Are you one of the many women embarrassed by batwings? If you don't already know, batwings is a term used to describe excess skin that forms under the arms either from age or perhaps excessive weight loss. And you'll be happy to know that there are some arm exercises for women that can help significantly with this problem.
Understand that if you have a lot of loose skin, no exercise will get rid of it completely, but you can increase the muscle size, which will help reduce the excess skin. And you'll get a general strength improvement as well. And by adding an additional item, you can reduce fat around the stomach also.
Just add a Pilates ball to the routine for the extra benefits. This large, rubber, air filled ball is sometimes known as a stabilization ball. That's because if you do the routine on the ball you'll be forced to stabilize yourself. That means using just about all the muscles in your body. The extra benefits make using the ball well worth the extra effort that is needed to do the workout.
The stabilization ball is optional, but you will need a couple of inexpensive free weights. These dumbbells should be between 3 and 5 pounds depending on your strength. Hold one dumbbell in each hand.
Have one weight in each hand and sit on the ball (or a stool if you prefer). Once you are balanced, complete the following steps:
While keeping your upper arms running parallel with the floor, bend your elbow up so that your lower arm and hand are pointing to the sky and at a 90 degree angle with your upper arm. You should be sitting up straight and may feel your back stretching also.
Now start the exercise by lifting your upper arms straight up to the sky. If you're on a ball, you'll also feel some abdominal tightening because you will also be working to keep your balance. When your arms are straight up, your palms with the weights should be facing each other.
Now lower the weights slowly behind your head until your elbows are pointing at the sky. Doing this slowly is the key, and it is very important. If you simply let the weights fall back you're not using your muscles and getting very little benefit. Also slow movements reduce your chance of injuring yourself.
Finally, you want to lift the weights back over your head. Again, do this slowly. You'll want to repeat this motion about 10 times. Take a brief rest, then do ten more reps. You'll want to do this three times if you can, for a total of 30 reps in all. If your biceps burn a little, you're doing it right and giving your muscles the workout they need.
This should not seem too easy. If it is, then you should increase the weight of the dumbbells by a pound or even two pounds.
Do this every day and your flabby skin will soon start to be filled with muscle. But if these exercises are difficult for you, don't be afraid to start out easier. Use less weight and work your way up. Do fewer reps or sets and again, gradually increase them. Get rid of the Pilates ball and add it later when you become stronger. If you start out too hard you may get frustrated and give up. Then obviously you won't see any results. Just be aware that by not using the ball and lowering the amount of weight, the exercise will be easier but the results will come slowly. You will, however, still get results.
Whether you're looking for reduce batwings or simply look better by increasing strength and tone, these arm exercises for women can get you where you want to be.
