26 Aug Power blocks / Dumbbell workout tips for arms

Are you looking to get more out of your power blocks and/or dumbbells?
This week I’ll offer some good workout tips to put those Pbs and Dbs to use. Today, we take a look at the arms.
Men and women alike can really tone up their arms with dumbbell and/or power block exercises for the arms. Here are some of the exercises I like doing the most:
Tricep kickbacks – Hold a dumbbell with your right hand and place your left knee and hand onto a flat bench. Keep your arm tucked into your side at a 90 degree angle. Slowly extend your arm out and keep your elbow in. At full extension of the movement, make sure to keep a little bend in your arm and all the tension on your tricep muscle. Slowly lower the dumbbell back to the starting position. Repeat with your opposite arm.
Overhead tricep extension – Sit on a bench or stand. Hold dumbbell in right hand, raise over head and then slowly extend your upper arm down, keeping tricep and elbow straight. Feel the triceps contract. Repeat with left arm
* Tip – do 10-12 reps for triceps workout, do everything you can to just use triceps for these exercise to get maximum results. Don’t use too much shoulder or forearms to help weights up.
Bicep curls – Stand or sit on a bench and hold a DB or PB in each hand at your side.
Slowly curl the dumbbell in your right hand up to your right shoulder. While you are curling the weight up turn (supinate) your palm outward and squeeze your bicep for a one-second count at the top of the movement. Slowly lower the dumbbell to the start position and repeat with your left arm. Do 10-12 reps with each arm.
* Tip – To really isolate the biceps, occasionally try preacher bench DB curls.

At Home Fitness consultant Aaron Dorksen’s blog deals with a variety of fitness topics, ranging from workout tips, motivational ideas and feature stories on how exercise impacts people’s lives. E-mail him with comments, questions or ideas for future blogs at aaron@athomefitness.com