The Best Arm Exercises for Women, Just in Time for Awards Season

Toned arms are a must-have accessory for awards season (as Sofia Vergara’s trainer has demonstrated), and while we’re not prepping for the Oscars, we are thinking about the bare styles of spring already. Going sleeveless means muscle, and lots of it. There are dozens of methods for toning arm muscles, and we’ve looked to some of the hottest trainers and fitness gurus to round up the 10 best arm exercises for women, all aimed at firming up those biceps and triceps.

For some of these exercises you need nothing more than the weight of your body and some serious grit, for others a few simple pieces of gear are required. All of them yield fierce results–so fierce that you might be asked, as Physique 57’s Tanya Becker likes to say, “do you have a license for those guns?”. Check out our picks for the 10 moves that will completely reshape your arms.

1. The Swan Arm: Ballet Beautiful trainer and ballerina Mary Helen Bowers famously whipped Natalie Portman into shape for Black Swan with grueling daily workouts, which included her signature Swan Arm move–a graceful undulation which works the entire arm and upper back, yielding long, lithe arms.

2. Arm Sculpting: Physique 57’s secret toning techniques all involve small ranges of motion that push your muscles to total, utter fatigue. This routine of arm movements includes a circuit with weights and weight-bearing tricep dips and push-ups.

3. Tracy Anderson’s Continuity Arms: Anderson’s toned clients (Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna, to name a few) all have the most incredibly defined arms thanks to her extremely specific arm moves, which stretch, tone and work micro-muscle groups to reshape the entire arm. We dare you to try to get through this entire video the first time you attempt it. Seriously.

4. Jillian Michaels’ Top 5 Moves: The Biggest Loser trainer knows how to motivate and terrify–and yield major physical results. Michaels’ arm circuit uses hand weights to tone and trim, as well as simple body resistance in unorthodox staggered pushups to really rev things up.

5. Sadie Lincoln’s Barre3 Arm Workout: The Portland-based Barre3 fitness studio has a cult-like following for it’s ultra-targeted, graceful workouts. Founder Sadie Lincoln’s killer arms are long, lean and tightly toned thanks to these signature moves, which just to happen to also tone the legs, too. Bonus!

6. The Hunger Games Arm Workout: To get in shape for all that archery and and tree climbing, Jennifer Lawrence worked with Hollywood trainer Dr. Joe Horrigon on agility drills and hauled a medicine ball around to firm up those fierce arms.

7. Barry’s Bootcamp Arms: This New York-based gym has Kardashians who will vouch for its effectiveness. While it is a full-body, intense cardio workout, there are some signature arm moves which yield particularly badass results. See the guide to arm sculpting at Glamour, or watch this video for the full-on, cardio-plus-arm-workout with weights. 8. David Kirsch’s Fab 5 Arm Moves: Celebs like Heidi Klum and Naomi Campbell trust trainer David Kirsch with their glam gams and gorgeous arms. Kirsch developed this quick-hit video specifically for women, as it tones the chest area as well, along with the dreaded armpit fold.

9. Andrea Orbeck’s Fully Armed Workout: Another one of Ms. Klum’s secret weapons is trainer and nutritional consultant Andrea Orbeck (she works with a slew of other Victoria’s Secret models as well). Over at Heidi’s AOL channel the twosome cooked up an arm-busting workout that’s totally designed to get you ready to don your angel wings and strut down the runway.

10. Gunnar Peterson’s Tricep Extension: The man behind Kim Kardashian’s wedding physique, as well as Minka Kelly, Sofia Vergara and JLo, is a well-known Hollywood fitness expert. This tricep extension is a powerful one-hit wonder for toning the backs of the arms, where you never, ever want to have flab.

P.S.  Toned arms accentuates the entire body – giving you a graceful and symmetrically look. Your goal is to build up your arm strength by using proper exercise form.

P.P.S.  Learn how to use proper form when performing arm exercises by visiting exercises for diabetics today.