Work Outs for Arm Flab

The upper arm is one of the most common places that people notice excess fat on themselves. You can see the added bulk in pictures or the mirror and feel the extra jiggle when you move your arms, and it can be a difficult spot to hide. How can you get rid of the flab and tone up your upper arms as you lose weight after bariatric surgery?

Getting leaner-looking arms requires two things:

Losing Fat Everywhere

There is no exercise that will remove excess fat from just one area of your body, despite the claims of popular workout videos. Doing cardio activity that gets your heart pumping and your body moving will help you burn calories, which helps you lose fat all over. If you want to shrink your arms, you’ll have to settle for losing weight everywhere.

To speed up your fat burn, focus on interval cardio workouts that alternate between periods of rest and periods of high-intensity aerobic activity. You’ll also need to combine increased physical activity with a diet that reduces your calorie consumption. Studies continue to show that exercise alone is rarely enough to lose significant amounts of body fat.

Toning Your Arm Muscles

While you can’t focus on losing fat from your arms, you can work on building your arm muscles. Building muscle mass in any part of your body will help you burn more calories, which leads to more fat loss. Building muscles in your arms can leave you with a more toned, sculpted look after the fat has disappeared.

Two simple exercises to tone arm muscles include:

• Bicep curls: Start by holding a dumbbell straight by your side. Slowly bring the weight up to your shoulder by bending your elbow. Lower the weight back down to your side. Repeat this 8 to 12 times.
• Tricep extensions: Use both hands to hold one dumbbell or weighted ball above your head. Bend your elbows to slowly lower the weight behind your head. Extend your arms to raise the weight up to the starting position. Repeat 8 to 12 times to complete a set.

In addition to doing resistance training exercises, make sure to allow your muscles time to recover from these exercises. Between workouts, your body will heal itself by rebuilding new muscle mass.