Wave Goodbye to Arm Jiggle!! | Prescription Fitness

Before I get into the topic of how to tone the back of the arms (triceps), I want to address a very important topic. The topic is whether or not you can achieve “spot reduction” through exercise.

Have you ever wondered if doing an exercise that targets a certain body part or muscle group will help you lose fat from that specific area? For example, will doing 150 crunches reduce fat in the abdomen? Will doing 200 bicep curls burn fat off your bicep area? The answer is…NO!

Despite the tons of terrible diet and fitness information circulating these days, and the lies being told to you by companies selling various types of fitness equipment and ab exercise machines, spot reduction is nothing but a myth.

You can’t force your body lose fat from one specific area just by doing exercises for that area. There are no magic pills, magical exercise routines, or fancy equipment that will make the myth reality.

Always keep in mind that exercises target muscles, NOT fat! In order to rid your body of fat, you need to create a calorie deficit through either a proper diet, exercise, or a combination of both. This creates a deficit of calories, and that causes your body to burn your stored body fat for energy. Also, exercises increases lean muscle mass which increases the boost in calorie burn needed to rid your body of fat.

Another fact to keep in mind is that the order in which specific body parts begin to lose fat is predetermined by your generics and is impossible to change. This means most men will typically lose fat from their lower abs last (and gain it there first) just like most women will typically lose fat from their thighs and hips last (and gain it there first). Nothing you do can change the way your body stores and loses fat.

Now that I’ve explained how toning vs. spot reduction works, I will give you a few effective exercises you can do to tone the back of the arms. All you need is a light pair of dumbbells, a chair or bench and your own body weight.

Do the following exercises in order. Once you have done 10-12 repetitions of all, rest 30-60 seconds and repeat the entire circuit 3 or 4 times.  You can do this work out twice a week if you’d like:

• Exercise 1       Overhead extension
• Exercise 2       Single arm kick-back
• Exercise 3       Close grip push-up
• Exercise 4       Bench/Chair dips

So, keeping all of the above information in mind, add this circuit to your normal exercise routine to reach your goals of toned arms just in time for warm weather festivities!