In this article, I want to show you the best arm exercises for fat loss so you can open that pickle jar on your own, and lift those heavy grocery bags without straining. By the end, you’ll be your own superhero!
My name is Nicole and I love educating women on how to tone their bodies while adding functional strength. Additionally, I want to show you how you can solve your fitness dilemmas with workouts you can do at home.
As a trainer, I often hear complaints from women about struggling to lift heavy grocery bags or open bottles and jars. I also hear the common question of “how do I get my arms from being so flabby?” You know that feeling of when you raise your arm and you get that unsightly arm flab going (bat wings).
Let’s face it, flabby arms can be depressing, especially for women who want to wear sleeveless dresses. Getting these weak flabby arms can be caused by abrupt weight loss, lack of physical activity, genetics, or a combination of each.
Flabby weak arms are characterized by the accumulation of excess fat and underdeveloped muscles. To keep your arms in good shape, you must adopt an arm workout for strength that specifically relates to this area.
The arms consist of two main muscle groups: the triceps, and the biceps. Here I’ll share with you an upper body workout that can be done at home with little to no equipment and can be effective in toning women’s arms.
Table of Contents
Arm Workout For Strength: The Triceps
The triceps are the muscles in the back of the arm, and this is the area that women usually want to tighten, especially as they get older. There are many different exercises for the triceps, including anything that forces the arm to stretch or press to reach it.
Examples include push-ups, triceps extension, triceps push-ups are a great exercise to work on the triceps.
Close Grip Pushups
A great way to train triceps at home is to close grip push-ups. They are similar to regular push-ups, except that you have your hands together. They don’t necessarily need to be touching but the closer your hands are the more it works your triceps.
If you have problems with these push-ups or with standard push-ups, try them with your knees touching or standing next to a wall and pushing yourself away from the wall.
The further you are from the wall, the higher the resistance. Do not be afraid to do such push-ups on the wall until your strength increases.
When you do them continuously for some time, you can then move on to doing kneeling pushups and then finally regular close-grip pushups. Don’t worry if you can’t do many from the beginning: focus on the long-term goal and you’ll eventually build up your arm strength.
Resistance Band Triceps Pull Apart
The resistance band pull-apart is another great exercise and works differently on the triceps than pushups. Hold the resistance band with both hands a little wider than shoulder-width, and bend the elbows to 90 degrees.
Slowly pull the band apart until your arms are sticking straight out from your sides.
Slowly allow the band to retract to its original position. Repeat this exercise until you can feel the triceps start to fatigue. You should be able to feel the tension in your triceps or behind your arm.
Repeat the activities slowly and under control at all times, pausing slightly in the stretched position.
Triceps Kickbacks
Bend your hips until your upper body is parallel to the floor. Grab ahold of a dumbbell in each hand and bring your elbows to your side.
Your forearms from the elbow down should be perpendicular to the floor now.
Slowly extend the elbow so that the dumbbell raises parallel to the floor. Keep the abdominals engaged and tight through the exercise. From here, simply bend and straighten the elbows. If you’re unfamiliar with this one, check it out here.
Biceps: Arm Workouts For Strength
The biceps only represent about 1/3 of the muscles in your arms, but these muscles will allow you to lift up your kids, heavy bags, or do anything that involves pulling.
“A strong woman knows she has strength enough for the journey, but a woman of strength knows it is in the journey where she will become strong.”
The gold standard for building your bicep strength is the curl. There are many types of curls and you can use a variety of resistance types from kettlebells, dumbbells, resistance bands, and even suspension training.
However, I’ll be sticking with some of the basic and most practical bicep workouts.
Bicep Curls
As I mentioned above the curl is very versatile. you can do these standing up, sitting down, and even in a reclined position. You can do either one arm at a time or you can do both.
If you’re just starting, you should do whatever is most comfortable for you. Standing tall with your core engages simply curl the dumbbell up, stopping short of the weight touching your shoulder.
Pause at the top and slowly lower down.
