Strength-building exercises are important for both genders, although many women are nervous about doing them because they fear that they could leave them looking too bulky.
Even woman who lift weights is not going to ‘bulk up’, because women produce far less testosterone than men. They will get stronger, though and that is beneficial for improving bone density, boosting their metabolism (which means staying beach body ready is easier), and they are less likely to get injured.
Women who play sports, whether that’s playing tennis, taking parts in triathlons, or playing basketball or martial arts, will find that adding strength training to their regimen will help them to stay active and injury free for longer. Simply doing different motions can help with injury prevention.
Best Arm Exercises for Women
If you are looking for the best arm exercises for women, then you will find that there is no one easy answer. It really depends on what you are trying to train. In general, though, simple isolation exercises such as biceps curls and preacher curls aren’t much use unless the only thing that you are looking to do is build bigger biceps.
The humble bench press is a good exercise. It is a good idea to do it with two dumbbells instead of with a barbell to begin with, because this will force you to focus on form and will ensure that you don’t end up with a strength imbalance where one side of the body is stronger than the other and is taking most of the weight from the bar.
You can also do dumbbell flyes on a bench to work the chest muscles as well as the arms. This is a good exercise for building up supporting muscles that are often ignored in other activities.
If you do have access to a dumbbell, then Pendalay rows and the overhead press are useful exercises. Be aware that the overhead press is deceptively difficult and you may need to start with just the bar to begin with, and work up from there. Get a trainer to look at your form so that you don’t end up with an injured shoulder.
Exercises to Do At Home
If you want to build strength in your arms at home, buy a few sets of kettle bells. Depending on your existing activity level you might want to start with a 8 to 12 pound kettle bell. Most women can work up to an 15 to 25 pound kettle bell for general exercises quite quickly. Learn how to do the kettle bell swing and press. These two exercises are great for building not just arm strength but also core strength as well. As an added bonus, the kettle bell swing will give you a good cardio workout too.
To get the most benefit out of any strength exercise, you should use a weight that feels heavy, but that you can move for a few repetitions. If you can do more than 8 repetitions before you feel like your form is going, the weight is too light. If you cannot move the weight more than once with control and good form, the weight is far too heavy.