20 minutes, one resistance band and a chair for this seated arm workout

Who said workouts need to be complicated? This will strengthen your arms in no time

Woman doing arm exercises in living room with a loop resistance band
(Image credit: Getty)

Looking for an arm workout that is easy, effective and won’t take you hours? Wish granted. Not only will this workout take 20 minutes, but afterwards your arms will feel stronger and, if completed consistently a couple of times a week, they’ll develop muscle too. All you need is a loop resistance band and a chair – as all these exercises are done seated.

Using resistance bands to train with is what’s known as strength training – when your body’s muscles have to work harder to overcome resistance and the harder they work, the stronger and bigger they’ll become. Some people use free weights, such as a pair of dumbbells, or even their bodyweight, but resistance bands are particularly popular because they’re affordable, easy to store and, combined alongside eating in a calorie deficit, can help with fat loss too.

Firstly, you need to go and grab a chair for this workout and your loop resistance band – these are the small resistance bands (also referred to as ‘booty bands’). You’ve got seven exercises to get through in this workout and you’re going to do each one for 10 to 12 reps and do three to four rounds of the whole workout in total. Here’s your workout?

  • Single arm bow and arrow
  • Lat pull down into a front press 
  • Lateral adductions 
  • Pull apart tricep extension
  • Single arm wide row
  • Single arm chest press tricep press combo
  • Truck drivers

If you enjoyed that workout, we've got plenty more resistance band workouts where that came from. This resistance band workout specifically targets your legs and glutes, whereas this workout focuses on your back muscles — do one of these throughout the week and you'll have the perfect full-body band workout.

Bryony Firth-Bernard
Staff Writer, Active

Bryony’s T3’s official ‘gym-bunny’ and Active Staff Writer, covering all things fitness. In her spare time, you will find her in her natural habitat - the gym - where her style of training is a hybrid of bodybuilding and powerlifting. Bryony loves writing about accessible workouts, nutrition and testing innovative fitness products that help you reach your fitness goals and take your training to the next level.