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This 10 minute workout with dumbbells alternates arm exercises between biceps and triceps, giving you a burn that you will feel all day long.

When working biceps and triceps together in a superset, you create an intense workout that helps to strengthen the muscles more efficiently. Our favorite part about these arm exercises? You only need a set of light weights because you’ll be moving through each exercise quickly with high repetitions. We’re pretty sure that this is one of the best arm workouts that we have ever created and definitely one of our favorites that we will be adding into our rotation.

Try adding this 10 minute at home arm workout at the end of a cardio session, as part of a longer strength training workout, or just when you are short on time and looking for a great, fast-paced workout. If you are new to arm exercises or upper body strength workouts, there’s no need to worry! This is a beginner friendly upper body workout that can be easily modified to fit all fitness levels!

Best 10 Minute Arm Workout

Watch the video:

Suggested:

5-10 minute warmup, such as walking or active stretching.

Modification:

While the duration of each exercise is short, this workout is meant to burn out your muscles by working opposing muscle groups. If you are just starting out, resist the urge to work faster and instead, focus on quality movements.

Bicep and Tricep Exercise List

Do each upper body exercise for 30 seconds, with no rest. Repeat each round before moving on.

Bicep Curl/Hammer Curl

How-to: Standing tall, squeeze your core to keep your spine in alignment. For the bicep curl, flip your palms away from you and curl the weights to your shoulders, palms facing in. For hammer curl, turn your palms to face your body, bringing your thumb up to your shoulder.

Form tip: Keep the elbows pinned to your sides and avoid swinging through the arms.

Tricep Kickback

How-to: Hinge at the waist, keeping the back flat, with a slight bend in the knees. Keeping your arms pinned to your sides, lift the elbows above your back. Curl the weight in to your shoulder, and fully extend the arm, keeping the elbows lifted.

Form tip: Avoid dropping your elbows below your body and swinging through the movement.

Challenge: Stop the movement when your arms are at your sides, or 90 degrees in the movement, instead of bringing the weights to your shoulders. This reduces the amount of time that you can “recover” before extending the arms again.

Forward Curl

How-to: In the same standing position as the bicep curl, lift your arms in front of you until they are parallel with the mat, palms facing up. Without dropping your arms, curl the weight to your shoulders.

Form tip: Keep those arms lifted! Resist the urge to drop the arms.

Tricep Extension

How-to: With weights in either hand, place your hands behind your head, elbows facing the sky. Extend the arms straight overhead and slowly lower down.

Form tip: Keep the core engaged and the back straight. As you extend, avoid arching through the spine. Avoid letting your elbows flare out to the sides. Keep your elbows pinched in alongside your head.

Modification: If extending both arms at the same time is too difficult, alternate with single arm extensions.

Half Up/Half Down Curls

How-to: Start in a standing position, elbows pressed into your sides, palms facing up. Starting at a 90 degree angle, curl the weights up (or down), always stopping in a half curl.

Form tip: As with all of the bicep exercises, avoid swinging through the movement.

Tricep Presses/Squeezes

How-to: In the same position as the tricep kickbacks, extend the arms fully with pinkies facing up. For tricep presses, very slightly bend and extend the arms, but avoid dropping completely. For tricep squeezes, press the arms together towards the center, as if you had a beach ball between your palms.

Form tip: Keep the arms lifted throughout the entire exercise duration. Both the presses and squeezes should be small, tiny movements.