25-Minute Beginner Arm Workout (At Home, Dumbbells Only)

Hi, I'm Lindsey Baumgren of Nourish Movelove and we have a beginner arm workout for you. This is all strength training for your upper body and all you're gonna need is a set of dumbbells. And I am joined by the amazing Megan who's gonna be showing some modifications along the way. She has dumbbells and a chair so she can add some stability for bent over rows as well as an incline to push ups. Today I have dumbbells. That's all you're gonna need, dumbbells. If you want to add an incline, you can, you can always drop to those knees. Okay, today's workout looks like this. You got four circuits. Each circuit has one to two stre focusing on the arms. And then you're going to do those exercises for 40 seconds of work, followed by 20 seconds of rest. Repeat at times two. And then we go into a one minute burnout move. That is arms and abs. So you're getting a little bit of bonus abs in today's workout. Let's go ahead and get started with a warm up. So we're starting with just our body weight. Feet are stacked underneath our hips. You're going to think about squeezing your glutes to keep your hips tucked under your ribs throughout the entire workout. So go ahead, find that position. And then from here you're just going to take a big inhale. Reach up nice and tall. Right wrist is gonna err. Right hand is gonna grab left wrist up and over. Big side body stretch to the right. Opening up the lats right there. Nice work. Back to center. Switch it out. Up and over to the left. Same thing. Big stretch right here for the lats. Back to center. Go ahead, drop those arms and just flap the wings. Just opening up the chest, the shoulders, creating some movement in the upper body. Today, whether you're joining us in the evening or in the morning, starting off your day or finishing your day, good to get some movement around those joints. Nice flat. From here you're going to hinge over, pushing those hips back towards the wall behind you. Hands are going to reach straight out in front of you. Thumbs are going to go up. So I'm going to drop the arms. I'm going to reach straight up. I'm going to drop the arms. I'm going to go 45. Drop the arms to the side. Let's do it again. Go straight up. Nice. Go 45 to the side. Thumbs are up to the ceiling. Nice. You're thinking about actively engaging your shoulders, your back, your core. Is turned on nice and tight right here. 45. To the side. One more time for me. Thumbs up. 45. Nice to the side. From here, take a nice forward fold. Just let it all hang heavy. You're going to plant your hands on the ground and you're going to step back to a high plank. For me, your option is to drop to your knees. Megan's going to drop to her knees. Finding a kneeling plank, you can always place your hands on a chair or bench to add an incline. You're going to hold that plank. Take a nice wide base with your feet. Shoulder taps, opposite hand, opposite shoulder for 8, 7, 6. Keep those hips nice and square to the ground. You got it. Final two and one. From here, you're gonna just lower that belly all the way to the ground. You're gonna take your forearms to the ground and just slightly push up. Opening up the shoulders. Roll those shoulders down and back. Think about spreading your chest muscles apart right here. Nice. Just nice neutral neck. Looking at me. Opening up the front side of the body. Awesome job. Bring it back down. From here, you're gonna bring big toes to touch. You're gonna open up the knees. Push back. Find a nice child's pose. Really think about reaching those fingertips away from your body, creating length from fingertip to tailbone. Opening up those lats. Nice. Shift it back forward. Find that high plank position or kneeling plank position. You're going to give me two push ups. From your knees or your toes. You're going to go down, up, down, up, push up and back. Pedal out those heels. Man, am I shaky. Those push ups are still hard. I'm about 12 weeks postpartum, making this an awesome beginner or postpartum friendly workout. You take it at your pace. From here, walk your hands back to meet your feet. Soft bend in those knees, roll up all the way to the top. When you get there, give me two big shoulder rolls. Up, back and down. Up, back and down. Nice. From here. Option, Tap it, tap it. Option. You can jack it, jack it. Nice big movement through those shoulders for 8, 7, 6. Finish that warm up right here. 4, 3, 2, and 1. Awesome job. You warm, Megan? Yes. That is a quick warm up because we're jumping into a quick strength workout. Let's go ahead and start that first circuit. We're going to start on the back and the biceps, your two upper body pull muscles because they work together. So