Can You Really Get Stronger Arms with Light Weights? These 9 Moves Prove You Can

Strong arms are a boon to just about every element of everyday life. They help you carry children, cart groceries, clean house and, of course, excel in athletic endeavors, too. (Fun fact: Even runners benefit from arm strength, which helps with endurance and efficiency.) 

One of the most common ways to build arm muscle is to lift weights, but you don’t have to bench press hundreds of pounds to strengthen your upper limbs. Light weights can also do the trick, especially if you use the right strategy and have realistic expectations. Here, we describe the specific benefits of engaging in arm exercises with light weights and share some of the best exercises for strengthening the upper extremities using lighter weights. 

Are Light Weights Effective for Building Arm Strength?

It may be difficult to believe that you can get fit lifting something that weighs less than your go-to water bottle, but it’s true; however, simply hiking a light weight dumbbell into the air a few times won’t do much for your muscles. The key to using lighter weights effectively is reps—lots of them. It’s also important to keep in mind that what you may consider light weight varies from person to person. In general, a light weight is a weight that is 67 percent of your one-rep max (the heaviest amount of weight you can lift successfully for one rep only).

“When you put the body under any kind of physical stress, it adapts and becomes stronger,” says Peloton instructor Sam Yo. Heavy weights, of course, place more stress on muscles than lighter weights, but you can add stress to lighter weight workouts by working the muscles for longer periods of time. “With light weights, you generally need to use higher repetitions to achieve a similar effect to lifting heavier weights for fewer reps. This process leads to muscle growth and strength gains over time,” says Sam. A 2016 study found that participants who lifted lighter weights gained muscle and strength—as long as they lifted to failure. 

Benefits of Doing Arm Exercises with Light Weights

The decision to lift heavy or light weights goes beyond personal preference. Both approaches build muscle, but each provides unique benefits.

“When we use heavier weights, our focus is more towards building strength,” says Sam. “We can target our fast-twitch muscle fibers that aid in the explosive power needed to move heavier loads.” Lifting with heavy weights also aids hypertrophy, or muscle fiber growth. “Hypertrophy is the cornerstone of muscle growth,” says Sam. “While it can be achieved with lighter weights, it's quicker with heavier weights due to the increased overload and stress.” Heavy weight lifting is also beneficial in terms of building bone density, he says. “Similar to muscle stress on the body, when we put stress on our bones through heavier weights, we see an increase in bone density, which is crucial for long-term bone health,” says Sam.

On the flip side, lifting with lighter weights confers some benefits you might not see from heavier weight lifting. Here, Sam offers insight into the gains to be made from lifting light:

Enables Proper Technique 

“Higher repetitions with lighter weights help build and correct technique, form, and control, ensuring you target the right muscles,” says Sam. 

Targets Smaller Stabilizing Muscles 

When you lift lighter, you are less likely to rely on momentum and inadvertently recruit muscles you didn’t intend to work. This helps ensure you’re targeting smaller stabilizing muscles that are otherwise difficult to pinpoint, says Sam. 

Builds Muscle Endurance

According to Sam, working out with light weights helps build muscular endurance, which is the ability of your muscles to sustain repeated contractions or maintain a force over an extended period of time. “[This] helps build resilience for prolonged physical activity, especially in sports,” he says. 

Alleviates Joint Stress 

Lighter weights put less stress on your joints than heavier loads. For this reason, says Sam, light weights can be ideal for beginners, those in rehabilitation, or those with joint issues. This is also why light weight lifting is recommended as a safe way to maintain strength as we age, says Sam. 

Reduces Risk of Injury 

Because light weights allow for better form and control, and because you’re not as likely to be lifting more than your muscles can handle, opting for smaller dumbbells also reduces your risk of injury, says Sam.

9 Arm Exercises with Light Weights 

According to Sam, there are a number of ways to incorporate light weights into your training regimen. “You could use them in timed circuit training, combine them with other modalities like holding light weights while doing boxing combinations, or employ a progressive overload set where you gradually increase the number of reps, sets, or frequency to continuously challenge your muscles.” 

Personally, Sam says he likes to use light weights to finish and ‘rep out’ his workout after moving through heavier strength and hypertrophy sets. “This ensures that I contribute to overall muscle strength, endurance, and definition in my arm workouts,” he says. 

Here, a few of Sam’s favorite arm exercises utilizing light weights that you can incorporate into your workout in whichever way suits best:

Tricep Kickbacks

“The exercise focuses on the triceps, the muscles at the back of the arms,” says Sam. “This muscle is responsible for extending the elbow and straightening the arm, [and this exercise allows] you to really stretch, squeeze, and feel it right in the muscle.” 

1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing inward and arms tight to your body. 

2. Bend your knees and hinge forward at the waist until your chest is nearly parallel to the ground, making sure to keep your neck and spine in alignment. 

