What is the best in-office upper body (arm) workout with free weights?

I spend most of my day writing code and I keep weights next to my chair. Mostly I do curls and putting the weights on my shoulders and moving them up. Sometimes I wave them around like a madman. Anything helps. I try to lift for about 5 minutes of a hour of chair-time. And it actually does help.

There is no single one, because every exercise must be balanced with one that exercises the opposing muscles. If it must be performed sitting in your chair, probably do pronating biceps curls and then lift the weights from your shoulders to as high as you can reach. Do 10–15 reps, then swap to the other. That combination will work your biceps, forearm flexors, triceps and deltoids. If you sit forward in your chair, it will do some good for your core as well.

If you’re just looking for some modestly toned arms you could do a combination of tricep curls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nWNyQaEbaM), bicep curls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow2mdWC6FAc) and forearm wrist curls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMJ4zIZzZxY) but with few reps. This way you could lightly exercise most areas of your arm. If that’s a bit too strenuous or time consuming though you can always choose a different exercise each day.

Since you are in a suit and to avoid overheating and the dreaded sweat…I would do any combination of the above but REAL slow….you will get a quick burn doing your movements this way. For me I would be doing curls and tricep curls and military presses.

grab the laser printer and read the labels on the bottom one character at a time

I love holding the weight behind my head and feeling the stretch as I let the weight slide down my back. It’s a great stretch to end an arm workout with.

@john2000 Push-ups are good for your arms but I’d say dumbbell based exercises are better as they isolate the arm muscles more, while push-ups tend to work the shoulder, pectoral and shoulder blades alongside them making it easier as a whole.

@john2000 I do push-ups in winter to warm up when I don’t want to turn the heater on. It creates a lot of body heat, because you are using all your core muscles as well as your arms and shoulders. It may be enough to get a person quite sweaty if they’re wearing a suit.