6 Dumbbell Exercises for Explosive Arm Gains

Dumbbell exercises are one of the top ways to add variations to your workout routine. They enable you to work on one side at a time, which is great for fixing any strength or muscle imbalance between the two sides.

Additionally, dumbbell exercises allow you to focus on various movements without having to worry about the weight, as extremely light-weight dumbbells are also available. However, barbells are quite heavy without any weight plates added to them and may not be the ideal way to begin your arm routines.

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Dumbbell Exercises for Explosive Arm Gains

The following are six exercises that you should add to your routine if your goal is to build defined arms, with your bicep peak and triceps horse-shoe clearly visible.

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1) Incline Dumbbell Curl

While dumbbell curls are the most common exercise for biceps, it’s also a classic. You should never ignore foundational or basic exercises, regardless of how advanced you’ve become with your workouts.

To add more stress to the muscles, you should aim to stretch them as much as possible. To help with that, sit on an incline bench, and when you lower your arms, allow your arms to stretch as much as they can.

The more you stretch the muscle group, the better it activates the overall development of the biceps.

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2) Hammer Curl

Hammer curls are a variation that activates every part of your biceps and not just the long and short head. It may not be the exercise you want to do, but it’s one of those dumbbell exercises that you must do.

You can find a complete guide to hammer curls here.

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3) Spider Curl

Spider curls are a variation for bicep curls, and you don’t need to work them into each of your bicep routines. Nevertheless, you can add spider curls to your routine whenever you want to add variations and move past dumbbell curls.

However, spider curls require you to use an incline bench, and it’s best to move ahead with bicep curls or hammer curls if you don’t have access to an incline bench.

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4) Tricep Extension

Dumbbell exercises focus on tricep exercises as well. When it comes to extensions, you can do single-handed or double-handed extensions, depending on which one works best for you.

Ideally, you should incorporate both variations into the routine. Double-arm tricep extensions allow you to pick more weight, while single-arm tricep extensions ensure that you can fix any form of imbalance between the two triceps.

You can find a guide to doing tricep extensions here.

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5) Tricep Kickback

Tricep kickbacks are another dumbbell exercise that you can do unilaterally.

To do tricep kickbacks, bend from your hips while holding the dumbbells. Next, bring the upper parallel to your torso, keep your elbow stable, and push your forearm backward.

Your forearms should be the only body part that will move during the entire exercise.

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6) Wrist Curls

Wrist curls are dumbbell exercises for your forearms. To do wrist curls, you need to hold a dumbbell and keep your forearms stable. Next, keep your palms outwards and curl the dumbbell inwards towards your wrist.

The entire movement should be from your wrist while the rest of your arm remains stable.

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Bottom Line

Dumbbell exercises are sometimes more beneficial than barbell exercises because of their ability to add volume to the exercise. On top of that, these exercises ensure that you’re being able to activate the smaller and bigger muscles of your arms by allowing you to hit the muscle groups from various angles!