Two dumbbells and these five simple exercises to build your back and biceps

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

Woman doing dumbbell bicep curl

(Image credit: Getty Images)

These days there’s hundreds of exercises and fancy-looking bits of equipment that can help us achieve a chiselled-looking upper body. However, this never-ending choice can also leave us feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to even start. It doesn’t need to be complicated though, you just need apair of dumbbellsand these five simple exercises, that’ll help your arms and back become more defined.

This workout targets you back and biceps, which are known as your ‘pull muscles’, as they help you carry out daily tasks that involve this motion, from closing a door to pulling a suitcase in the airport. The stronger they are the easier these tasks become and you’re at less risk of injury. However, strengthening your upper body is also important for better posture and can even boost your metabolism as the more muscle mass you develop the higher your resting metabolic rate.

For this workout you’ll need something stable to balance on for a couple of the exercises – like a chair, or if you’re in a gym aweight benchis ideal. There’s five exercises to get through. You’ll do 10 reps for each exercise with a 30 to 40 second rest in between. Once you’ve completed all five exercises, rest for 90 seconds then repeat the workout three times. You’ve got quite a few reps to get through, so pick a medium weight dumbbell and do the exercises slow and controlled. Here’s your workout:

Now that you’ve worked the biceps and your back, don’t forget to target the rest of your upper body later throughout the week. Here’s a dumbbelltricep workoutthat’ll take you just 15 minutes and a10 minute shoulder workoutthat you can easily fit in afterwards.

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