Arm Toning & Strength // Dumbbell Only Workout

Arm Toning & Strength // Dumbbell Only Workout is a tough and thorough upper body strength workout from Heather Robertson. This workout hits your biceps, triceps and shoulders hard. This workout is made up of 4 circuits. Each circuit contains 5 exercises and one of those exercises is a metabolic exercise, giving you a cardio burst with each circuit. Each circuit is done twice. The exercises are done interval fashion: 40 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the lower right hand corner of the screen, counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery, Heather previews the next exercise. Heather really burned out my arms and shoulders in this workout. But since it is only 41 minutes, I used one of her other upper body workouts as a finisher: Back Toning + Sculpting Workout. My upper body is fried!

Arm Toning & Strength // Dumbbell Only Workout is 41:02 minutes; 3 minute warm up and 3:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Heather is using 5 and 10 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. 1.5 bicep curls (one rep lifting DBs halfway + one full rep) (12# DBs)
2. Single arm overhead tricep extension (one 12# DB)
3. Repeat #2 on other arm
4. Front & side raise (one straight arm front raise + one straight arm side raise) (6# DBs)
5. Shadow box (alternating front punches holding DBs) (5# DBs)
6. Repeat #1-5

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. In & out curls (one traditional bicep curl + one wide bicep curl) (12# DBs)
2. Kneeling press (single arm Arnold press while in kneeling lunge) (one 15# DB)
3. Repeat #2 on other side of body
4. Tricep push ups
5. Swing & switch (single arm kettlebell swing with a DB, alternate hands) (one 15# DB)
6. Repeat #1-5

30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Bicep burn out (fast single arm bicep curls with a light DB) (one 8# DB)
2. Repeat #1 on other arm
3. Double arm tricep kickbacks (10# DBs)
4. Bent arm side raises (8# DBs)
5. Worm jack taps (start standing at one end of fitness mat, hinge forward and walk hands out to plank, do 2 plank jacks while also tapping one hand to opposite shoulder (alternate hands), walk hands back to feet, stand and jump, reaching arms overhead)
6. Repeat #1-5

30 seconds rest

Circuit 4:

1. Curl & press (double arm bicep curl into overhead press) (15# DBs)
2. Around the world (with palms facing forward and hands in front of thighs, keeping arms straight, raise DBs out to sides then overhead, lower DBs out to sides and back in front of thighs) (6# DBs)
3. Skull crushers (lying on mat) (10# DBs)
4. Walking plank (alternate elbow plank with straight arm plank)
5. Weighted jacks (jumping jack the legs, hands are holding DBs and do overhead press in time with legs jacking) (5# DBs)
6. Repeat #1-5

For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.