Being able to work out from the comfort of our own home is something everyone would do if they were able to. It is more convenient, you don’t have to wait to use equipment, and can do so in peace and quiet without weights constantly slamming around you.
Almost everyone would workout at home if given the choice, however the one major disadvantage to working out at home is that you are probably lacking some equipment. Unless you are extremely wealthy you aren’t going to be able to afford all the equipment that you see at the gym-hence why people choose that option.
With that being said, there are people out there who either can’t afford a gym membership, don’t have the time to go to the gym, or just don’t want to deal with the hassle.
When it comes to weight training, our arms are arguably the easiest muscle group to train, requiring the least amount of equipment. In fact you can get a more than adequate arm workout from just dumbbells alone if you know what you are doing.
What Are the Best Tricep and Bicep Exercises You Can Do With Just Dumbbells?
1-Bent Over Underhand Rows
Before you do this exercise, you are going to want to grab a chair, incline bench or something that you can lean your head on.
This is going to help keep your body in the correct posture throughout the exercise which is extremely important here. You probably aren’t going to have a full length mirror in the garage when you are working out at home, so make sure you have something to work off of.
To do this exercise, you are going to line your head up on the back of the chair or bench to where your back is in a straight alignment throughout the exercise. Do not bend your back as that will help you get the weight up, and take the stress off of the arms.
Hold the weights with a supinated grip, or with your palms facing up. You are just going to lift the weights straight up, using only your arms. You are using dumbbells here and probably lighter weight as well, so make sure to get plenty of reps in. Fifteen or so per set is what you want to look for.
If you really want to challenge yourself here, you can superset this with tricep kickbacks. You don’t need to even change your posture here, except of course to extend your arms backwards instead of forwards.
2-Close Grip Press
The close grip press is one of the best exercises out there that you can do as far as your triceps development is concerned. A popular way to do this exercise is to just jump on a bench, and to do this exercise like you would a typical bench press with an Olympic straight bar.
You can do pretty much the same exercise only using dumbbells, and you can even throw more variation in to your routine here which will help your development. You can hold the dumbbells like you would hold the bar in a neutral position, or you can hold them in a pronated position.
Holding them in a pronated position and then twisting them to a neutral position during the press recruits more muscles to do so, helping you to build bigger, stronger arms.
3-Incline Tricep Extensions
This exercise is not only a great dumbbell exercise which mainly targets the triceps, but is a great alternative to skullcrushers. Many people avoid skullcrushers because they are afraid of injuring themselves, and this exercise works in a similar manner with minimal risk.
This exercise is also a great one you can use for supersets, as it is easy to transition from tricep extensions in to various exercises that target the biceps such as traditional curls or hammer curls. This is a great way to not only develop your arms, but to give you an intense workout in just a short period of time.