If you've started to notice tell-tale "chicken wings" every time your raise your arms, a new exercise routine can help you with toning, weight loss and overall fitness. Regular aerobic activity, combined with a healthy diet, will reduce your overall body fat, including under your arms. You can't target the area directly for weight loss, but you can tailor your strength-training workout to strengthen your underarm muscles, giving your arms an overall more toned look.
Focus on the Triceps
Your triceps muscles stretch between your elbows and your shoulders, along the backs of your arms, just where those infamous deposits of "arm flab" build up. With a set of dumbbells, you can adopt many triceps-focused exercises, such as overhead extensions, bench presses or kickback arm extensions. For any exercise working your triceps, you will feel your arm muscles work as you straighten the arm. By contrast, you work your biceps when you bend the arm, such as during a biceps curl. For calisthenic options, perform triceps pushups, keeping your elbows close to your body throughout the movement.
Calorie Burning: Exercises
Despite the myth of "spot reduction," you cannot control which fat deposits your body burns first. Instead, you'll need to adopt a regular aerobic routine and stick with it to slim down and retain your new figure. Where a person loses weight first is largely influenced by body type; you may find that your arms tone faster than your abs, or vice-versa. Keep your aerobic routine varied to build in interest and work a range of muscle groups. For example, swimming, rowing, running and cycling are all effective at burning calories while maintaining your cardiovascular health.
Calorie Burning: Additional Factors
Make sure that you aren't increasing your calorie intake along with your new fitness routine, if you want to keep your arm fat off. According to MayoClinic.com, you have to burn 3,500 extra calories to lose 1 pound of weight. In other words, if you briskly walk for 75 minutes per week — the recommended minimum for adults according to the Department of Health and Human Services — you'll burn off 1 pound every 10 weeks, assuming you don't increase your caloric intake. To more efficiently burn weight, opt for more vigorous activities or a more frequent workout routine. Combining exercise with a healthy diet can further improve your weight-loss rate. Include plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole grains and pulses to get plenty of nutrients in relatively few calories.
Additional Options
Building a weight-loss routine out of aerobic exercise and strength training is a common approach, and with good reason: It's very effective. However, if you'd rather combine your weight-loss goals with one activity, many sports let you tone your muscles and work aerobically at the same time. Rowing is an excellent option for working your arm muscles. In addition, it requires a combination of aerobic and anaerobic activity, making it good for weight loss as well as endurance and strength improvement. Swimming is another aerobic activity that requires a blend of upper- and lower-body strength.
References
- American Council on Exercise: Arm Exercises
- American Council on Exercise; Why Is the Concept of Spot Reduction Considered a Myth?; Cedric X. Bryant; February 2004
- MayoClinic.com: Exercise for Weight Loss — Calories Burned in 1 Hour
- "Journal of Sports Medicine"; Applied Physiology of Rowing; F.C. Hagerman; July 1984
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