How heavy should dumbbells be for a beginner toning arms?

Sally Gunnell on Insta has some excellent advice on strength exercises to do at home, and high protein eating, aimed at middle aged women.

Can you try some out first? Any friends have them.

I would've found 4 kg too heavy at the beginning. 3 kg would be better. You can obviously build up to the exercise but it depends what you're doing.

You maybe someone who does lots of heavy work normally or you may be someone who has more natural strength than I do

Weights are expensive, so it's a good idea to try some out I think or getting an adjustable set where you can add on

also, you may want to do light weights and high reps
You might want to do heavy weights and a low number of reps

Do you know what your starting point is in that way?

@sociableintrovert123 is right - it's hard to build muscle. What do you mean by "toning"? If you want visible muscle that could be about diet. Or it could be about growing muscle.

To grow muscles, you need to be lifting as heavily as you can: mostly low reps, high weights. You need to lift to failure as that stress on your muscles stimulates them to respond and grow, so the next time you lift the same weight it's a bit easier.

You also need to programme in rest, and probably up your protein intake.

And you probably should look at all over muscle development, not just your arms.

The Carline Girvan vids are OK, but she tends to programme for a more aerobic effect. She programmes for women who prefer low weights & high reps.

I would maybe start off on 4kg and build up from this. You really need to be lifting fairly heavy weights to build muscle to be honest. Light weights with lots of reps won’t make a difference. Caroline Girvan has loads of weights classes on YouTube (free) and a paid for app. This would be a great place to start.

This lady has lots of small, just a couple of mins, exercises. You can string a few together, or just do two mins so you don’t get overwhelmed, so are more likely to continue. 3lb is a good starting weight, but start as low as you need to. Better to build up than start too heavy and feel defeated!

Link to starter video below.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNR4xyepU/