*shakes fists at upper arms!*

[StilettoReject]

No matter WHAT I do.. my upper arms won't tone. I have muscle under there, that's for sure.. but there are ever present layers of fat over it. Tone up or slim down? I've been working on my upper arms for just over a year now, and they don't look any better than they did when I was 30lbs heavier.

Help??

Does anyone know really good exercises to tone them up while also slimming down the layers of fat? Weight lifting and aerobics/cardio, I know I know.. but I'm talking specifics, here. x3 Tell me all of your juicy secrets!

I'm really trying not to let my upper arm jellies to bother me, but as I'm sure you all know working out + diet + no results = incredibly, ridiculously frustrating and disappointing.

crying

I used to swim just about every day, but it seems that when I started going by myself, large groups of freaky guys have decided to perch themselves around the pool gates and watch me.. which, yeah.. freaks me the eff out! So that's out, now. It was such a good workout, too! I just can't do it now because Robert doesn't have time to go swimming every day.

 

[Soi Tsuba]

do you have a gym membership. There are machines designed for specific parts of your body. They'll even show you

but remember, if you work the top of the arm muscle, you must work out the bottom part of the arm muscle on your upper arms.  

[StilettoReject]

Soi Tsuba

do you have a gym membership. There are machines designed for specific parts of your body. They'll even show you

but remember, if you work the top of the arm muscle, you must work out the bottom part of the arm muscle on your upper arms.

I don't have a membership, but that's because I don't need one. x3 The campus rec center is free. :'D But yeah, I go every other morning to the gym and used various machines... but there's nothing. They just remain flabby.

As for working all of my muscles, I do that too. redface I don't understand it. After loosing a sufficient amount of fat mass last year, I've been weight training (and continuing with cardio and aerobics). . . I exercise 6 days out of the week.. but nothing's getting any better.

It's as if my body's genetics have hit me with a metal pole and screamed "DENIED."

 

[Soi Tsuba]

most campus rec centers have personal trainers. Invest in maybe one or two sessions where they can plan a workout for you that will get you the results you want. It shouldn't be that expensive and in the end it's worth it.  

[StilettoReject]

Soi Tsuba

most campus rec centers have personal trainers. Invest in maybe one or two sessions where they can plan a workout for you that will get you the results you want. It shouldn't be that expensive and in the end it's worth it.

They treat personal trainers like classes at the rec center, though. It's $75 a month for one, which is a ton more than I can spare per month. I can talk to and consult one for free, which I do every once and a while, but I can't afford to actually train with one. x3

 

[oba bear]

You could try chair dips maybe? And push ups too perhaps.  

[Statistical Anomaly]

Frau Svenja von Wolfsberg

It's as if my body's genetics have hit me with a metal pole and screamed "DENIED."

Best. Quote. Ever.

But in all seriousness, I know exactly what you mean, for I too have arms of flab. Like, people have to stand far away when I wave, otherwise they'll be attacked by my arm fat. OK, so it's not that bad, but still.

I know of a few exercises that might help. Close-grip bench presses and pushups will really work your triceps, as will triceps pushdowns and kick-backs. If you need info on how to do any of these, let me know.

You may want to try doing less reps at a higher weight. I've found that I get more definition that way (combined with cardio, of course). You should be lifting at a weight where you can do about 10 reps before failure.  

[StilettoReject]

oba bear

You could try chair dips maybe? And push ups too perhaps.

I already do push ups every day, but I've yet to try chair dips. x3

 

[oba bear]

Frau Svenja von Wolfsberg

oba bear

You could try chair dips maybe? And push ups too perhaps.

I already do push ups every day, but I've yet to try chair dips. x3

Chair dips really work the backs of your arms. Try them out.  

[FeowynMouse]

The other important thing, even before you start toning, is to loose the fat. Ideally you should loose the fat first and then build muscle. The whole idea is that the body, when it first starts trying to loose weight, will burn up protein (read as the muscles) and so long as you stay well hydrated and eat enough protein your body will soon move on to eating up it's fat stores.

The problem isn't toning, it's having the fat go away. Do more cardio and less weight training. Cardio burns more fat than any weight training will.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

oba bear

You could try chair dips maybe? And push ups too perhaps.

