Arm fat can pretty unsightly and sometimes the hardest to lose. If you’ve been pushing all your sleeveless dresses and tops to the back of your cupboard for a while now, here are a few tips and tricks to get back your toned and attractive arms and wear all those clothes confidently.
Skipping Rope
Skipping is one of the most effective and least expensive cardio exercises. It works on the muscles of the arms as you are lifting your weight off the floor and are also moving your arms in a circular motion. Fitness experts say that counting seconds instead of skipping repetitions is more effective.
Stretching
Make stretching an integral part of your day. Don’t wait for the perfect time and setting to do it in. Stretching your arms will not just keep you active, it will release the tension in your muscles, and tone them. There are some stretching exercises that can be done anywhere. Press your palms together behind your lower back interlacing your fingers. Now stretch your arms backwards so that your chest juts forward. This helps stretch your arms and release the tension from your back muscles.
Another variation of this can be interlocking your fingers behind your head and stretching your arms all the way up so that your elbows are behind your head. Now twist your body at the waist towards the right first and then left.
Wrist Rotation
Wrist rotation helps tone up shoulders and lower arms. Hold 1 or 2-pound dumbbells in each hand and stand straight with your feet shoulder length apart. Raise your arms forward and keep them firmly in front of you and rotate your wrists as far as possible. This exercise helps tone the arm muscles.
Pull-Ups
It’s time to become a kid again! Get hold of a sturdy rod that can bear your body weight. Hold it tight and pull yourself off the floor. Hold the position for a few counts and let your arm muscles take the strain. Do a set of 20 and take a break, and repeat the set. Remember to start slow when you’re just beginning. Do as many as you are able to, increasing the count every day.
Tricep Dips
Sit on the floor with your hands almost a foot behind your hips, and your fingers pointing towards your butt. Keep your legs together, knees slightly bent and feet flat on the floor. Now raise yourself off the floor with only the left elbow bent. Hold it for a few counts and lower your butt close to the floor without actually touching it. Repeat bending the right elbow this time. Do it as many times as you can, slowly increasing the counts each day.
Other Ways Of Losing Arm (And Other) Fat
There are other healthy practices that you can fit into your routine to get back your toned arms and body.
Don’t Skip Breakfast
Breakfast happens to be the most important meal of the day and skipping it or eating a skimpy meal at breakfast will get you craving for unhealthy stuff throughout the day. So, go ahead and have a hearty, healthy breakfast.
Drink Up
Sipping water throughout the day helps speed up metabolism. Also, when we drink plenty of water, our body stops feeling the need to conserve water by retaining it in the tissues and cells, with the effect showing up on the weighing scale. Drinking water also helps us feel less hungry as sometimes, we mistake thirst for hunger and end up piling on the calories, when all that the body is asking for, is water.
Drink Green Tea
Drinking 3-4 cups of green tea is proven to increase your body’s metabolic rate thereby burning more number of calories than it would do otherwise.
Do Some Form Of Cardio Exercise Daily
Take time out from your busy schedule to indulge in some or the other form of cardio exercise. This helps build the right balance between the calories you consume through the day and the ones that you burn.
Take The Stairs
Whenever possible, take the stairs instead of opting for the elevator. This way, you’ll find yourself burning calories even without realizing it.
