It’s hard to feel your best in a holiday dress if you’re dreading baring your arms.
Cardio can help your heart health, but this year weight lifting has been all the rage to keep your whole body – including your upper arms – in top form.
Upper arm flab is an inevitable, uphill battle for some. Fat distributes that way in part due to genetics and in part due to natural aging.
But, Max Zeumer, personal training manager at New York Health & Racquet Club 13th Street shares the secrets to fighting gravity, at least in your upper arms.
Exercises to lift off your wings at the gym
The key to a successful arm workout is to build up the weight you are lifting incrementally at each workout.
That is why a gym workout is ideal, when you can make it, but here, he reveals the best workouts to do their or at home.
‘Start your workouts with a multi-joint exercise, which is when you’re using more than one muscle group,’ Zeumer says.
To maximize the compound portion of your workouts, do these exercises with a good amount of weight.
Compound exercises work your whole body with a focus on arms
CHIN UPS
These are best done with your own body weight, but you can use the assisted chin up machine to get the right weight, just make sure to keep it heavy.
Grasp the handles and pull yourself up in a fluid motion.
When you reach the top, slowly lower yourself back down. Don’t just let your weight fall, as this disengages the muscles and can lead to strains.
Do three sets of six to eight chin ups.
STANDING OVERHEAD PRESS
This exercise works your shoulders, triceps and upper back, so you’re fighting more than just upper arm flab.
Using a weighted barbell is best, but dumbbells can still give you a good workout.
Before you get started, check your form. Raise your arms to shoulder height, bending them 90 degree angles at the elbows so they’re making a football goal-shape. Raise your arms up until they are straight. If your rib cage stays in place, you’re doing it right. If not, make sure to correct your form.
Use about 85 percent of the weight you think you could lift, but don’t strain yourself.
Whether you are using dumbbells or a bar, you want to grasp it overhand, with your thumbs closest to your head. From the 90 degree ‘field goal’ arm position, push straight up in a fluid motion, then bring your arms back to 90 degrees.
Repeat that six times in each of three sets.
BENT-OVER BARBELL CURLS
As with the last exercise, do this exercise with a bar if you can,…
