As we get older, armpits are one of the biggest problem areas for women that we would like to conceal. How can we tone upper arms? What are the most common causes of arm fat and how long does it take to have toned upper arms?
Beautiful and defined arms – that’s every woman’s dream. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Especially in summer, flabby waving arms that wave with every movement are even more effective. Fortunately, we don't have to be satisfied with that, because there are many effective exercises to tone the upper arms and get them back into top shape.
What are the causes of arm fat?
The older we get, the weaker the connective tissue becomes and the breakdown of collagen causes the skin to become sagging and lose firmness. As we get older, the body also loses muscle mass and the result is often flabby upper arms that hang down unattractively. If you genetically suffer from weak connective tissue, you will have to deal with the issue of “toning your upper arms” much sooner.
But in addition to a genetic predisposition, there are also many other causes of arm fat and the most common ones are overweight and a high fat content. When you are overweight, fat accumulates not only on your hips and stomach, but also on your arms. Here is a brief overview of other causes of arm fat.
- Hormonal imbalance
- Too little movement
- Unbalanced, unhealthy and high-fat diet
- Metabolic diseases (e.g. hypothyroidism)
- Various medications with weight gain as a side effect
Which muscles to train to get rid of waving arms?
If you want to tone your upper arms and get rid of wavy arms, you can't ignore the topic of sport and exercise. Unfortunately, it is not possible to lose fat only in certain parts of the body, but targeted exercises for the arms help us build muscles. On the one hand, the upper arms consist of biceps and triceps - these are the extensor and flexor muscles. Although aWomen's triceps trainingOften underestimated, strong triceps are the key to toned upper arms. However, there is subcutaneous fat above the muscles, which cannot be trained away. A combination of exercise, a healthy diet and regular brush massages is considered optimal against waving arms.
Tone your upper arms: The best exercises to combat swaying arms
Can flabby upper arms become firm again? Fortunately, the answer to that is yes! The lower the body fat percentage and the greater the muscle volume, the tighter and more defined our arms appear. To do this, it is important to train the upper body and especially the upper arms with targeted triceps and biceps exercises at least twice a week. Also onestrengthened shoulder musclesis very important for a toned upper body.
In order to achieve the best possible results and avoid possible injuries, it is important to ensure clean and correct execution. So it's better to start with your own weight or lighter weights and then slowly work your way up. Below we have put together the best exercises for you to tone your upper arms and counteract sagging. Do 4 sets of 10-15 reps, resting for 30 to 40 seconds between sets.
Trizeps-Dips
As mentioned earlier, the triceps are the most important muscle you should strengthen to get rid of waving arms. Tricep dips are one of the most effective bodyweight exercises that help combat flabby upper arms.
- Support yourself with your hands on the edge of a chair or on a weight bench and position your arms behind your body with your fingertips facing you.
- Turn your elbows slightly inwards and bend your legs.
- Then slowly lower your bottom towards the floor, but do not put it down completely and immediately push it back up. Make sure that your back remains straight and do not fully extend your elbows when pushing up.
- To increase the difficulty, fully extend your legs or place them on a riser.
Triceps extensions with dumbbells
Tricep extensions are another amazing exercise to strengthen the triceps and tone the upper arms.
- Stand upright with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Hold a dumbbell with both hands with your thumbs wrapped around it for a better grip. Your palms must face the ceiling.
- Keep your back straight and extend your hands above your head with your elbows pointing forward and your upper arms along your ears.
- Bend your elbows slightly and bring the dumbbell toward your neck until you lightly touch the upper part of your back with the dumbbell.
- Extend your arms up again and repeat.
- Alternatively, you can do the exercise with one arm, but with less weight.
Trizeps-Kickbacks
You can perform triceps kickbacks with both your own weight and dumbbells and after just 2-3 repetitions you will feel the burn in your muscles, we promise.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand upright with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Keep your back straight, bend your knees slightly and bend your upper body slightly forward - your body should be almost parallel to the floor.
- Keep your head up and position your arms as close to your upper body as possible.
- Extend your arms back and hold the position for 2 seconds - focusing on contracting the triceps.
- Slowly return to the starting position without swinging your arms.
Tight push-ups
End push-ups are a great push-up variation to tone your upper arms and train your stomach at the same time.
- Start in the high push-up position and position your palms below your shoulders with your fingertips facing forward.
- Stretch out your legs and arms and tense your stomach.
- Bend your arms and slowly lower your upper body until you almost touch the floor. It is important that the elbows stay close to the body and run along the waist.
- Push back up slowly and in a controlled manner and repeat.
Lateral raises
To get rid of waving arms and tone your upper arms, you should also train your shoulder muscles regularly. If you don't have time for a separate shoulder workout, incorporating 2 to 3 shoulder exercises into your upper body workout is enough.
- Stand upright and keep your back straight.
- Take a dumbbell in each hand and stretch your arms out to your sides, palms facing you.
- Tense your shoulder blades and stretch your arms out to the sides until they are approximately shoulder height.
- Slowly lower your arms again and repeat. When executing it, it is important that you work without momentum.
Arm circles
Arm circles are the ideal exercise to simultaneously strengthen the back, chest and arm muscles and mobilize the shoulder joints.
- Stand upright and raise your arms parallel to the floor to shoulder height with your palms facing down.
- Tense your stomach and keep your back straight.
- Then draw slow, small circles from front to back, making sure that the movement comes from the shoulders.
- Change direction after 40 seconds.
- To increase the difficulty, you can perform arm circles with dumbbells.
Bizeps-Curls
The good old bicep curls are a must for anyone looking to tone their upper arms.
- Stand upright and keep your back straight. Position your legs a little hip-width apart and take a dumbbell in each hand.
- Bend your arm so that the forearm is parallel to the floor and pull the dumbbell forcefully but slowly towards your upper arm.
- Whether you pull your arms simultaneously or alternately is entirely up to you - it is important that you do not perform the exercise with momentum.
- Here's a little tip - biceps curls become even more effective if you briefly tense the triceps at the lowest point.
Military Plank
And we end our training for toned upper arms with a very demanding but super effective plank variant. Military Plank targets the entire arm muscles and also strengthens the stomach - a real all-rounder!
- Start in low plank position with elbows below shoulders.
- Tense your stomach and buttocks and then go up one level by placing one hand and then the other where your elbows were.
- Hold for 1-2 seconds and then come back down.
- It is particularly important for the military plank that the hips remain stable the entire time. It becomes a little easier if you place your legs a little wider than hip-width apart.
How long does it take to have toned upper arms?
You already know the best exercises to tone your upper arms and get rid of wavy arms. But now the question arises: How long does it take until you have toned upper arms? Unfortunately there is no general answer to this, but if you do it regularly it should take four to five weeks until you see the first results. It would be optimal if you train the muscle group 2 to 3 times a week. To avoid a fitness plateau, increase reps over time or perform exercises with heavy weights.
Can loose skin recede?
Especially after a significant amount of weight loss, it can happen that excess skin remains after losing weight. Can loose skin recede? When you gain weight, connective tissue and skin also grow and adapt to the weight. If there is a drastic weight reduction, they often fail to recover. The following applies: the faster you lose weight, the higher the risk of sagging skin. To avoid this, you should take your time losing weight and never go on any crash diets. A weight loss of around 0.5 kg per week is considered optimal - this gives the skin enough time to adapt to the change and then recovers better. Here ko
