The Best Resistance Band Arm Workout To Tone Arms From A Trainer

Your biceps will be quaking by the end.

Want to know a secret? You can totally strengthen and sculpt your arms without owning a set of dumbbells. All you really need is a resistance band or two. Oh, and the top exercises to create an effective resistance band arm workout!

"Resistance bands are a great workout for all levels of experience because they create constant tension when contracting your muscles through any range of motion," says Rachel Pieroni, CPT, a certified personal trainer and Pure Barre training evaluation specialist. "This makes resistance bands incredibly effective, because you’re moving equally though the concentric (muscles shortening) and eccentric (muscles lengthening) parts of a muscle contraction."

Meet the experts: Rachel Nicks, CPT, is a certified personal trainer certified in Hatha yoga, barre, TRX, kettlebell, Pilates, and a prenatal and postpartum fitness instructor. Rachel Pieroni, CPT, is a certified personal trainer and Pure Barre training evaluation specialist.

Not to mention, resistance bands are effective for everyone, from beginners to advanced athletes, because they are incredibly versatile and can be used to target *any* area of the body. "For beginners, they are convenient and easy to use because they can help achieve major gains while also preventing injury," says Pieroni. "For advanced athletes, they can be used alone as accessory-style exercises or in combination with more traditional weightlifting exercises, in an effort to overload certain muscles."

Still a little resistant (pun intended!) to grabbing a resistance band to train your arms? Don't be. Resistance bands can get your muscles firing just about as well as dumbbells (particularly in upper-body moves), according to research published in the Journal of Human Kinetics. Yep, it's pretty much guaranteed to light up every muscle in your arms—biceps, triceps, and shoulders, says postpartum fitness instructor Rachel Nicks, CPT.

Ready to snap to it and add resistance bands to your upper body routine? The following resistance band workout targets target your entire upper-body to nail a well-balanced burn. (You won't even miss the dumbbells!)

Time: 25 minutes | Equipment: resistance band | Good for: arms and upper body

Instructions: Choose 10 exercises from the list below, making sure to pick a mix that work different muscle groups. Complete the indicated reps for each and then continue to the next move. Once you’ve performed all 10, rest for two minutes. Repeat twice more for a total of three rounds.

Arm muscles worked: shoulders

How to:

Arm muscles worked: shoulders

How to:

Arm muscles worked: triceps

How to:

Arm muscles worked: shoulders

How to:

Arm muscles worked: shoulders

How to:

Arm muscles worked: shoulders

How to:

Arm muscles worked: biceps

How to:

Arm muscles worked: biceps

How to:

Arm muscles worked: biceps

How to:

Arm muscles worked: triceps

How to:

Arm muscles worked: shoulders

How to:

Arm muscles worked: triceps

How to:

Arm muscles worked: triceps

How to:

Yes, indeed! Here's why: "There are many types of resistance bands available, including looped bands, longer looped bands, or bands with hooks, and this allows for a ton of variety when programming a workout for the upper body," says Pieroni. All those options give you room to adjust and progressively overload while keeping constant muscle tension for each exercise you perform, she adds. As a result, the moves you do with them are oh so effective.

Plus, the more you stretch the band, the more challenging an exercise becomes, notes Pieroni. That creates increased tension on the active muscles, she explains. Resistance bands offer a killer arm workout thanks to time under tension, which is a smart strategy for maximizing strength and building muscle.

Andi Breitowich is a Chicago-based writer and graduate student at Northwestern Medill. She's a mass consumer of social media and cares about women's rights, holistic wellness, and non-stigmatizing reproductive care. As a former collegiate pole vaulter, she has a love for all things fitness and is currently obsessed with Peloton Tread workouts and hot yoga.

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