If you are overweight, it is not uncommon to have excess fat on your arms, usually referred to as flabby arms. They can significantly ruin your summer look. If you are embarrassed by them, and you do not feel comfortable wearing sleeveless shirts, you are not alone.
However, with the right toning program, you can see results within a matter of weeks. So, why does fat accumulate in that part of the body? Is there some way to treat this specific spot?
Why Does Stubborn Fat End Up There?
1. Lack of exercise
If you do not use these particular muscles much, the fat will end up there. If your work does not require you to lift some heavy weights, it is harder to stay naturally toned.
Therefore, if you practice Pilates, yoga, dance, or any other physical activity, you will exercise your arms.
2. Overall Excess Weight Gain
If you gain excess weight, it will normally affect the underarms. However, are women vulnerable to the accumulation of fat in the underarm area?
The American Council on Exercise has pointed out that women’s bodies are more prone to underarm fat than men’s. Men have an overall muscle mass in the body, so this problem mainly affects women.
Manage the Underarm and Overall Flab
In order to tone your arms, you should work your triceps not in isolation but along the other groups of muscles. Women find the underarm fat the most stubborn fat to lose, but the experts claim that men find belly fat the most stubborn.
With a little determination and hard work, you can quickly remove the underarm fat. Emerald Laser, but you should have a strong willingness to remove it.
Resistance training and weight training can help you retain lean muscle mass so that you won’t lose muscles along with the fat.
It does not mean that you can quickly lose some weight on specific spots, but some exercises will help you tone a particular muscle group. So, if you want to tone your underarms in the proper manner, combine these exercises with a high-calorie burn workout.
The Health Information Center of The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, claims that if you practice 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobics every week, you are on a good way to losing weight. Also, if you combine aerobics with some muscle-strengthening exercises, you will reach your fitness goals very soon.
Muscle-strengthening exercises:
- Weights at the gym
- Weight-bearing activity (also heavy gardening)
- Push-ups and pull-ups
The more calories you burn, the more muscle you build and the more weight you lose.
These exercises will help you tone your arms, but also you can add some arm-muscle-strengthening workouts for other muscle groups.
Also, make sure you follow a healthy diet rich in vegetables, fruits, protein and a fiber-rich food, nuts, and healthy snacks. According to the experts, a triceps-focused upper-body workout, comprehensive fitness, and a healthy diet will improve the tone, shape, and strength of your under and upper arm.
Exercises Concentrated on the Underarm
A holistic approach won’t work in isolation unless your regimen does not contain exercises focused on your arms. The American Council on Exercise has conducted a study on the best exercises for reducing underarm fat.
Some of the evaluated options included bar pushdowns, dips, triceps kickbacks, lying barbell triceps extensions, overhead triceps extensions, rope push-downs, triangle push-ups, and closed-grip bench presses. According to their tests triceps kickbacks, dips, and triangle push-ups are the most effective exercises.
How to Do These Exercises:
1. Triangle Push-Ups
Experts claim that triangle push-ups are the gold standard of all triceps exercises because they require the most muscle activity. Here is a modification of the original push-up.
- Get on all four with your hands below your shoulders. Make sure your thumbs and forefingers make a triangle.
- Contract your abdominal and core muscles while the torso is stiff. Your head should be aligned with your spine.
- Keep the feet together, and the toes should point at your shins.
- Lower your body to the ground while your back is straight, without sagging in the lower back, and the hips are tucked away in a position not upward.
- When your chest and chin are in contact with the floor, start pressing up with your arms.
- Extend your arms completely from the elbows.
- If it is difficult for you, place the knees on the floor to perform a modified version of this push-up.
2. Dips
For this exercise, you will need a small bench, ledge, or chair which is heavy and stable so that you can lean on it.
- Stand with your back to the bench and keep your feet together.
- Bend down to a seating position and rest your hands on the bench.
- Hand your fingers over the edge of the bench.
- Slowly lift your butt but make sure you do not shift your hands.
- As you lower your hips to the floor, keep your arms parallel to the floor.
- When the upper arms are parallel to the ground, with your arms start pushing back upward.
- Your arms should perform this exercise, not your legs.
3. Triceps Kickbacks
This exercise requires a dumbbell.
- Take the dumbbell in your lift hand and take a split stance position with the right leg forward.
- Your weight should fall on both heels equally so that you can be in a stable position.
- Contract the abdominal and core muscles and keep your torso stiff.
- Place your right hand on the right knee or thigh.
- Lean forward and shift the upper body weight to the right side.
- Start pulling the shoulder down and backward while aligning the head with the spine. Make sure your torso does not rotate as you perform the movements.
- Try not to arch your back in order not to hurt your spine.
- Keep your left arm close to the torso so that they are parallel.
- Bend the elbow at 90 degrees, so that the forearm is in a vertical position to the ground.
- Exhale as you straighten the elbow and contract your triceps.
- The upper arm should be immobilized and close to the torso without rising.
- As you come back to the starting position, inhale with the upper arm close to the chest.
Yoga for Underarm Fat
Some asanas will successfully tone your arms and underarms. However, make sure you learn the asanas correctly under the guidance of a trained practitioner to achieve good results and avoid any injury.
Once you master the asanas, you can practice them at home.
1. Crow (Crane) Pose
This is a really challenging asana that requires you to stand on your bent arms, your knees tucked in the torso and your feet extended backward. In this pose, you support your entire body weight with the core and arm muscles.
2. The Plank
This pose is used in the Surya Namaskar or the sun salutation, but it differs from the plank in regular workouts.
- Place your palms flat on the ground.
- Extend your elbows and keep them in a straight position.
- Lift the torso and hips off the ground while the spine is straight.
- The toes should touch the ground.
3. The Dolphin Plank
This pose is a modified version of the dolphin pose.
- Place the forearms on the ground with palms open or clasped and touching the floor.
- Lift your feet and toes off the ground as you did in the plank position.
- Raise your upper arms from the ground in a perpendicular position to the floor.
In this pose, summon the strength in your thighs, arms, and core.
4. Vasisthasana or Side Plank
- Shift your weight to the left arm and foot while the right foot is stacked on
- Place the right hand on your right hip.
- Support your body weight with the left hand and foot.
- Put the left hand slightly in front of the shoulder, not lined up beneath it.
- As you hold the body diagonally, feel the thighs and triceps firm up.
Other advanced asanas include poses such as peacock pose and upward and downward-facing dog.