I'm going to go ahead and go heavy. Back is the largest muscle group in my upper body, so I'm going to start with A reverse grip single arm row. We're going to focus on one side of the body at a time. That might allow you to go heavier. I'm going to grab a heavy dumbbell. This is a 20 pound. Grab what you have. I'm going to be here. Megan's going to be at the chair. I'll show you both. So I'm going to take a slightly sacred stance. I'm going to hinge forward. My palm is going to face you. It's a reverse grip, single arm row right here. So I'm just pulling elbow to rib cage and down. You're going to do that for 40 seconds. If you need a little bit more stability, Megan's going to come right here. Dumbbell is going to dangle inside her right thigh. Left hand is going to go on a bench, a chair for stability. It's a tripod. Row, row and down. Okay. Actually, you can do reverse grip too. So palm's still going to face out. You're just using the chair. So palm is facing out. Reverse grip row. We're going to hit that nice middle part of the back. Okay. I'm going to take a slightly sacred stance. Megan's got feet, parallel hand inside her right thigh. All right, you guys, it's 40 seconds. Hinge over, activate that core. We row in three, two, and one. So you're going to pull up slow and control down row. Slow and control down. So that palm is facing out. Slightly different grip than maybe you're used to. A lot of times. You're doing a narrow row where the palm faces in. Palm is going to face out here. That little bit of grip, you're going to get a little bit more bicep in this one. Back and bicep, they work together nice. Think about pulling from the elbow, not from the wrist. Exhale, pull, inhale, lower with control. Exhale, pull lower with control. This is slow and controlled strength training. Focusing on the back. Largest muscle group in my upper body. You're only going to do each side once. You're already in the final 5, 4, 3, 2. Give me one more, because you can. Nice work. Now we're going to turn that hand in. You're going to do the same thing, but you're going to stack on rows and curls. So I'm going to go one back row, one standing hammer curl. Then I'm going to go two back rows, two standing hammer curls. I'm going to drop down to a slightly lighter weight for this combo move. All right, hinge it over. We go in three, two, let's go. One, row, stand up. One curl. Now go. Two rows for me. Hinge, row, row, stand, two curls. Here we go. Hammer, curl, and hammer curl. Palms facing in. Now here, you're just focusing on one side of the body. Three rows, two. One more. Nice. Stand tall. Three curls. So maybe you can go a little bit heavier. Just isolating that one arm. You should start to feel that right arm working for you. Four rows. Let's go. Four. Come on. Three. You got it. Two. Nice work. One. Can you stand up and give me four hammer curls? Go. Four. You got it. Three. Nice work. Go. Two. Last one, and you're out. You're done. Nice work. We're going to do that same two exercises on the other side of the body. Okay, so now left arm, reverse grip row. I'm going to take a slightly staggered stance. Megan's going to go for that dumbbell inside the left thigh. All right, Reverse grip row for 40 seconds. Your pace, your tempo. And then we'll do the stack on row and curl. We go in three, two. Let's go. Pull. Nice. I'm pulling right to where elbow meets rib cage. Elbow meets rib cage. That shoulder stays down. Nice. Doing that reverse grip row really forces you to keep your shoulders parallel. A lot of times we see it with this row, A lot of people tend to open up. That's a lot more shoulder and not as much back. We're really trying to isolate your back right here. Back and biceps, they work together. Pull. Nice work. Pull lower with control. Don't just let that weight fall down. Nope. Pull up slow and control lower. Pull up slow and control lower. You got it. Final five. Four, three, two. One more. Cause you can. Nice work. Combo move. Stack on. Let's see if we can get to four, four on the other side. Four rows, four curls. We're going to start with that one. One. One row, one curl. Palm's gonna face in. Dumbbell dangles inside that left thigh. All right, hinge it over. Here we go. We go in three, two. Let's go. Let's go. One row. Stand up. One, hammer curl. Palm faces in, hand over two rows, row, row. Stand up. Two hammer curls. Curl and curl. Nice. Just isolating that one arm. Here we go. Three rows. Three, two, one. Stand tall. Three curls. Let's go. Three. You got it. Two, one. Hinge it back over. Going for those four rows. Go, four, Three, two, and one. Stand it up. Here we go. Go. Curl for four. Nice work. Curl for three. You got it. Two. Last one. Nice