There’s a very logical reason why it’s impossible to build muscle mass in your arms or biceps simply from running with hand weights.
Don’t think for a moment, if you’re wanting to build bigger muscles in your arms or biceps, that you’ll achieve this by holding hand weights while jogging or running.
On the other hand, if you fear growing big muscles from holding hand weights when running or jogging, rest assured, this will never happen.
Anybody in the gym who is seriously training to build arm muscle would laugh at the idea that jogging while holding two-pound hand weights (or five-pound, for that matter) will cause hypertrophy (muscle growth).
This is kind of like saying that if you gained 20 pounds of fat from overeating, and went jogging with this extra weight, that it would trigger an increase in the muscle mass of your arms (since some of that added weight would be in your arms).
Running with hand weights increases the resistance or stress on the body, with that increase mostly concentrated in the arms and shoulders.
But while this is happening, the activity is aerobic, rather than anaerobic. In other words, the activity is duration based with minimal exertion, vs. explosive or power based with maximal exertion, as would be a bench press or barbell curl.
While your hands are holding the weights during your run, slow twitch muscle fibers are being recruited in your arms and shoulders—the same as if you were not holding any weights.
Slow twitch fiber is built for endurance, sustained activity, and these fibers are not capable of growing bigger.
They become more efficient over time at the duration based activity, but they don’t change in size.
This is why long distance runners are not bulked up or thick with muscle.
To build arm size you must impose a relatively heavy load onto these muscles, such as during weightlifting exercises (bench press, row, dip, curl).
Since the arms are bent while the jogger is holding the weights, this indicates that the biceps get the brunt of the load.
But the load is only two more pounds. Thinking that this can build up the biceps is like thinking that standing still and continuously curling two-pound dumbbells for 30 minutes will build up these muscles!
Who tries to build up the arms curling the gym’s tiniest dumbbells for 30 minutes nonstop?
All this will do, whether you’re standing still, seated or running, is increase the stamina in your arms and shoulders as it pertains to keeping the arms bent or repeatedly flexing the elbow with little to no resistance. Nothing more. No change in muscle size.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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