A Fire 5-Minute Arm Workout For When You’re Tight on Time

Updated on July 12, 2024 at 1:05 PM

No matter how hard you try to prevent it, sometimes you find yourself with a "rise and grind" type of day. For 12-plus hours, you might be bouncing between Zoom meetings, walking your dog, running to the grocery store and laundromat, and checking off a million other tiny to-dos, with little time to make a coffee — let alone power through a full-length workout.

The good news: you can still squeeze in some resistance training with this five-minute arm workout, which hits all of your major upper-body muscles. It's the perfect exercise snack, effective enough to be your only workout for the day, but also a great way to add a little extra strength training onto a cardio session.

To do the workout, set a timer for five minutes, then kick things off by performing eight reps of each exercise in the circuit. For each of the following rounds, you'll take away two reps (i.e., you'll do six reps of every move in round two, four reps in round three, and so on.) Your goal is to make it through all four rounds and into the bonus exercise before the clock strikes zero.

With only five minutes of working time, you'll need to minimize rest and move quickly — while maintaining good form, of course. Choose a moderate weight, something that's challenging enough that you feel like you could do two or three more reps after finishing each set but not so difficult that you're burnt out after two rounds.

This style of workout is designed to challenge your muscular endurance, or your muscles' ability to produce force — and maintain it — for prolonged periods. The better your muscular endurance, the longer you'll be able to work without feeling fatigued. That means everyday activities that call on your upper-body musculature for a long time — say, gardening or holding your baby — won't feel so taxing.

Before you start this five-minute arm workout, warm up for a few minutes with dynamic moves like thread the needle, cat-cow, overhead reach, high plank to downward dog, and scapular push-ups. An active primer before your workout increases muscle temperature and blood flow, which may help improve exercise performance and reduce injury risk, research in the Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation shows.

Shoulder Press

This complex strength move is a classic for a reason: it engages a handful of muscles throughout the upper body, including the deltoids (the muscles that cover the front, side, and back of your shoulder), serratus anterior (the muscle on the sides of your ribcage), lower and upper traps, pectoralis major and minor, rhomboids (the muscles connecting your shoulder blades to your spine), triceps, and more, according to research in the journal Sensors.. To top it off, it calls on your core for stability and requires mobility throughout the thoracic spine (which extends from the base of your neck to the bottom of your ribs).

As you fatigue during this five-minute arm workout, you may lose core engagement and find yourself excessively arching your lower back (hello, discomfort). If that's the case, take a small step back with one foot, which will help you keep your shoulders, hips, and knees aligned.

Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, a soft bend in your knees, and a dumbbell in each hand. Engage your core by bracing as if someone is about to punch you in the stomach. Curl the dumbbells up to your shoulders, then open your elbows out to the sides, slightly in front of your ribcage. Your palms are facing forward. This is the starting position.
Keeping your core engaged and spine neutral, take an inhale. On an exhale, simultaneously press the dumbbells up to the ceiling until your arms are straight but not locked.
On an inhale, reverse the movement, bending your elbows and lowering the dumbbells to shoulder height. That's one rep.

Do 8 reps in Round 1. Each round after, take away 2 reps.

Bicep Curl

The biceps curl will give your guns some one-on-one time in this five-minute arm workout. The exercise puts the muscle group through the ringer, though it also works your anterior deltoids and wrist rotators, research in the journal Sports shows.

Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, a soft bend in your knees, and a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs. (You can also perform this move with a long-loop resistance band; step your feet over the center of the band and hold a handle in each hand, then proceed with the following steps.) Your palms are facing away from you. Engage your core by bracing as if someone is about to punch you in the stomach. This is the starting position.
On an exhale, bend at the elbows to curl the dumbbells up to your shoulders. Avoid swaying your lower body to create momentum and assist with the curl.
On an inhale, slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position. That's one rep.

Do 8 reps in Round 1. Each round after, take away 2 reps.

Reverse Fly

You may not be able to see them in the mirror, but it's just as important to work the muscles on the backside of your body (aka your posterior chain) as it is to train the ones on the front. The reverse fly targets the posterior and lateral deltoids, traps, and lats, a study in the Journal of Human Kinetics suggests. To ensure the five-minute arm workout exercise is effective, hinge forward as far as comfortable; alternatively, perform the movement with your chest supported by a bench.

Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, a soft bend in your knees, and a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, your palms facing toward one another. Engage your core by bracing as if someone is about to punch you in the stomach.
Hinge forward from your hips to lower your chest until it's roughly parallel to the floor. Gaze down at the floor. Allow your arms to hang directly below your shoulders.
Keep your back flat, core engaged, and elbows softly bent. On an exhale, raise the dumbbells out to the sides until they're roughly aligned with your ribcage. Imagine squeezing your shoulder blades together.
On an inhale, slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position. That's one rep.

Do 8 reps in Round 1. Each round after, take away 2 reps.

Single-Arm Bent-Over Row

Targeting your rhomboids (which retract, elevate, and rotate the shoulder blades), traps, lats, and posterior deltoids, this single-arm exercise makes you focus on just one side of your body at a time. That means you have the opportunity to notice any major muscle imbalances (a red flag: it feels significantly easier to power through your reps on your right side than your left) and tweak your workouts going forward to correct them. Pro tip: to target the biceps, rotate your arms so your palms face forward, then row the dumbbells up to your hip crease.

Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, a soft bend in your knees, and a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, your palms facing toward one another. Engage your core by bracing as if someone is about to punch you in the stomach.
Hinge forward from your hips to lower your chest until it's roughly parallel to the floor. Gaze down at the floor. Allow your arms to hang directly below your shoulders.
Keep your spine neutral and core engaged. On an exhale, pull the right dumbbell up to your ribcage, sending your elbow straight behind you. Imagine squeezing your shoulder blades together.
On an inhale, slowly lower the dumbbell back to the starting position. That's one rep. Repeat on the left side.
Note: if you need more stability, you can step one leg back about two to three foot-lengths behind the other, as shown. Row the arm that's on the same side as your stepped-back leg, complete all your reps for one side, then switch both legs and arms.

Do 8 reps total (4 on each side) in Round 1. Each round after, take away 2 reps.

Tricep Push-Up

Bringing your elbows into your sides, rather than keeping them about 45 degrees away from your ribcage, makes a standard push-up light up your triceps, along with the usual suspects like the pectoralis major, serratus anterior, and anterior deltoids. To modify this five-minute arm workout move, place your hands on an elevated surface (a bench or couch works) or perform the movement with your knees on the ground.

Start in a high plank position on the floor: your shoulders are stacked with your wrists, your legs are fully extended with your feet hip-width apart, and your gaze is down. You should form a straight line from head to heel. Engage your core by bracing as if someone is about to punch you in the stomach. This is the starting position.
Keeping your elbows tucked into your ribcage, inhale and slowly bend at the elbows to lower your body until you're two to three inches above the floor.
On an exhale, press into all four corners of your hands to straighten your arms and return to the starting position. That's one rep.

Do 8 reps in Round 1. Each round after, take away 2 reps.

Bonus: Up-Down Plank

End the five-minute arm workout with the up-down plank, a dynamic exercise that challenges your core stability, deltoids, traps, rhomboids, pecs, and muscles throughout your posterior chain. As you transition between the high plank and forearm plank, try to keep your hips stable and parallel to the floor, avoiding rotating to the side.

Start in a high plank position on the floor: your shoulders are stacked with your wrists, your legs are fully extended with your feet hip-width apart, and your gaze is down. You should form a straight line from head to heel. Engage your core by bracing as if someone is about to punch you in the stomach. This is the starting position.
On an inhale, lower your right elbow to the floor, then your left elbow. You're now in a forearm plank.
On an exhale, place your right hand on the floor, then your left hand, and press back up into a high plank. That's one rep.

Continue, alternating starting sides, until 5 minutes is up.

Megan Falk is an experienced health and wellness journalist and editor whose work has been published by PS, Shape, Livestrong, Women's Health, Well+Good, mindbodygreen, Wide Open Spaces, and other outlets. She has served as an editor on Equinox's content team and at Shape, where she primarily covered exercise tips, fitness modalities, workout trends, and more.