work. You're out. Awesome job. That is gonna be our two strength exercises, our one minute burnout. Try and go heavy again. We're gonna focus on the back and we're gonna add in some core. We're gonna come down to a quadruped position. So Megan, you can push your chair out. You're coming down to a quadruped position that is on all fours. Megan's gonna stay on all fours right here. And she's gonna row just on that right arm for 30 seconds. I'm gonna add a little bit more core engagement and stability challenge by doing a bird dog kicking my left leg long as my right arm rows. We're gonna do 30 seconds per side. Okay. I'll tell you when you switch arms. You're gonna are rowing just on that right arm. If you want to shoot that left leg back, go for it. We go in three, two. Let's go. Row. Nice. Row again. Just isolating one side of the body at a time. Coming down to this quadruped position. Especially if you're kicking that left leg out, you're going to feel that core. Think shoulders and hips square to the ground. Pull from the elbow, elbow to rib cage. You're pulling. Nice work, you guys. Awesome job. Keep with it. 10, 10 seconds here on that right arm. Then we switch to that left arm. Option to kick your right leg out. You go there in 3, 2, 1. Option to switch it out. Here we go. Rowing on that left arm. Nice. Row. You got it. Exhale, pull, inhale down. Exhale, pull, inhale down. It's all timed intervals, your pace, your tempo. If you got that back leg kicked out, you're gonna feel that back. Those back extensors really fired up. All those small stabilizing muscles working really hard. 10 seconds here. Let's go. Finish. Nice and strong. Back and biceps right here. Three, two, one. Nice work. Go ahead. Set it down, Shake it out, Grab some water. We are moving on to circuit number two, which is biceps and shoulders, biceps and shoulders. I'm going to go to my 15 pound weights. We're going to start on just the biceps and then we go combo move. It is a flip, grip, curl. So I'm gonna grab my weights, palms go out, shoulders down and back. Soften in the knees, palms out on the way up. Flip it in, palms in on the way down. Okay? Standard curl up, hammer, curl down. 40 seconds. That's where we go. In three, two. Let's go, let's go. Curl up, flip. Slow and controlled. Lower, palms out. Curl up, flip in. Slow and controlled. Lower. Nice. Palms Out. Curl up. Flip. Slow and controlled. Lower. Nice. Isolating the bicep here. The difference between the hammer curl and the standard curl. On that hammer curl, you're hitting a little bit more of the long head of the bicep. On the standard curl, you're hitting a little bit more of the short head. Bicep is a two headed muscle. We want to hit both heads of that bicep, right? Take it through a full range of motion right here. 10 seconds left on these bicep curls. You got it? Finish it right here. Final five, four, three, two. Recover. Nice work. If you need to set those weights down, shake it out. Megan's gonna stay standing. I'm gonna come down to a kneeling position. Take my legs out of the equation. So really just focusing on those arms. It is a hammer curl to neutral press. It looks like this hammer curl, neutral press. Down, down. That means my palms stay facing in the entire time. My toes are tucked under. We go in three, two. Let's go. If you're not comfortable kneeling, going to stay standing just like Megan is. Right. But sometimes when we're standing, our tendency is to add those legs. You get just a little bit of push from those legs as you push overhead. So here, by dropping to my knees, I'm really taking the legs out of the equation, focusing just on the arms. The option would always be to alternate arms. Okay, this is too much for you could just go one arm and then just do the other arm. You decide what works best for you. Come on. 10 seconds here. Biceps and shoulders. Curl. Push. Lower. One more. One more curl. Press down and you're out. Awesome job. Shake it out. We're going to repeat those two exercises. Starting back to that. Flip grip, bicep curl, biceps and shoulders. One more time, you guys, one more time. And then we have an awesome power move for you. Burnout with the arms and the abs. It's a fun one. One of my favorites. Here we go. Grab those weights. Palms start facing out. Soft bend in the knees. Shoulders down. And back we go in three, two. Let's go again. Right here. I'm thinking about keeping my hips palms out. Nice palms in. Keeping my hips tucked under my ribs. Right. Every time you exhale. Today, opportunity to work your core. Think about squeezing or decreasing the air between your ribs and your hips as you exhale. Nice. Actively keep those legs turned on. 2. Nice work. You can actively keep