How to Get Rid of Arm Flab

When the rest of your body is toning up thanks to a new exercise routine, but your arms aren’t, you may wonder how to get rid of arm fat. Perhaps, you haven’t started your exercise routine yet, but know stubborn arm fat is something you’d like to target. While you can’t determine where your body burns fat, you can do some arm-toning exercising to help tone your arm muscles and reduce fat.

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You Can’t Spot Train Fat

Everyone burns fat differently, so it is impossible to spot train to burn fat in specific areas of your body. However, there are ways to burn fat while toning muscles in particular areas. You can accomplish this through diet and exercise:

• Diet: Simply exercising isn’t enough to tone your arms because excess fat usually causes flabby arms. Eating healthy and exercising well is the best way to lose arm fat. A healthy diet will trim excess fat and help you burn more calories. Exercise only works when you burn more calories than you intake. Food is energy, and a balanced diet of carbohydrates, fats and proteins can help you push through strenuous exercises to build muscle. A certified nutritionist can help you determine the best diet to fit your needs.
• Exercise: Once you’ve established a healthy diet, you are ready to start exercising to tone flabby arms. Some exercises are better at toning arms, and combining different types of exercises for flabby arms can produce the best results.

Combine Cardio and Weight Training for the Best Results

Cardio and weight training are excellent ways to burn fat, and combining cardio and weight workouts to lose arm fat will have the best results. There are four muscles in your upper arm — the biceps and triceps. To reduce arm fat, you must do exercises targeting these muscles.

The Best Exercises to Get Rid of Arm Flab

Here are ten exercises to help you fight arm fat:

1. Bicep Curls

The biceps are the most used muscles of the arm, and bicep curls will help them stay toned.

How To Do A Bicep Curl

To do bicep curls, you:

• Sit or stand with a dumbbell in each hand.
• Curl the dumbbells toward your shoulders by bending your elbows without moving them from your side.
• Reverse the curl and repeat one to three sets of 10 to 12 reps.

2. Tricep Dips and Presses

Triceps respond well to body-weight exercises, like pushups or tricep dips and presses.

Tricep dips and presses require a bench or chair.

How To Do Tricep Dips

• Place your palms on a bench or chair seat and bend your elbows at a 90-degree angle. Keep your feet flat on the floor.
• Lower your glutes to the floor until your elbows bend at a 90-degree angle.
• Push up through your hands until your arms are straight.

How To Do Tricep Presses

To do tricep presses, you:

• Take a seat and extend a dumbbell over your head while holding it with both arms.
• Bend your elbows, then lower the dumbbell behind you until it reaches your shoulders.
• Raise your arms back overhead.

3. Lat Pulldowns

Lat pulldowns require a pulldown machine. This exercise is great for quickly building muscle tone and strengthening your arms.

How To Do Lat Pulldowns

• Sit at the pulldown machine and grip the bar.
• Pull the bar to chest level.
• Raise the bar.

4. Pushups

You can start with knee or inclined pushups as you work your way to full pushups.

How To Do A Knee Pushup

To do a knee pushup:

• Kneel on the floor with your feet crossed behind you.
• Place your hands shoulder-width apart in front of you.
• Extend your arms.
• Bend your arms and lower your chest until it grazes your hands.
• Straighten your arms and push back up.

How To Do An Inclined Pushup

To do an inclined pushup:

• Place your hands shoulder-width apart on an inclined surface, such as a bench or counter, and extend your legs behind you.
• Keep your feet flat on the ground as you lower your chest to graze your hands.
• Push back up by straightening your arms.

How To Do A Full Pushup

To do a full pushup:

• Place your hands shoulder-width apart on a mat or the floor with your legs extended behind you.
• Bend your elbows and lower your chest to graze your fingers.
• Push yourself back up by straightening your arms.

5. Diamond Pushups

Diamond pushups are advanced pushups.

How To Do A Diamond Pushup

You do a diamond pushup like a full pushup, but you place your hands together in a diamond shape instead of shoulder-width apart.

6. Tricep Kickbacks

Tricep kickbacks help tone your triceps.

How To Do A Tricep Kickback

• Stand and bend your knees.
• Lean forward with a dumbbell in each hand.
• Keeping your back straight, bend your arm so your elbow is at a 90-degree angle.
• Hinge at your elbows, lifting the dumbbells while extending your arm back.
• Lower your arms and bend your elbows at 90 degrees again.

7. Plank Sidewalk

Plank sidewalks target your core and upper body.

How To Do A Plank Sidewalk

• Begin in plank position — hands shoulder-width apart on the floor or an exercise mat and feet extended behind you.
• Cross your right hand over your left hand as you step your left foot to the left.
• Repeat for five steps to the left and five steps to the right.

8. Arm Circles

You can do this exercise with or without weights.

How To Do Arm Circles

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms extended at your side at shoulder height.
• Do a set number of small circles, such as 50, with your hands by rotating them forward.
• Rotate your hands backward, doing the same amount of circles.

9. Jabs

Jab is a boxing exercise that is great for toning your arms.

How To Do A Jab

• Place your left foot in front of your right with your feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart.
• Raise your fists in front of your face.
• Take a step forward with your left foot and extend your left arm.
• Return to the starting position and alternate your right and left sides.

10. Opposite Arm and Leg Lifts

This exercise will tone and strengthen your arms and legs and stretch your back.

How To Do Opposite Arm & Leg Lifts

• Get down on all fours with your palms below your shoulders.
• Extend your right arm forward and your left foot back simultaneously.
• Do a crunch as you return to the initial position, but do so on the opposite side — left arm and right foot.

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5 Bridges Health & Fitness has served the Harrisburg community for 12 years. We developed the 5 bridges to a healthy lifestyle — nutrition, fitness, education, recovery and community. We offer personal training, nutrition coaching and group classes.

Gym amenities for members include:

• Cardio equipment
• Sauna
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• Towel service
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• Boxing area
• Smoothie bar
• Mind and body studio
• Kids club
• Free weights
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Browse our membership plans to begin your fitness journey.