Last week we gave your lower body some tough love. Now it’s time to give the upper body the same treatment. One thing I always recommend when working out upper body is to do the larger muscle groups first, like chest and back. Then save the smaller muscle groups of the arms for later. It takes more energy to effectively work the larger muscles. Plus you don’t want to tire the arms out first, since you obviously need those to work your chest and back muscles too. Also, please don’t spend all your time only working your arms. Yes, even if you’re trying to get rid of that flabby upper arm.
One of the most common questions I get from women is how to tighten up or tone the upper arm. Few things to remember here. Unfortunately you can’t “tighten up” anything through exercise alone. There’s still a common misconception that working out an area will burn the fat around the area but that’s not how the human body works. If that were true then every purchaser of those ab blasters sold on late night infomercials would be sporting a rippling six-pack. Pretty sure that’s not the case.
For the majority of people, leaning out any body part enough to see muscle definition (which is really all “toning” is) has to include a diet conducive to fat loss for any chance of success. The diet aspect is super important, but way too lengthy to get into here. I’ll cover that on another post.
However, if you’re already very lean, then it’s possible you can see some increased muscle definition through exercise alone. But that still takes quite a bit of time. And few people are at that level of leanness. That being said, even if you’re trying to see those arm lines, it’s a good idea to hit those larger chest and back muscles. Bigger muscles require more energy to use, which means more calories burned. More calories burned means more potential fat loss.
Remember to use a challenging weight on all the exercises. Which means go for something that will have you slightly struggling to complete the last few reps.
Post + Exercise by: Brandon K. Cole
Exercise: (2-4 sets of each exercise for the required number reps)
Front plank with hip extension – 15 reps per leg
Side plank – Hold for 30 seconds each side
Dumbbell chest press laying on a ball – 20 reps
Push up on ball – 15 reps
Dumbbell bent over row – 15 reps
Dumbbell bent over reverse fly – 12 reps
Dumbbell seated biceps curl – 15 reps
Dumbbell triceps extension laying on a ball – 15 reps
Plank on ball – 30 seconds
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