Dumbbell Exercises for Women

Of all the dumbbell exercises for women, I enjoy doing biceps the most. The muscles really respond to these targeted exercises, if performed correctly, and you can certainly feel the burn.

Women are often concerned that using weights for exercise will cause them to develop manly muscles and that is absolutely not the case. While there are certainly women body builders with incredible physiques, it takes such an incredible amount of training that you would have to be devoting countless hours in the gym to cause that much change.

While I've found my biceps react rather quickly to dumbbell exercises, my triceps are just plain stubborn. Because they're not used as often as our biceps, triceps exercises are usually done with lighter weights than biceps and still feel quite the burn.

The first time my trainer had me do an overhead tricep exercise, I thought it looked rather simple. Then he stuck a 5lb dumbbell in my hand. To myself, I remember thinking he must believe I'm a wimp. I have kids! A baby 5lb weight? Whatever. He said we'd be doing 3 sets of 12 reps. By the end of the 1st set, I was petrified my arms would cave and I'd hit myself on the head with the weight. I didn't, thank goodness, but I could hardly raise my arms at all the next day. After awhile, that feeling of exhaustion the day after a workout became exhilarating. It meant progress, even if it was a bit uncomfortable.

Anytime I work my arms, I make sure to hit all parts of my arm - biceps, triceps, and shoulders. That way nothing is left out and I know I'm toning the entire arm, not just one aspect.

Shoulder workouts have always been the hardest for me. With bicep exercises, I could move up 5lbs or more every few weeks. With shoulders, I would be lucky to add 1 more pound every couple of months. They're also a bit embarrassing for me to do in public because my upper lip raises every time I reach the peak of a shoulder exercise. I always feel like Mr. Ed the talking horse.

Women and shoulders were made for tank tops so I plug along!

I had no idea there were so many muscles in the back, but there are! And if my trainer ever had a phrase the poor guy must have been tired of repeating for me it was "get your elbows in". In many back exercises for women, your elbows need to stay close to your body in order to isolate the particular muscle meant for the exercise. My elbows tended to wander. I'm sure he went home a couple of times thinking to himself that if he had to tell me one more time to pull my elbows in he was going to have to quit - or let me loose on someone else.

Ahh - here's where the real work happens. I know, lunges should be a forbidden word...but they work! That's why doing them makes you so shaky you can hardly walk. (By the way, if you start to feel pain during any exercise you need to stop immediately. However, doing an exercise "to exhaustion", as they say, is the goal if you're looking to increase muscle.)

I should have explained earlier about sets and reps. There are probably all kinds of guidelines out there but I've been taught to do three sets of any exercise with 12-15 reps per set. That means you do the exercise 12-15 times, short break (like 30 seconds), then do another set of 12-15, short break, and then the final set.

If you're looking for something more robust, like a "boot camp" workout, there's a plan that is drawing a lot of attention. The plan was developed by a former US Military fitness trainer - if that doesn't say it all, right? He at least gives you a free audio describing the program so you can decide for yourself if you're up for his six week challenge.