3. Slowly straighten your elbows until your arms are straight behind you—only the lower part of your arm should move while the upper part of your arm remains tight to your body.  

4. Pause, and then slowly lower back to starting position and repeat for desired reps.

“[This three-head shoulder circuit] focuses on hitting all the heads of the deltoids—superset high reps with lateral raises for shoulder width, front raises for the anterior deltoid for pushing strength, and a reverse fly to hit the rear delt, which helps with improving good posture,” says Sam. 

Lateral Raises 

1. Stand up straight with feet hips-distance apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, with palms facing into your body.

2. Slowly raise both arms simultaneously up to a “T” position—at the top, they should line up with your shoulders. 

3. Slowly lower back to starting position and repeat for desired reps.

Muscles worked: lateral deltoids

Front Raises 

1. Hold dumbbells in front of you with palms facing your body. 

2. Brace your core and lift the dumbbells upward in a controlled manner, with a slight bend in the elbow until they are in line with your shoulders. 

3. Slowly lower back to starting position and repeat for desired reps.

Muscles worked: anterior deltoids

Reverse Fly 

1. Stand up straight with feet hips-distance apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, with palms facing into the sides of your body. 

2. Hinge forward with bent knees until your chest is almost parallel to the floor. 

3. Raise both arms out to the side, keeping elbows slightly bent and squeezing your shoulder blades together. 

4. Slowly lower back to starting position and repeat for desired reps.

Muscles worked: rear deltoids

Wrist Curls 

Wrist curls are ideal for improving strength in the forearm flexors, says Sam. “Light weights put less stress on the wrist than heavier weights, making this exercise great for grip strength.” 

1. Kneel behind a bench or flat surface such as a chair seat, holding a dumbbell in each hand. 

2. Bend forward at the hips and place your forearms on the flat surface in front of you at shoulders-width distance. Palms should face upwards and your wrists should be neutral. 

3. Slowly curl your wrists upward on the exhale and extend them downward on the inhale.  

4. Slowly return your wrists to the starting position and repeat for desired reps.

Muscles worked: forearm flexors

Zottman Curls

This move combines a standard supine curl and a reverse curl. “The rotation in the wrists and forearms targets both the biceps and forearm muscles,” says Sam. “The movement requires a lot of control, which is why it's perfect to do with lighter weights to reduce the risk of injury.”

1. Stand up straight holding a dumbbell in each hand with palms facing away from you and elbows tight to your side. 

2. Bend at both elbows simultaneously to curl dumbbells up to your shoulders. 

3. Pause and rotate your wrists so that your palms face away from your body.

4. Slowly lower both dumbbells back to your sides and repeat for desired reps. 

Muscles worked: biceps, forearms

Overhead Press 

1. Start holding the dumbbells above your shoulders, with arms bent at 90 degrees and palms facing each other. 

2. Press both dumbbells up toward the ceiling, bringing your biceps by your ears. 

3. With control, return to the starting position and repeat for desired reps.

Muscles Worked: deltoids

Bicep Curl 

1. Start holding dumbbells with palms facing forward.

2. Keeping your elbows tight to your ribcage, curl both dumbbells until they are in front of your shoulders. 

3. Slowly lower and return to the starting position. 

Muscles worked: biceps

High Pull 

1. Start standing with your feet wider than hip width apart, holding a dumbbell in one hand against your thigh, with your palm facing your body. 

2. Shift the hips back and bend the knees, while lowering the weight between your legs. 

3. In one explosive move, push through the floor while straightening your legs, and pull the dumbbell up toward your armpit with your elbow above the shoulder and pointed toward the ceiling. 

4. Lower the dumbbell back down to the starting position. 

Muscles worked: deltoids, lats, trapezius, glutes, hamstrings

Takeaway 

Whether heavy weights intimidate you, you have specific goals for your arm workouts, or you simply want to enhance your fitness routine, light weights can do quite a bit of heavy lifting towards improving the fitness of your upper extremities. 

It is important to understand, however, that it is easier to plateau in your progress with light weights than it is with heavier weights, says Sam. To keep your workouts working, he recommends the following: 

1. Practice Progressive Overload

To keep your body out of its comfort zone and continuously challenge your muscles, aim to improve by about one percent each time you workout, says Sam. This can involve increasing weight, reps, or sets. 

2. Vary Your Workouts

Sam recommends regularly switching up your exercises to target different muscle fibers and avoid muscle adaptation to one form of movement. “We are creatures of habit, but not trying something different in our physical activity can keep us stuck in the same place,” he says. 

3. Prioritize Rest and Recovery

“This is the most crucial and vital part of your workout. Remember, your body doesn't get stronger during the workout—it gets stronger when the muscles are repaired during recovery. So get lifting, and then get resting!,” says Sam.