5 Best Compound Exercises for Beginners to Build Strong Arms

The best compound exercises for beginners are some of the essential ones you must do to improve your overall physique. It’s important to focus on exercises that work on more than one muscle group, as that helps with activating more muscle fibers and pushing them to become thicker and stronger.

Usually, compound exercises are the stepping stone towards a lean yet muscular physique. There are certain compound exercises that can help you build stronger arms and are also isolation workouts for the arms.

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Best Compound Exercises for Arms

Here are five of the best compound exercises for beginners that can help you build strong arms:

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1) Barbell Overhead Press

You need a barbell and weight plates for this exercise.

To do it:

• Set the barbell on a power rack, and add weight plates as you deem fit.
• Grip the barbell; take it off the rack, and press it overhead. When you’re pressing overhead, ensure that your shoulders are engaged.
• The pressure must be on your lateral and anterior deltoids. Even when you power the barbells, it’s important to keep the delts engaged.

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2) Close Grip Bench Press

You need a barbell, weight plates, and benches for this exercise.

To do it:

• Place the barbell on a power rack, and adjust the barbell to a height where you can grip the barbell lying on the bench.
• It’s best to keep a slight bend from the elbow when you grip the barbell.
• After adding weight plates, unrack the barbell using a close grip, and do bench presses.
• It’s important to not flare your elbows. Engage your triceps when you’re doing the exercise.

As this is a compound exercise, a close grip bench press helps the pectoral muscles as well.

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3) Close Grip Chin-up

It’s not necessary to focus on resistance training if you want to build strong arms using compound exercises. It’s important to have bodyweight exercises in your routine.

Close grip chin-ups allow you to focus on your bicep muscles by using them to pull your body off the ground. As it’s a compound exercise, your lat muscles get worked in this workout as well. You can keep a neutral or supinated grip when doing chin-ups.

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4) Barbell Bench Press

Barbell bench press is another good compound exercise for beginners. It primarily works on the pectoral muscles. However, as a compound exercise, it works on the triceps and shoulders as well.

This exercise is similar to close-grip bench press, but the only modification is a wide grip when holding the barbell.

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5) Bent-over Barbell Row

The bent-over barbell row works on the bicep muscles as a secondary muscle group. The primary muscle group for this exercise is the lat muscles.

Additionally, the bent-over barbell row enables you to activate the smaller muscles surrounding the rear delts. You can find the guide for doing bent-over rows here.

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Bottom Line

While it’s worthwhile to know the best compound exercises for beginners to build strong arms, there are other factors you must know if you want to add mass.

First, you must give your body enough rest. That's how muscle fibers get the time to rebuild themselves and become thicker and stronger.

Second, you must have enough protein to keep yourself in a calorie surplus. Finally, you must hydrate yourself at regular intervals.