Toning up My Arms

S. - one of the things I add to my exercises is weighted agility gloves from www.drazathletics.com. It's like doing 2 things at once (we mom's are used to that). I wear them when I power walk, I wear them when I do an exercise video. It ads a little weight to the hands - much easier than carrying 2 lb weights in my hands when I walk/run.

Good luck

Yoga is great for toning arms. You could get a DVD to do it at home, but going to a class is really a great treat for yourself. If you really can't spare an hour, I would just google or go to You Tube and look up Sun Salutations. If you do a few of these several times a week, you're arms will be toned in no time. I'm 42 and my arms have never looked better!

Good luck,

P.

Push ups are one of the best things for arms - they work all over and really help to define your muscles without adding bulk. Try to do regular push-ups with your feet out and legs straigh. Start with 3 sets of 5 and work your way up to more (3 sets of 12-15). You'll notice a huge difference if you do these every other day!

Also, triceps dips are great to do at home. Put your hands behind you on a chair or step, legs out front, and bend your elbows lowering yourself (and your bottom) towards the ground. Same thing, every other day with 3 sets of 5 to start then work up to more. Triceps are really what causes the jiggling, so working them will get you some great results.

If you're willing, invest in a couple 8-10 lbs weight to keep at the house. You can use these to work your arms in various ways as well. Good luck - I'm sure you'll be look hot by summer!

I have 2 videos I like. Cindy Crawford's Ultimate Challange is awesome and challenging and will tone a lot more than just your arms. Core Rhythms full workout and quick workout are a lot of fun, doing dance type moves, and tones my arms pretty quick. It's not as extreme as the cindy crawfor one, and I have been able to do it while I'm pregnant, too.

Hello S.,
Well the best thing that ever worked for me is push ups!
I would do some morning, noon and night and in no time your arms will be more toned. Also some small weights lifting up from the sides and bicep curls helps a lot.
Have a great summer.
K.

You need to do resistance training/weight lifting. That can be done easily at home with free weights, some with body weight, or resistance bands (very cheap and versatile at home). No problem working out with a 17 month old!

You can google these exercises or I'd be happy to meet with you and show you them (I am an ACE-Certified Personal Trainer in Belle Plaine):

Body weight: push ups, dips
Other: Chest press or fly, bent over row or reverse fly, shoulder press or raises, bicep curl, tricep extension or kickbacks, lat pulls, etc.

A. T.
ACE-Certified Personal Trainer
Independent Shaklee Distributor
###-###-####

Hi S., Girl......if you are 5'7" and 125 lbs., I can't imagine anything on you flapping in the wind!! When my kids were small, I used to lay on my back on the floor and do presses with my kid. Just hold the child (he is your weight) and lift him up and hold, then down and hold. I also used to use my canned food for weights. There are many arm exercise you can do to tone the arms. Just lift them up and down and in and out. These days I love to do Yoga, which is something you can do at home, easily....I also have a Wii Fit that I love.....good luck :) CK

Hi Sara,
I have been doing the FIRM videos and DVD's for 20 years and I have found nothing else that firms every part of my body and gives me a cardio workout. They have lots of different DVDs out. Check Ebay and put in the FIRM workout and you will find many. They have one called upper body which is a 20 minute workout that will tone your entire upper body, but with no cardio. I am currently doing two dvds called jiggle free buns and jiggle free arms. They are 30 min each and incorporate cardio segments in between toning segments. I alternate them. I have a 5, 3 and 3 month old so timeis an issue.
Their website is ; firmdirect.com. I have done running, yoga, just weightlifting, but this you can do in your own home and you don't get bulky just lean and tone and it does it all in a short amount of time. Trust me you'll get hooked.
T.

My husband and I purchased the "Slim in Six" program a couple years ago. We aren't fanatic about the whole program (like the diet, etc.), but have found the workout part to work well for us. It's a couple of DVDs, and it comes with a resistance band that works well for arms. It's fairly low impact, includes yoga, and doesn't require a lot of space.

All great suggestions S.! I would add tricep exercises to the mix also.

If you're interested in specific dvds...check out my webpage and click on Shop for Products then Fitness Videos. There's a button you can click to compare the workouts and find something for toning that would fit your schedule and budget. (workouts range from 10 minutes to over an hour, standard to dancy moves and different personalities of the trainers).

I am now working out to ChaLEAN Extreme which is basically a program to build muscles (without bulking up) in order to burn more fat for a lean and toned body. It's for Beginners to Advanced people and the workouts average 30 minutes a day.

Hope this helps.

www.teambeachbody.com/Wanaka

Planks, chair dips, and lift weights until they are fatigued. Good luck! K.

There is a yoga pose called Dolphin that will do wonders.

have you tried baby curls? Hold your arms out like you are holding a tall stack of papers(elbows to your stomach, palms up) with the baby lying flat on your lower arms(head left, feet right or visa versa). Then bring your baby up to your chest and lower him towards your lap. You can bring him as high as you want and lower him as low as you can comfortably go. My girls love it and it really does give you a work out.

Push ups are just about the fastest way to tone up your arms, shoulders and strengthen your back muscles too and it doesn't cost any money to do! Start by doing the modified version (with knees bent on the floor and do as many as you can and work up from there. You can look in exercise books/magazines for proper techniques or even look on the internet by googling push-ups.

Also investing in some free weights and doing upper arm exercises will help too. Garage sales are good places to look for weights. You can usually find them often and pretty cheap.

HTH,
A.

Sounds like you are tall and thin, but need some muscle building. I am also that way. 5 foot 10 and 146 now. I was 136 till I quit smoking, and then put on ten pounds. Thank goodness that leveled off though:) I play a lot of volleyball and softball which keeps my arms and legs pretty well toned and I get out of the house and away from the kids after spending all day with them. If you do decide to start a weight lifting program I suggest more reps is much better than more weight. Also, I sell Mary Kay and they have a fabulous product called Cellushape which has proven to help stimulate the cells on your skin to rejuvinate and also firms the skins elasticity. Great day and night lotion routine which our skin needs anyway with added bonus of helping to take inches off your arms and thighs. Worked great to help me tone back up after baby #3. Plus if you do not see results it is 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Let me know if interested in trying this product.

I saw this one on a TV morning news show. You just stand w/ your arms out like a T. Palms face down. Then twist your wrist and turn them up. Add a little attitude and use your entire arm. While your doing this you can also move your whole arm up (like a Y) or down like a A. You can walk around doing this during your normal cleaning routines etc. Super easy and supposedly will give you awesome arms...

Nothing tones your arms more than good old fashioned push-ups. They work all of your upper-body muscles, including your chest and back. I'm also a fan of The Firm and have found that their DVD's are awesome for giving you a great total body workout. You can find many of their DVD's at collagevideo.com. Good luck!