those legs turned on by spreading the floor apart underneath you. Think about spreading the floor apart underneath you. You got it. Curl, flip. Lower. Final five, four, Three, two, and one. Nice work. I'm dropping back to my knees. Megan's gonna stay standing. All right, we're going for the hammer curl, neutral press. Hammer curl, neutral press. That's where we go. Final time on the biceps and shoulders. I know those shoulders. For me, they start to feel it. They're engaged in those planks, those quadruped positions. Here we go. Finish it, guys. We're on in three, two. Let's go. Hammer curl, neutral press. Again. Same thing. Okay, nice. Keep those shoulders packed down. Keep those hips under the ribs. Big exhale. Push. Slow and controlled. Lower. Whoo. Really starting to feel it here. Come on. This is where you got to squint those eyes, grit those teeth, do what you got to do to get through this strength workout. There's no way to cheat strength, is there? And if you feel like you're starting to tip, you can always do this. Sometimes if you're doing that, you feel like you're going to go back. Give yourself a little more support if needed. Keep that arch out of that back final. 5, 4, 3, 2. Set it down. Nice work, you guys. I'm going to come back up to standing. We are going right into our burnout move. Ok, Option to use one dumbbell or two. For this, I'm going to try and stick with two. If I fatigue, I'll drop down to one. Okay. It is a tough move. You're going to give me two. Push press. That's a two inch dip drive. So now I'm using my legs. Help me. Dip, drive, dip. I'm going to hold the weights overhead. March and march. Megan's going to keep the weights front racked as she marches. Ok? This is a tough, challenging move. We're going to do our best. Forget the rest. If I have to drop down to one weight, I will. It's one minute. This is an endurance burnout. Okay, front rack them. Here we go. Two push press. Two overhead knee drives. We go in three, two. Let's go, let's go. Dip drive, dip drive. Here we go. Knee and knee. Here we go. Dip drive, dip drive. March and march. Your pace, your tempo. Dip drive, dip drive. Hold it here. March and march. Everything's fired up. Dip, drive, dip drive. Come on. March and March, man. 12 weeks postpartum. Those shoulders. Oh, they're feeling this. That core is feeling it. I'm Gonna get to 30 seconds right here. Dropping to one weight at 30 seconds. You stay with me or keep going. Nice. I'll stay with you. Megan, hold it. Overhead. Drive, drive. Here we Go. Dip drive. Dip, drive. March and march. You got it. Come on, push. Push. Come on, march, March. Come on with it. This is your endurance push. If you got to drop weights, you drop weights. One minute of work is tough. You're in the final. 10, 9, 8, 7. You got this. Six day with it. 5, 4, 3, 2, and you're out. One minute. Grab some water. Two circuits down, two to go. The good news is you only have one move. One strength, move in circuits 3 and 4. Right? One strength, move in circuits 3 4. I'm going to start with my 20s for the chest press. I'm going to a chest press. Come to your backside, right, Lying on your back. Legs are bent at 90 degrees, right here. Back is pressing into the mat. Or you can have a slight arch in your back. Arms are at 90 degrees. Dumbbells are right there in line with my nipples. Exhale, push. Inhale lower. If you're on the ground like me, it's really easy to just let those arms fall. Try not to let the back of your arms hit the ground. Really try to keep tension on the chest the entire time. Our 40 seconds starts in three, two. Let's go. Exhale, push. Inhale, lower. Exhale, push. Inhale, lower. Now, this is your workout, right? You take it at your pace. I'm going heavy here. Chest is the second largest muscle group in the upper body. We want to work it. We're working our push muscles here. Chest, shoulders, triceps, they're all turned on. Nice work. Inhale, down. Exhale, push. Inhale down. Exhale, push. Back of the arms. Just gently tap the ground and then push. Now, if you have a bench or a stability ball, you can add that. You're going to get a lot more range of motion. Really get a nice stretch at the bottom. Go for it. Come on, you guys. Yes. You're in the final. 