These 9 exercises will tone your arms in a month. P.S. They don’t involve lifting weights

Ditch those dumb-bells as these arms exercises will help you tone and build muscles without lifting any weights.
shoulder mobility exercises
Triceps stretches for toned arms. Image courtesy: Shutterstock
Published by Nikita Bhardwaj
Updated On: 11 May 2020, 04:28 pm IST
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Toning your arms isn’t as difficult as you think. In fact, you don’t even have to depend on weights like dumb-bells to get them in shape and build muscle. All you need is your body weight and some killer moves. 

So, get ready to embrace these 10 moves because they will transform your arms in just a month’s time:

1. Arm circles
Warming up is a must and arm circles will help you loosen up your muscles. Just lift your arms sideways and do at least 40 to 50 arms circles to ensure your muscles are fully charged up.

2. Shadow punching
Shadow punching or kickboxing punching is one of the best ways to tone your arms without even touching weights. Just remember to maintain your speed for maximum impact.

To ensure that your arms are perfectly toned you must do at least 200 punches with each arm. You can also change direction while punching for maximum impact. For example, you can do the first 50 punches pointing towards the roof, the next 50 you can do with your arms in front, the next 50 can be directed towards the floor. This is the best way to engage all your arm muscles in shadow punching.

3. Classic push-ups
When it comes to toning your upper body you just can’t go wrong with push-ups. Apart from your chest, a classic push-up also focuses on your shoulders, biceps, triceps, and forearms.

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If you are a beginner then you can do knee push-ups. Do at least four sets with ten repetitions. Otherwise, do at least five sets of 25 repetitions daily to sort your arms woes once and for all.

4. Triceps dips
A chair or stairs is all you need to pull off triceps dips. Triceps muscle is located at the back of your upper arm and it takes maximum effort to tone it up. But if you do triceps dip then you can easily tame this muscle group.

A few things to keep in mind: keep your grip tight so that you don’t slip, go as deep as you can, and come all the way up and lock your elbows for maximum stretch. Want to take this move a notch higher? Then lift one leg up and engage your core. Do 15 to 20 repetitions and five sets.

5. Plank up and down
This move is an extension of push-ups. And this is how you can do it: do a push-up and when you go down, have the pose for three to four seconds. When you come back up, hold your pose again. You can alter the holding time according to your capacity. Pull off 10 to 15 of these and you are good to go.

6. Plank side-walk
When you do planks, there is a lot of contraction in your upper arms. This is why a lot of free weight arm training is based on planks.

Come to a plank position. Now move your hands and legs towards your right. Next, move them towards the left and keep alternating like this. The release and flex movement will work on the inner side of your upper arms and keep flab at bay. Doing 10 plank side-walks in one set is enough and you can do four such sets.

7. Skipping
Skipping is a great upper body workout as when you rotate the skipping rope your arms get into action. So, the more you skip, the more toned your arms will be.

8. Downward dog
Although, this yoga moves works on a lot of muscle groups, it also works wonderfully on arms. It’s a simple pose but ensure that your shoulders and arms are aligned in a straight line and your arms are parallel to each other, otherwise you might end up getting sore muscles. Follow this video if you are still in doubt.

9. Burpees with close push-ups
Well, this mashup is a must try if you are seriously looking to tone your arms. When you land on the floor while doing burpees, just do a push-up and then come straight up. That’s it. Ten repetitions and five sets every alternate day is all it takes.

So, stop pining for the bar-bells, dumb-bells, and bulky pulleys that your gym boasts of. Rather, tone your arms at home with these killer moves.  

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About the Author

Six-pack abs are all that Nikita needs, along with her daily dose of green tea. At Health Shots, she produces videos, podcasts, stories, and other kick-ass content. ...Read More

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