Strengthening exercises for arms and shoulders work on the muscle groups for your upper body area. These are movements that allow you to push or pull on muscles such as biceps, triceps and shoulders. The upper body has the second largest muscles to workout outside the leg muscles. The more muscles your work the more you improve your metabolism.

I will give you my top exercises to shape, tone and strengthen your arms and shoulders. First we need to examine the best exercises that will provide you fast and effective results for your upper body development. Multi-joint compound exercises are by far the most effective in terms of stimulating the muscle. Multi joint compound workouts improve lean muscle growth and speed up calories burn by taking a shorter amount of time than isolation exercises.

Advantages of compound exercises and tips for best efficiency

Compound exercises have other advantages over isolation muscle exercises, such as more functional movements, greater muscle stimulation, higher hormonal production and less stress to the joints. Examples of multi-compound movements include chin ups, push ups, dips and shoulder press. Your workout time should be short and intense. That’s because cortisol levels will increase after 40 minutes, which will inhibit muscle mass. The number of sets in a session should be 2-4, along with repetitions ranging between 8 and 12. Pick 4 or 5 exercises and only rest for 60-90 seconds after the last exercise of the circuit.

Choose the most complex exercises to start off your arms and shoulder workout. Then gradually work your way down to the least challenging ones as fatigue starts to kick. This will help to make your workout more efficient as well as keeping good form with the less challenging exercises at the end of each circuit.

Lastly to get the best results from any muscle, you must change your workouts every 4-6 weeks. Another great indicator is when your routine hits a plateau. An example is when you lift the same weights for the specific exercise after a few sessions and not improving. When this happens you choose another exercise for the same muscle group until you stop improving, then switch again.

My top 5 recommendations for shoulder and arm exercises are listed below.

Dumbbell press – I prefer dumbbells to barbells in this exercise as your less dominant side is worked evenly. On a swiss ball it’s a lot more difficult as you’re working your core strength.

Push ups – Diagram shows fingertip push for advance users, other more challenging push-ups are one arm push-up, using resistance bands or elevating your feet higher than your head. Beginners can start with normal push ups or knee push ups.

Seated Cable Row (elbows out) – The advanced version is standing up on one leg while pulling the cable from upright position or from the initial position bent over forward, with the cable at floor level and lifting to chest height.

Seated Shoulder Press – On a swiss ball or standing up on one leg are a lot more challenging versions for advance individuals.

Upright Barbell Rows – Otherwise known as the High Pull. Use a weight that’s comfortable for your level.