Push ups don't realy work your arms though, they work your chest. I like reverse pushups, they are TOUGH though. I'm like the original poster, I just don't have strong arms (I'm a skiier and a swimmer, so I have a good core and strong tonned legs, but my arms are pathetic) In a reverse push up, your arms microbend(so your elbows are pointed towards your butt instead of outwards. I can barely do 10 and I've been doing them for a while. Then there's the infamous chin-ups and dips. (Dips I think works the same muscle as reverse push up as I call it.) I can probably do 1 chin up. sweatdrop . Um, free weights are good. Basicaly, you'll know you're doing a good job if you're sore the next day. You need to "feel the burn" the way muscle form is muscle tissues rip as your lifting weight, and then more muscle tissue builds ontop of that when your resting. Is it possible your not getting enough rest or enough protein?  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

FeowynMouse

The other important thing, even before you start toning, is to loose the fat. Ideally you should loose the fat first and then build muscle. The whole idea is that the body, when it first starts trying to loose weight, will burn up protein (read as the muscles) and so long as you stay well hydrated and eat enough protein your body will soon move on to eating up it's fat stores.

The problem isn't toning, it's having the fat go away. Do more cardio and less weight training. Cardio burns more fat than any weight training will.

But muscle actualy burns calories. Someone who has a lot of muscle mass, burns more calories, even just sitting, than someone who is lacking muscle mass. Weight lifting and other toing exercises will get your heart going too, maybe not as much as a long jog, but it does get your heart pumping.  

[FeowynMouse]

Crazy Cat Reincarnated

FeowynMouse

The other important thing, even before you start toning, is to loose the fat. Ideally you should loose the fat first and then build muscle. The whole idea is that the body, when it first starts trying to loose weight, will burn up protein (read as the muscles) and so long as you stay well hydrated and eat enough protein your body will soon move on to eating up it's fat stores.

The problem isn't toning, it's having the fat go away. Do more cardio and less weight training. Cardio burns more fat than any weight training will.

But muscle actualy burns calories. Someone who has a lot of muscle mass, burns more calories, even just sitting, than someone who is lacking muscle mass. Weight lifting and other toing exercises will get your heart going too, maybe not as much as a long jog, but it does get your heart pumping.

But your body first burns through its protein stores (which would be muscle) than the adipose tissue. What she's trying to do is burn fat...first you have to burn your fat and then you can build muscle. Jogging, cycling, cardio exercises will burn through the adipose tissue which is what she wants to happen.  

[dangerousfish]

muscle bearing activities build muscle and cardio burns fat all of this combined with diet. You can build a lot of great muscle but still have the fat overlying, as you know.

You can't build muscle without the nutrition your muscles like aka protein. If you're working your muscles (making tiny tears which they repair bigger and stronger) but not giving them the building blocks they need to progress you're not going to see it. You didn't mention your diet so I'm not sure what your lean protein intake is. If you are doing weight bearing exercise and trying to build muscle you should eat at least .5 gram per pound of body weight.

Like it has been said a person with more muscle burns more fat because muscle is the powerhouse of the body. Muscle powers the body and is also the athlete of the body - you need more calories to support a pound of muscle than you do a pound of fat, because fat is lazy and it's job is to sit and be quiet until the Famine sets it and you need it to live. Women are also designed to store fat to be better able to support a pregnancy in lean times so that they species may live on.

So just sitting on your a** your resting metabolic rate is higher than a person "fatter" (discounting "weight"). Paradoxically a fatter person burns more calories during workout because the body isn't used to activity and basically kinda freaks out that it might die and shoves a ton of resources aka fat to prevent the death because by God! You must run from that mountain lion! Whereas that less fat person has a body that has become more efficient and efficiency is using less and getting more, which is why you can lose a bunch of weight and first and reach those stubborn plateau where you body is like, naw, I'm good. I can run from a mountain lion (cardio) and build a house (muscles) and now I need some extra fat for the lean times I might not have enough food.

But despite your RMR unfortunately the only real way to lose more than token amounts of fat you need to just burn burn burn through cardio and since cardio is the enemy of nice muscles keep up your weight routine.

Back of the arms I second everyone on chair dips (collectively triceps dips). Pushups are often rated the number one exercise by fitness peoples just because they are so useful - chest, core, arms, but, even legs. Any muscle not be worked primarily is assisting the movement. plus, exercises that use your own body weight are awesome because you can do them any where.