If you find yourself swaying or swinging the weight up, you should decrease the amount of weight and start again. If you’re really looking to add some muscle, you’ll want to do heavier weights, but with fewer repetitions.
To tone your arms, you can do a lighter weight with closer to 10 repetitions. As you progress you’ll want to alternate your number and eventually add weight as your biceps get stronger.
Biceps Holds
This one is similar to the bicep curl but is only done halfway. As you bring the weight up, stop halfway so that your forearm is parallel to the floor.
Hold for a 3-second count and return all the way back down. This will be more difficult and should be done after you’ve developed some bicep strength.
Zottman Curls
This curl will add a forearm component that the regular curl doesn’t have. Just like the normal curl, curl the weight up, stopping short of touching your shoulder. At that point rotate your wrist so that your palms are now facing away from you.
Lower the weight back down. At the bottom, again rotate your wrist so that your palms will be facing you as you curl the weight up. These curls will work your biceps and your forearms.
Chin Ups
Like pushups, it is difficult to do chin-ups, especially if you are trying to do multiple sets. But this is exactly why they are so good for you. If you’re unable to do one, that’s okay. I have a solution to get you there.
Grab a sturdy platform and use your legs as an assistant. Let your arms pull up as much as they can and use your legs to get you the rest of the way there.
Do this for a couple of weeks.
Next, you want to get an exercise band and use it as your assistance. Secure the band at the top and place your foot at the bottom.
The tension of the band will help you lift your chin up. Another cheat method is to have a friend assist you.
Have them hold your feet behind you as you pull up.
“Tell me that I can’t and I’ll show you that I can!”
If you’re using both feet in the beginning, switch to using just one foot as you progress. And if you use resistance bands, get a few different types so you can use the correct amount of assistance as you increase your arm strength.
If you get stuck at this point, don’t worry, this is fairly common. You’ll need to incorporate some back exercises and some more upper body exercises to get you there.
The bad news is I don’t do house calls to show you all the workouts. And I’m not just talking about being able to do a chin-up. I’m talking about lifting that bag of dog food, or carrying the kids around, and lifting that suitcase into the storage bin in the airplane.
The good news is there are a couple of different programs I would recommend that you can do at home on the cheap.
The first is Bodyweight Burn.
I did a full review of this program and you can read about it here.
If you would like to go straight to their website you can click here.
The other program that is probably a little more in-depth and provides a little more guidance is the Turbulence Training program.
Click this link to read my review of this program. If you would like to go straight to their website click here.
Conclusion of Best Arm Exercises for Fat Loss
Having feminine toned arms is nice, and better yet, the strength is very practical. I”m not going to tell you it will be easy, because it’s not. If it were easy you probably wouldn’t be researching how to address it. I will tell you, that over time it will get easier and you’ll notice changes.
These arm workouts for strength are just the tip of the iceberg. Both programs I mentioned are full-body home workout programs. You can do as much or as little of the program you want, but I would highly encourage you to do as much of it as possible.
And don’t worry about getting overly strong arms that don’t look appealing. This is a myth in the fitness industry. If you can do 3 sets of 15 pullups and are benching your weight, then you’ll start to look like you belong on stage. These programs are easy to follow, inexpensive, and effective.
They say it’s the things we don’t do that we regret in life. A few months from now, you’ll either be glad you took the first step, or you’ll still be in the same position you’re in now. Which one will it be…?
FAQ on The Best Arm Exercises
How can I quickly tone my arms?
You need to do two things. You need to focus on losing body fat, and you need to strengthen your biceps and triceps.
How can females get strong arms?
The same way as men. You exercise your arms with weights or bodyweight resistance so that your muscles have to grow to perform the tasks.
How can I lose arm fat?
To lose arm fat you need to focus on losing body fat overall. The techniques for targeted body fat loss can be minimal and temporary.
How do I decrease my body fat so my arms get slimmer?
Focus on your nutrition. Try to add more fiber and protein to your daily intake. Reduce the consumption of sugar, fats, alcohol, and get plenty of sleep.