How do I tone my arms?
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Dr. Mike Clark answered:There is no denying that defined arms will catch everyone's attention. Tight and toned arms look great on men and women, and we all want them. So, what does it take to get a great pair of arms? Choosing the right exercises!
Great arms mean toned and defined biceps and triceps. Both muscles work as a pair to flex and extend the elbow. The biceps flexes the elbow, while the triceps extends the elbow. These muscles should always get the same attention to keep the body balanced. In other words, don't focus only on one side of the arm; train both for optimum results.
A unique feature of both muscles is that they both have different "heads." This simply means that one muscle has more than one origin. For example, the biceps, one muscle, has two different heads or origins, and one insertion point (place where the muscle inserts into a tendon and attaches to bone). The triceps has three different heads or origins, with one insertion point as well.
Even though there is more than one origin, the muscle is still considered only one muscle. To get the best results from training the arms, simply change your hand position during a biceps or triceps exercise. Using this technique, you can emphasize one or more of the heads of the muscle, ultimately getting the most definition in each of the muscles.Helpful? 1 person found this helpfulThere is no denying that defined arms will catch everyone's attention. Tight and toned arms look great on men and women, and we all want them. So, what does it take to get a great pair of arms? Choosing the right exercises! Great arms mean... More -
National Academy of Sports Medicine answered:Toning your arms requires the right combination of proper nutrition, resistance training exercises that progressively strengthen your arm muscles, and recovery. Assuming your nutrition and recovery are where they need to be for you to reach your goals, any upper-body resistance exercises that involve the arms will assist you in getting toned arms. Two specific exercises that will challenge the biceps and triceps, the muscles that bend and straighten your elbow respectively, are the standing dumbbell curl for the biceps and face-down ball dumbbell extensions for the triceps. For best results perform 2 to 3 sets of 12-20 total repetitions per set for each exercise.
Toning your arms requires the right combination of proper nutrition, resistance training exercises that progressively strengthen your arm muscles, and recovery. Assuming your nutrition and recovery are where they need to be for... More -
There are several steps you will need to take to tone your arms. You must expend more calories than you consume (“calories in, calories out”). In order to tone, you must lose fat in addition to strengthening your muscles. Proper nutrition is essential. You should maintain a steady metabolism by eating six, small meals per day (breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and possibly an evening snack). Eating “good” carbohydrates will provide you with energy, and proteins will help you repair your muscles after breaking them down through resistance exercises. You will also want to perform cardio frequently (ideally, five to seven days per week, 30 minutes each workout). It is okay if you are a beginner and cannot yet perform that much cardio. Initially, you may want to aim for three days of cardio and work your way up to 30 minutes each time. Resistance exercises like any type of dumbbell biceps curls (hammer curls, turning curls, reverse curls) and triceps extensions (performed with dumbbells or a cable column machine), or triceps pushups will all help to tone. Start out by lifting lighter weight at 20 repetitions and repeat two to three times. As you grow stronger, increase your weight but decrease your repetitions to 12. Hard work, determination, and a combination of all of the above strategies will set you on your way to the very kind of arms you desire!
There are several steps you will need to take to tone your arms. You must expend more calories than you consume (“calories in, calories out”). In order to tone, you must lose fat in addition to strengthening your muscles. Proper... More -
Chris Patrick - NASM Elite Trainer answered:A lean and toned appearance is the result of a lower body fat percentage combined with a little muscular definition, and to tone your arms you're going to want to focus on a couple of important things. The first being your nutrition. No amount of arm exercise will give you the lean toned look you want if you're making poor food choices and overeating. Toning up, and losing weight for that matter, require that you consume fewer total calories than your body burns, so a smart nutrition strategy tops the list.
You'll also want to burn as many calories as possible, and a sound cardio program will help you here. To help speed up your metabolism even more, you'll want to begin a resistance training program that includes all of your muscle groups. Now that we have our main components in place, there are several arm exercises that will give you a nice lean, toned look, and these are a few of my favorites:
Dumbbell Curls
Cable Press Downs
Dumbbell Kickbacks
Military Presses
Cable Curls
Overhead Dumbbell Extensions
Cable Front & Side RaisesHave fun!
A lean and toned appearance is the result of a lower body fat percentage combined with a little muscular definition, and to tone your arms you're going to want to focus on a couple of important things. The first being your nutrition. No amount of... More -
Carol Heitman - NASM Elite Trainer answered:Arm Toning Tips:- Losing excess fat will help to reveal the muscles you are gaining.
- You will need to use some sort of resistance to strengthen and tone - whether it is weights, bands, machines, cables, or your own body weight.
- Make sure to push yourself to a level of fatigue - always maintaining good form.
Examples of arm exercises to try:
- Push-ups: many options for modifications from: wall, knees, toes
- Bicep curl: try mixing up hand position, palms facing/palms up
- Overhead shoulder press
- Triceps cable press down
Arm Toning Tips: Losing excess fat will help to reveal the muscles you are gaining. You will need to use some sort of resistance to strengthen and tone - whether it is weights, bands, machines, cables, or your own body weight. Make sure to... More
