It’s hard to feel your best in a holiday dress if you’re dreading baring your arms.
Cardio can help your heart health, but this year weight lifting has been all the rage to keep your whole body – including your upper arms – in top form.
Upper arm flab is an inevitable, uphill battle for some. Fat distributes that way in part due to genetics and in part due to natural aging.
But, Max Zeumer, personal training manager at New York Health & Racquet Club 13th Street shares the secrets to fighting gravity, at least in your upper arms.
Exercises to lift off your wings at the gym
The key to a successful arm workout is to build up the weight you are lifting incrementally at each workout.
That is why a gym workout is ideal, when you can make it, but here, he reveals the best workouts to do their or at home.
‘Start your workouts with a multi-joint exercise, which is when you’re using more than one muscle group,’ Zeumer says.
To maximize the compound portion of your workouts, do these exercises with a good amount of weight.
Chin ups work your biceps and triceps to tone up flabby arms
Compound exercises work your whole body with a focus on arms
CHIN UPS
These are best done with your own body weight, but you can use the assisted chin up machine to get the right weight, just make sure to keep it heavy.
Grasp the handles and pull yourself up in a fluid motion.
When you reach the top, slowly lower yourself back down. Don’t just let your weight fall, as this disengages the muscles and can lead to strains.
Do three sets of six to eight chin ups.
STANDING OVERHEAD PRESS
This exercise works your shoulders, triceps and upper back, so you’re fighting more than just upper arm flab.
Using a weighted barbell is best, but dumbbells can still give you a good workout.
Before you get started, check your form. Raise your arms to shoulder height, bending them 90 degree angles at the elbows so they’re making a football goal-shape. Raise your arms up until they are straight. If your rib cage stays in place, you’re doing it right. If not, make sure to correct your form.
Use about 85 percent of the weight you think you could lift, but don’t strain yourself.
Whether you are using dumbbells or a bar, you want to grasp it overhand, with your thumbs closest to your head. From the 90 degree ‘field goal’ arm position, push straight up in a fluid motion, then bring your arms back to 90 degrees.
Repeat that six times in each of three sets.
In a bent-over barbell curl, make sure to keep your back flat to avoid injury
BENT-OVER BARBELL CURLS
As with the last exercise, do this exercise with a bar if you can, or dumbbells if you can’t, using the same weight ration.
Keep your feet shoulder-width apart, and bend at the waist, keeping your back completely flat. You can use an underhand or overhand grip to raise the bar to your body, making sure you keep your elbows in, as close to your body as possible.
Do three sets of six of this exercise.
Isolation exercises hone in on toning upper arms
Now that you’ve gotten a good arm workout that engages the rest of your body too, turn your focus to isolated moves for your arms.
‘End your workout doing exercises that isolate your arms. Be sure to slightly increase the weight for each exercise during every workout,’ says Zeumer.
You can stand or sit to do dumbbell curls, but be sure to keep your core tight
ALTERNATING DUMBBELL CURLS
Hold one dumbbell in each hand, again, using weights that are about 85 percent of what you think you can handle.
Start with the weights relaxed at your side, so your knuckles face your body. Lift one dumbbell at a time, by bending at the elbow and letting your arm rotate naturally as you lift, so that your knuckles are facing you when your arm is fully bent. Lower the weight to its starting position. Repeat the same motion with the opposite arm.
Repeat this 10 to 15 times for each arms, and do four sets of the exercise.
Ways to work out your upper arms at home
If you can’t make it to the gym, you can still work out your upper arms with body weight and resistance exercises at home.
Push ups are an easy way to work your arms and connected muscles from home
PUSH UPS
When doing push ups, be sure that your back is flat and your hands are a little more than shoulder width apart. When you bring your body weight down, keep your elbows tucked in.
Push ups primarily work out your chest muscles, but you are also using the muscles at the back and bottom of your upper arms to bear your weight.
Do four sets of ten push-ups.
BAND ROWS
Use the highest resistance bands you can to get as close to the kind of workout you could with weights.
Band tricep extensions work the hard-to-isolate muscles at the backs and bottoms of your arms
Sitting with your feet together, wrap the bands around your feet, and pull the other ends of their loops toward you. Use an overhand or sideways grip and keep your elbows close to your body at a 90 degree angle as you pull.
Do four sets of this exercise, with 10 to 15 reps in each set.
BAND TRICEP EXTENSIONS
A handled band is best for this move. Hold one handle in each hand, with your hands at your sides. Step one foot onto the band, and the other one forward, just a little more than a natural step, so you’re in a slight lunge.
Keep one arm at your side. Bring the other up, so that your arm is bent with the elbow pointing straight up. Pull the band up so that your arm is straight and pointing back, then lower it back down.
You should repeat this 10-15 times for each arm, in four sets.
BAND CURLS
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and one end of each of the band loops under each foot. Use an underhand grip to pull the bands them toward you by bending at the elbows.
Repeat this motion 10 to 15 times, in four sets.
Tricep dips make a good break from a jog on days you don’t make it to the gym
TRICEP DIPS
Sit on a sturdy bench or blocks, with your arms flat on its surface, about shoulder width apart. Slide your butt off of the seat, keeping a slight bend in your arms to support your weight, and extend your legs to be straight in front of you.
Bend slowly at the elbows, dipping your weight, and raise yourself back up again.
Do four sets of 10 to 15 dips.