Many people are hesitant to do too many arm exercises for fear of gaining bulky muscle mass. If you want arm tone without the bodybuilder look, high-repetition, low-weight resistance exercises are the key.
There are several exercises that tone but don't bulk up each part of your arm if you use low-weight rather than heavier dumbbells.
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But it's important to remember, selectively losing fat in your arms isn't possible. Only a comprehensive weight-loss program that includes cardiovascular exercise, strength training and eating the right nutrients will help you shed pounds all over, including in your arms.
Learn all about how to tone your arms, how to build arm muscle without bulking up and how to lose weight in your arms, below.
Tip
Don't let the fear of "bulking up" scare you away from weight training. Use lower weights at high repetitions to tone your arms.
First, Here's How Fat Loss Happens
Certain areas of your body — such as your abdomen, thighs and upper arms — have a greater conglomeration of fat cells, but your body stores fat as triglycerides in fat cells throughout your body. Genetics and hormones drive where you primarily store fat and how you lose it, according to the Endocrine Society.
When you lose weight, your body draws the triglycerides from fat cells throughout your body, not from an area you wish to shrink, according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
The Best Strength Exercises to Tone Your Arms Without Bulking Them Up
Strength training is regularly recommended as a tool for fat loss. It helps you maintain lean muscle so that your metabolism stays revved and muscle burns more calories at rest than does fat, according to the Mayo Clinic. Strength training won't directly burn fat but will reveal lean, toned muscles as you do drop pounds.
Don't shy away from the weights because you're concerned about developing bulging, bulky biceps (and arms in general) — you can tone arms without bulk and lose arm fat without gaining a ton of muscle. Commit to just two or three resistance-training workouts per week that address your arms, along with the other major muscle groups in your body, such as your back, chest, legs, hips and abs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Just 12 to 15 repetitions of an exercise using resistance that feels heavy for each of these muscle groups is enough to support maintenance of lean muscle mass and improvement of muscle function and tone, per the Mayo Clinic. Dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, resistance bands and weight machines at the gym are all options for equipment. You can even do toning arm exercises without weights.
1. Dumbbell Curl
- Lightly grip the dumbbells in each hand. Let your arms hang by your sides, elbows straight and palms facing in.
- Raise your right arm slowly, rotating your forearm as you lift. Your forearm begins the exercise facing your hip, but as you lift, it should begin to turn clockwise until it meets your biceps. Your palm should be facing your shoulder.
- Lower your right arm to its original position. Repeat on the left side.
Tip
Choose weights that are heavy enough to be challenging, but light enough that you can do 15 to 20 biceps curls on each side and still feel able to do at least five more.
2. Dumbbell Kickback
- With a dumbbell in each hand, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hinge your hips back, maintaining a straight spine. Your upper body should be at a 45-degree angle to the floor.
- Bring your arms to your sides, pretending your elbows are glued to your body. This is the starting position.
- Extend your arms straight back with control and squeeze your triceps at the top.
- Bend your elbows and slowly lower your arms back to the starting position.
3. Dumbbell Lateral Raise
- Start standing with a dumbbell in each hand, arms at your sides. Keep your back flat and knees slightly bent.
- Keeping your core braced, raise the weights out to your sides until they reach shoulder height.
- Lower the weights slowly to the starting position.
Tip
For this exercise, grab a pair of lighter dumbbells and focus on controlling the motion, rather than lifting with momentum.
4. Triceps Dip
- Sit on the edge of a sturdy chair or workout bench.
- Place your hands palms down on the chair on either side of your hips and extend your legs out in front of you.
- Carefully slide your butt off the edge of the chair while keeping your arms straight and your back close to the edge of the chair.
- Slowly bend your elbows to almost a 90-degree angle while lowering your butt toward the floor,.
- Push back up to the starting position.
Tip
To make this move easier, bend your knees. To make this move harder, straighten your legs out in front of you.
Why Cardio Is Important for Toning Your Arms
Along with making healthy tweaks or substitutions in your diet (more on that below), cardiovascular exercise, also known as cardio or aerobic exercise, is a great way to establish a calorie deficit so you can lose fat in your arms (and in other parts of your body).
Some exercises to get you started for arm toning without weights include walking, jogging or running — all of which require no equipment beyond a good pair of shoes — plus cycling, swimming, kickboxing, brisk walking and using the elliptical machine. Even sledding can be a great exercise session, because of all the work it takes to hike back up to the top of the hill.
As a general rule, if it gets the large muscles of your body moving rhythmically and for a prolonged period, it's a good exercise for weight loss.
Why Proper Nutrition Is Important for Toning Your Arms
Although you can't pick and choose the areas where your body burns fat, it will come off your arms if you keep up healthy habits for enough time (so, if you're wondering how to lose arm fat fast, know that this won't be an overnight process).
But in order to burn fat from anywhere on your body — and therefore shrink arm fat — you need to establish what's known as a calorie deficit. This refers to burning more calories than you take in, so your body has no option but to turn to that stored body fat as a source of energy.
For example, if you're eating a 2,500-calorie diet but only burning 2,000 calories a day between your basal metabolic rate and daily activities, including exercise, you actually have a calorie surplus — and you'll gain weight.
If you flip those numbers — burning 2,500 calories per day while taking in 2,000 calories a day — you'll establish the sort of calorie deficit that helps your body shed excess fat.
An Important Note on Calorie Deficits
Although you do need to establish a calorie deficit to eventually achieve some arm weight loss, you shouldn't starve yourself. Your body needs lots of healthy fuel to keep your metabolism going, particularly when you plan to add in strength training and cardio, so focus on a healthy diet of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fish, lean meats or other sources of healthy protein.
While it depends on age and activity levels, adult women generally need to consume 1,600 to 2,200 calories per day and adult men generally need to consume 2,000 to 2,600 calories per day, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
- ExRx.net: "Dumbbell Curl"
- ExRx.net: "Dumbbell Lateral Raise"
- ExRx.net: "Dumbbell Kickback"
- ACE: "Myths and Misconceptions: Spot Reduction and Feeling the Burn"
- USDA: "Dietary Guidelines for Americans: 2020 to 2025"
- Endocrine Society: "Obesity"
- Mayo Clinic: "Strength training: Get stronger, leaner, healthier"
- CDC: "How much physical activity do adults need?"
- Mayo Clinic: "Weight loss: Choosing a diet that's right for you"