I’m sharing my favorite arms routine I do with free weights. I’m even adding a little variety to the normal T&T flow; one set for toning down and another for bulking up. Hope you’re ready… it’s about to get real…
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I prefer to super-set all my workouts. Complete one set of the first exercise and move on immediately to the second in the “super-set”. Then back to the first and so on until you’ve completed the recommended number of sets.
Set One
Military Press
Great way to get the triceps primed for action and helps the shoulders look good, too!
3 sets of 12 to Tone; set of 12, 10, 8, 6 with increasing weights to Bulk
Standing Biceps Curls
Can never go priming the pump with some good ol’ curls
3 sets of 12 to Tone; set of 12, 10, 8, 6 with increasing weights to Bulk
Set Two
Skull Crusher
Just don’t really crush your skull! Great triceps workout!
3 sets of 10 to Tone; 10, 8, 6, 6 with increasing weights to Bulk
Incline Biceps Curl
Puts the biceps at a little bit different mechanical advantage when the weight is behind you.
3 sets of 10 to Tone; 10, 8, 6, 6 with increasing weights to Bulk
Set Three
Overhead Triceps Press
One of my favorite triceps moves! Make sure you get to full extension every rep to see the horseshoe jump out of your arm!
3 sets of 10 to Tone; 10, 8, 6, 6 with increasing weights to Bulk
Hammer Curls
Keeping the forearm upright and curling the weight parallel to your shoulders adds a whole new element to the word “curl”
3 sets of 10 to Tone; 10, 8, 6, 6 with increasing weights to Bulk
Set Four
Triceps Kickback
Finish off the tri’s with some concentrated kickbacks. Again, pick a weight that allows full extension each time.
3 sets of 10 to Tone; 10, 8, 6, 6 with increasing weights to Bulk
Concentration Curls
We’ll also finish off the biceps – eliminate all body momentum with some major concentration curls.
3 sets of 10 to Tone; 10, 8, 6, 6 with increasing weights to Bulk
CONGRATULATIONS!
Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? Welcome to the free weights side; it’s great place to be!
Check out some of our other great resisted workouts
Total Body Kettle Bell Workout
Beginning Barbell Exercises – Total Body Workout
Last Chance Workout – Cardio Dumbbell Workout
Total Body Kettle Bell Workout
Beginning Barbell Exercises – Total Body Workout
Last Chance Workout – Cardio Dumbbell Workout
As always I love to hear from our readers. You’re actually the source of so much of my great content! I can always be reached at
Make it happen,
Jared
To view the rest of this post, be sure to head over to www.tone-and-tighten.com.
Have a great day!
Jared
Jen says
So, if I’m looking for visible definition in my arms so I can see the lines where my muscles are which one do I do? The tone or the bulk?
Jared B says
Hi Jen!
For “definition” I would go with workout #1 – Sleek and Sexy. Workout #2 would be for those trying to put mass on their arms and make things a little “bulkier”. For a little more information about the difference between the two I wrote this blog post about the concept of “tone vs bulk”.
https://tone-and-tighten.com/2013/12/faq-if-i-work-out-with-weights-will-i.html
Hope it helps; and thanks for following!
~Jared