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Nice work. You're only doing one set of that. You're gonna stay right there. I'm just swapping out my weights to my 15s. You go chest fly this time. Okay? There's an arc in the arm. Soft bend in the elbows. You're going to open and close. Okay? That's where we go in five seconds. Set it up. Going slightly lighter weight here. Softening those elbows open in three, two. Let's go. Open again. Back of the arms can just gently touch the ground. Big exhale pulls those weights back together. Inhale, lower with control. Exhale, close. Squeeze those chests. Squeeze the chest as you pull back together. Nice Big full range of motion. Inhale, down, exhale, squeeze. I don't know what it is about the chest fly. I think it's that good range of motion, that good stretch at the bottom. This one makes me sore every stinking time. Come on, you guys. This is it for chest right here. You got 10, 10 seconds. Yes you can. 10 seconds. Make it happen. Let's go. Finish final four. Three, two, one more. There it is. Nice work. Dumbbells are off to the side. Those are your two chest exercises. We are moving on to our one minute burnout. Arms and abs. And you're going body weight. Yes. You weren't going to get away from an arm workout without some push ups. Good news is, is it is one push up to every three seconds. Plank. Hold. So it looks like this Megan's bringing the chair back into play. She's going to add an incline to her push up. One push up. And then I'm going to open up to a side plank so it looks like this. Push up, open to a side plank and hold for a three count. You're going to alternate that. Open to a side plank. Drop to your knees if you need to. At 12 weeks postpartum, this mama might be dropping to my knees. I'm going to try and start for my toes. We'll see how it goes. Those chest and shoulders, they're feeling it. Okay, you guys, it's one minute. One minute one. Push up. We'll go one. Push up, open to your right. We go in three, two. Let's go. Push up, open to the right and hold. Hold for three, two, one. Replant. Give me the push up. Push up. Open to the left. Open it up and hold. Hold for three, two, one. Return to the center. Push up. Three second Plank. Hold. Yes, you can. Not a lot of push ups here. So try and go from, from your toes if you can. Return to the mat. Here we go. Push up, open to the left. Hold. Hold for three, two, one. Return. Nice work, you guys. You're halfway. 30 seconds left here. Come on. Hold it here. Lift those hips for two and one. Return. Nice work. Push up. Open to the side. Hold it here for 3, 2, 1. Return to the mat. Come on. 20 seconds. Push up. It's getting harder. 3, 2, 1. Return to the mat. Push up. Fight through it. Come on. You are so sinking strong. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. What would it look like if I said five, four, hold that side plank for three, two and one. We did it. Holy bananas. Push ups. Get me every stinking time. They never get easier. All right, you guys, triceps and we're out of here. Circuit number four. Tricep single arm, tricep kickback. Megan's got tens. Can I have one of those tens? Nice. Start on the right arm and take a little staggered stance. Hinge over, take that row, pull that elbow to rib cage. And then from here, kick back. Nice. 40 seconds. You only do each arm once? Yes. 40 seconds, single arm, tricep kickback. We go in three, two. Let's go. Kick it. And in. Think big extend, tiny bend. Big extend, tiny bend. Way back to the hip. Back to the hip. Really easy to get into that swinging pattern like this. Ok? Triceps aren't working a whole lot right there. You're really trying to isolate the back of the arm. It's a three headed muscle, you guys. It has the capacity to be stronger than your biceps. We just don't work it as hard. Come on, push. You got it. Kick back, tiny bend, big extend. 10 seconds here on this right arm. Yes. You can take that muscle to fatigue for five, four, three, two, one more. Because you can. Whoo. Holy bananas. Right? Triceps, when you isolate them. Man, that's tough. Sticky glutes too. Yeah, right. Get those hammies involved in that hinged over position. All right, switching it out. Same thing. Other arm. All right, now you're isolating that left tricep hinge. Hinge it over, Pull it up. Elbow meets rib cage. We kick back in three, two. Let's go. Big extend, tiny bend. Big extend, tiny bend. You got it. 40 seconds each side. You only do it once. We got one more final burnout move for you guys. We're dropping to the mat and we're gonna do some leg lowers with skull crushers. That's how we're gonna finish this workout. Come on. Yes, you can. The end is in sight. And you see it. This is where you're like, yes. This is what I got out of bed for right here. Get through this workout. Feel good about myself. Feel strong. Come on. 10 seconds. You got this burning out that left arm right here. Final five, four, three, two. One more. Awesome work, you guys. You are dropping down to that mat. Here's your other 10 if you want it. We're dropping down to the mat. It's a one minute burnout. I'm grabbing my 15s. It is one dumbbell or two. You decide. Lying on your backside, you're