Women’s Arms and How to Firm Them
Posted: Tuesday, June 05, 2007
by Mohamad Alodah
Alodah Gould LLC
Many women have certain priorities when it comes to exercise and improve their bodies and even though the list is getting longer these days still, upper arms and the quest of firm women’s arms always come at the top.
I will get right into it and give you two versatile and very effective upper arms exercises that will firm woman’s arm the triceps and biceps, yes the biceps too, if want to have well rounded firm and beautiful arms then you should exercise all the muscles in your upper arms.
Exercise-1 the narrow-grip push ups
This exercise works many upper body muscles but the emphasis will be on the triceps (the back muscles of your arms).
Instructions…
- Lie down on your stomach and have your palms flat about shoulder width apart or narrower* and your toes on the floor to support the body.
- Now, lift up your body to perform the push up exercise until the arms are fully extended then lower the body until the forearms contact the biceps or just about.
*the narrow hand grip placement the more you involve the triceps, but don’t over do it, otherwise you can injure your wrist or shoulder. Start with shoulder width apart and after few days gradually narrow the grip slightly until you feel the muscles of your arms are really working.
For some women this exercise can be difficult at the beginning to perform and if that’s the case, then perform one of the modified narrow grip push ups; you can either perform the hands elevated or kneeling narrow grip push ups.
The hands elevated version is the same as the above narrow-grip push ups except your hands will be rested on an elevated object, examples are; chair, bed, sofa, stool, rail, or bench.
The kneeling narrow grip push - up is the same as the regular narrow grip push up exercise except the knees will support the body instead your feet. With both modified exercises the resistance will be reduced in order for those individuals to be able to strengthen their upper bodies and progress to the regular narrow grip push ups.
Triceps (the back of arm muscles)
Exercise-2 Dips
Another excellent exercise that targets and firms up your arms muscles (the triceps) is the triceps dips exercise. You can perform the parallel bar dips and/or the bench dips exercise to strengthen your arms in a very effective way and it’s also convenient to perform where you don’t need particular fitness equipment except a bench, sturdy stool or a chair.
The parallel bar dips can be more challenging than the bench dips so choose one that you can perform several repetitions (6-15 reps) and work your way up.
Many fitness experts and personal trainers recommend range of motion where the forearm touches the biceps, which is fine IF the trainee does not have postural issues like, forward shoulders otherwise, you can put too much strain on the shoulder muscles that can lead to an injury.
Biceps (the front of arm muscles)
Exercise-1 Elbow flexion motion
You can use dumbbells, barbells, or a resistance band for exercising your arms and they’re all good tools to use. I personally prefer to use a resistance band because it’s light, compact, affordable and effective tool. But it’s up to you which you prefer to exercise with as long as you perform the arms exercise.
Possessing firm women’s arms you need to pay attention to the body form while performing the exercise, just like any other exercises it’s important to do that to have effective results and prevent injuries. So follow the exercise instructions for maximizing your arms results.
Instructions…
- Standing with feet pointing straight forward, bring shoulder blades together to prevent drooping shoulders and elbows tucked in to the sides
- Now simply flex the elbows to lift the weight/resistance until forearms contact the biceps,
- Then slowly (2-3 seconds) lower weights all the way down until arms are straight,
- Repeat for 6-15 repetitions for 2-4 sets.
Whenever possible, exercise in front of a mirror so you can see your form and get in touch with your body
Biceps (the front of arm muscles)
Exercise-2 Chin-ups
This exercise is tougher the first one but it’s worth the time investment on practicing this excellent exercise for women to build muscles and firm their arms. Even if you can do one repetition or just lowering yourself from the chin up bar, this way you’re adapting the upper body muscles to this kind of tension until you can perform more than one repetition. You can get a door chin-up bar at an affordable price; that way you can train in the privacy of your home.
Instructions…
- With shoulder width apart or narrow, hold the chin up bar with firm grip of both hands
- Start to lift yourself to the chin above or at bar level (hence, chin up bar exercise)
- Then slowly bring yourself down where arms are extended then repeat.
Again, if you can not perform a single repetition, then you can use your legs to propel yourself up where the chin can be leveled at the chin-up bar or higher; then slowly descend until arms are fully extended. Repeat this pattern until you build up enough strength to perform one or more repetitions.
Now that you have the above exercises to train and tone your arms from back and front too, so you can build firm, strong and sexy arms and also you the choice of performing the arm exercises in the privacy of your place which makes it more convenient or the gym if you choose to, you have Noooo excuse for not firming those upper arms and saying good bye for unwanted saggy arms plus start wearing sporty and sexy women's tank top for the summer.
Founder of how-to-exercise.com , Mohamad Alodah, BA Health Promotion, American University, is an ISSA certified personal trainer with many years of experience specializing in strength training, diet, kinesiology and anthropological nutrition. Mohamad has perfected customized programs to motivate individuals to achieve their goals in strength and endurance building, overall fitness improvements, alignment, flexibility, and weight loss. how-to-exercise.com reveals the secrets that have been most successful for proven results.
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