I'm asked frequently by women for advice on toning their arms. This seems to be a problem area for many women. Building toned, attractive arms is not as simple as doing a few sets of curls and tricep kickbacks at the end of your workout. To make a significant difference, you need to attack the problem from two angles: reducing your body fat and seriously training the muscles in your arms.
Trimming the Fat:
If you've seen the infomercials, you've likely heard it said that everyone has six-pack abs. You may, however, need to lose weight and remove some body fat so that you can see them. The same is true with your arms. Sporting attractive, toned arms starts with dropping your overall body fat percentage. Where your arms are concerned you can do countless curls, but if you maintain a high body fat level, all your hard work will go unnoticed.
Weight loss and dropping your body fat is a balance between a reasonable diet and an increased activity level. You're going to find the greatest long term success by selecting activities you enjoy doing. If you have a gym membership, you have plenty of options, aerobics classes, treadmills, and elliptical machines just begin scratching the surface. If none of these options sound appealing to you, try bicycling, jogging or walking, or another outdoor activity you like. The key is to find an activity you do because you want to. If you find that exercising is a chore, you will likely be less successful sticking with it.
Notice I said reasonable diet. I personally believe you can eat the things you enjoy, as long as you exhibit restraint in your portions, ensure you are getting the balance of nutrients your body needs, and manage the calories you take in against those you expend exercising. Paying attention to when you consume those calories is important as well. Eating a high dose of empty carbohydrates before going to bed, for example, is a bad idea.
Hitting the Weights:
As I considered writing this article, I asked a personal trainer friend of mine what she thought about toning her arms. Without hesitation, her response was to train your arms like a man. Although strongly worded, the truth is you have to work your arms aggressively. In addition to toning, this will build muscle that will result in burning more calories.
Many women are concerned that if they lift weights, they will begin to look too muscular, and therefore less feminine. Women, of course, do not have the same testosterone levels as men do. Typically you have to work much harder, or use some type of "enhancement" to gain significant bulk.
Don't be intimidated by the thought of lifting hard. You don't have to spend endless hours in the gym. You should, however, stick with a few key concepts:
- Begin your workouts with more intense compound, multi-joint exercises
- Select weights that force you to work very hard to complete all of your repetitions on your latter sets
- As you improve, increase the weight you're lifting to maintain the intensity of your workouts
If you're not sure where to start in the weight room, try out some of the exercises below. For details on how to perform the exercises, and how to incorporate them into your workout, click the links associated with the individual exercises.
Tricep Training:
Bicep (and back) Training:
Training at Home:
Even if you don't have a gym membership, try some of the exercises below. With minimal equipment, you can still effectively work your arms.
Building attractive, toned arms does require a fit and active lifestyle. It doesn't, however, mean you have to spend every free moment at the gym. You may find that relatively small adjustments to your daily routines will have a significant impact on the shape of your arms.