giving me a skull crusher with a leg lower. Okay, right here. So I'm going to lower the weights as I lower one leg, lift up. Megan's going to bend the knees, shorten the lever, tap the heel. Shorter the lever. Easier it is. Longer the lever, harder it is. It's one minute, and it starts in three, two. Let's go. Bend and extend. You're going to move at your pace here. I'm finding a pace that I can stick with for one minute. That's gonna be tough and challenging. Those triceps are feeling that I might have to drop down to one weight. Ah, you do your best and you forget the rest. Wherever you're at in your journey, whether you're starting, maybe you're coming back from an injury. Maybe you're coming back from pregnancy. Like me. 12 weeks postpartum, right here. Megan. What? You've had two babies. You know what a fight, two babies. It still is hard. Anything can be challenging, right? Strength training. That's why I love it. It's so stunning and humbling. Dropping down to one weight, you decide how hard you're going to make it, and you can always make it harder. But I'll tell you what, setting a progressive goal, right? Like, I want to lift heavier. I want to do more push ups from my toes. That is going to get you farther than any aesthetic goal. I want to lose 10 pounds. I want to fit in those jeans. It's those progressive goals, those progressive strength training goals that keep you moving forward for three, two, and one. Nice work, you guys. Awesome, awesome job. Whoo. Felt that for sure, right? Okay, let's go ahead. Come over to a nice quadruped position for me. We're gonna do a quick stretch. So I'm on all fours again. I'm gonna take my right arm, reach up to the sky. I'm gonna thread the needle, dropping my right ear, right shoulder to the mat. Hips stay high. Nice little shoulder stretch option to stay with your gaze facing the left or actually take your gaze over to the right. So take your gaze opposite. You're gon more intense shoulder stretch. Nice work. Back to that quadruped position. Same thing. Other side. Left arm sweeps up high. Thread the needle, ear and shoulder to mat again. You can stay here with gaze facing your fingertips or if you take your gaze opposite direction, you're going to feel more intense shoulder stretch. Awesome job. Lot of shoulders today. They're just involved in so much. I'm definitely feeling them. Nice. From here, you're going to come back to center. You're going to step your feet back and lower your belly to the ground. We might have to stagger here. Megan. You're going to go to a T. Bring your arms to a T. Scorpion stretch. Ok. This is for the chest and shoulders you're going to take. We'll go right leg first. Right leg is going to sweep up towards my left fingertips. Sorry, did I get your fingers? Okay. Okay. I'm really focusing on this left shoulder, left chest muscle. It's similar to like if you've done a doorway stretch where you've put your arm in a doorway right here. Have to say I'm 12 weeks postpartum. My milk came in right before we shot this. Should not do this with full boobs. It's a lot better when you're empty. I need to go nurse my baby. My 12 week old baby is sitting in the studio with us and my mom is watching him and I'm like, oh, he needs to eat. Baby needs to eat. Here we go. Other side. Stretching, opening up that chest. Shoulders. Nice. Bring it back to center. Push back up to that quadruped position. This time, hips are going to stay high. Hands are going to going to walk away. This is puppy dog stretch. I'm thinking about creating length from fingertips to tailbone. This is for that first move we did that reverse grip row. Opening up the back, opening up the upper back, the lats as well as the lower back. Nice work. Bring it back to center. Walk yourself up from here. Come to a kneeling position. If that feels comfortable for you, just go ahead, give me two big shoulder rolls. Up, back and down. Up, back and down. Take your right hand, plant it to the mat. Push your hips high. Open up the front side of the body, including those abs that were involved today. Sit it back, switch it out. Left arm down, right arm reaches up and over. Big opening stretch back to center. Awesome job. You absolutely crushed today's arm workout. Thanks so much for joining us. And you've got to check out the leg version of this workout. You can find it at nourishmovlove.com have a good day. Thanks so much for joining me for that upper body workout. If you enjoyed it, please do me a favor, drop a subscribe to our YouTube channel right here. And if you want to check out the leg version of this workout, you can find that right here. And you can find all of our beginner workouts right here in this playlist. Have a great day.