How to Lose My Flabby Arms

How to Lose My Flabby Arms
Photo Credit Man doing the exercise for his arms image by Elzbieta Sekowska from Fotolia.com

Flab on the arms generally takes place on the back side, but it can appear at any location. This type of fat is known as subcutaneous fat, which is not as serious as visceral fat in the abdomen. Even so, flabby arms still cause self-esteem issues, especially when you wear arm-exposing clothing. Reduce your flabby arms and capture back your self-confidence by making dietary changes and exercising.

Step 1

Eat more healthy foods and less junk food. Give up the pretzels, chips, cheese curls, buttered popcorn, deep-fried foods, candy bars and commercial baked goods. All of these foods are high in calories, sugar or saturated fat. Do not neglect liquid calories either. Beverages like soda, sweetened tea, lemonade, processed fruit drinks and alcohol all contain calories and promote weight gain. Drink water as your main beverage and eat nothing but fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, beans, low-fat dairy products and fish. Keep your portion sizes respectable, and stop eating when you are satisfied.

Step 2

Move your upper and lower body with cardio. Any form of cardio boosts caloric expenditure and causes total body weight loss, but by doing full body cardio, you also involve your arms. Elliptical training, swimming, rowing, versa climbing and kickboxing are examples. To lose weight, you need to do 60 to 90 minutes of cardio, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.

Step 3

Perform triceps exercises to tone the back of your arms. The main function of the triceps is elbow extension, which takes place when you straighten your arm. Perform exercises like close-grip bench presses, triceps push-downs on a cable machine, lying triceps extensions with dumbbells and close-grip push-ups to work your triceps.

Step 4

Execute biceps exercises to work the front of your upper arms. The more muscle you build, the higher your resting metabolism will be. Work your biceps to also improve the overall appearance of your arms as you lose weight. Chin-ups, barbell curls, twist curls and hammer curls are exercise examples.

Step 5

Utilize proper form with your exercises. Move through a full range of motion, squeeze your muscle forcefully for a full second at the midpoint of the move, lower the weights slowly, and never use momentum. Take the triceps push-down, for example. Push the bar down in a steady motion, squeeze your triceps forcefully, then slowly let the bar rise back up.

Step 6

Exercise often enough to make a difference. Perform cardio three or four days a week and do your arm exercises two or three days a week. Aim for 12 to 15 reps and four or five sets with your arm exercises.

References

Article reviewed by Anne Matera Last updated on: Jul 29, 2010

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