10 Best Lightweight Arm Exercises for Sculpted Muscles

While you can’t actually lengthen your arms with weightlifting (stretching is called for there), you can help create a lean, sculpted look by building muscle with a couple of dumbells. And the good news is, if you want to obtain a long, lean, and sculpted look for your arms, you don’t have to lift heavy weights.

Light weights—and even just your own bodyweight—provide ample resistance to help you build well-defined biceps, triceps, and shoulders. There are plenty of arm exercises out there that can be performed effectively with your bodyweight or dumbells under five pounds. But which exercises are the most effective?

To answer just that, we turned to certified personal trainer Ashley Joi to share the best light weight and bodyweight arm exercises for sculpted arms.

MEET THE EXPERT

Ashley Joi is a certified personal trainer and official Isopure Athlete.

Here are some tips for following along with the arm exercises from Joi:

• Complete 10-12 Reps each exercise (or each leg or arm if exercise uses one arm or leg at a time if you’re advance or want a bigger challenge).
• Repeat exercise circuit 2-5 times depending on fitness level, your time limit, and desired results.
• Any exercise with weight can be substituted for household items such as water bottles, laundry detergent bottles, or a kettlebell. Alternatively, use no weight.
• Rest 20-35 seconds between exercises, depending on fitness. 
• Take 1-1.5 minutes rest between sets.