How Do I Tone Up Flabby Arms?
I'm going to a pool party on Sunday and my arms are really flabby. Is there a way I can get rid of the fat fast? My friend suggested pressing a wall really hard. Is that right?
Pressing a wall describes a basic isometric exercise, Moonie. It would work your chest, shoulders and triceps a little, but since the resistance never changes, you would only get so much work, and it wouldn't do a thing for your back and biceps muscles. Push-ups and pull-ups would be a better way to work all of the muscles of your upper body including your arm muscles. I would start out with those exercises, but again, once you got used to the resistance (your own body weight), you would have to keep adding more reps and more sets.
Why not get a few pairs of dumbbells and learn the specific exercises for your upper body? You can do several kinds of exercises for your back, chest, shoulders and arms in a short amount of time. Try dumbbell rows (one handed) for your lats, pressses and flies (lying on your back) for your chest, and lateral raises and overhead presses for your shoulders. For your arms, do curls for the biceps and kickbacks or extensions for your triceps.
If you're new to weight training, buy a session at a gym with a trainer to learn all of these exercises. Or you can buy Weight Training for Dummies by Liz Neporent and Suzanne Schlossbrg, I.D.G. Books. It's a great beginner's guide to weight training.
Those are the exercises, Moonie; flab is the problem. You store fat on your arms, I store fat around my middle. You need to reduce your overall body fat. If you increase your muscularity through weight training, and burn more calories by doing cardiovascular exercise, you'll like your arms and the rest of you much better.
You should do weight training two or three times per week and do some aerobic type of exercise (walking, running, cycling, in-line skating) three-five times a week for 30-45 minutes. You'll firm up your arms and your body, and be in better overall condition.
