Summer is coming.......

[The Kizzy]

and I want to wear sleevelss shirts, but where I used to have nice biceps and triceps, I know have blobs of skin. I want to tone them. I have lost about 15 pounds so far, and still loosing. I don't have any free weights, and to be honest, I would prefer not buying any. So suggestions would be nice. P.S. I can't do a pushup to save my life, thanks.

[Darcler]

Keep trying and you'll get them

[Gargamellow]

Jumping jacks, jogging, and sit ups.

[The Kizzy]

How do jumping jacks, jogging or situps help tone your upper arms?

[Darcler]

She doesn't read posts. That's how.

[Diekan]

Use cans of soup in place of weights if you don't want to buy them. But, just so you know - you can go to Wal Mart and pick up a couple of 10 pound dumb bells for like 5 bucks.

[Darcler]

The big baked bean cans or the big cans of diced tomatos work real good.

[Eziekial]

Start boxing or play basketball.

[Zormito]

How do jumping jacks, jogging or situps help tone your upper arms?

Your arms can't look toned if you have a layer of fat over them. If you want the toned look, keep up on the cardio!

[liquidstayce]

You would be awesome at boxing. I bet you would love it as well. Get some gloves and target gloves if you can find a partner to work out with. That or you should look into getting a heavy bag. Cheap ones can be found at Sports Authority and other similar stores - try the wavemaster. Just make sure to fill the base with sand instead of water. Helps it to be more stable.

With regards to your "chicken wings" the loose skin from losing fat can be filled out with muscle nicely. The majority of your arm though is made up of your tricep and is equally if not more important then your bicep. A great tricep exercise is tricep dips and you don't need equipment to do them. You can do them right off the couch. To make them easier just bend your knees further. To make it harder extend your legs further out. The hardest would be to have them straight. Once you can do 3 sets of 15 of those then try adding weight to your lap. New mothers can add babies. You can also add a couple telephone books.

Good beginner upper arm workout that should be added in with a general workout and not just done alone -

Couch Potato Dips
Sitting on the edge of a chair (or couch), place your hands on the edge on either side of you. Move your feet out so that your butt is off the chair, and your knees are bent at 90-degree angles. Bending your elbows so they point behind you, lower yourself as far as comfortable. Hold, then slowly press up again.
Do 15 reps ( you can even do this on a comercial break when watching TV!)

Air Boxing
Sounds corny but stand up and make fists. Imagine a heavy bag in front of you.
Do 30 punches with your left hand and then do 30 punches with your right. To make this a little harder and to get your heart rate up side step while you are doing it in a circle. Make sure to keep your hands up. Should be blocking your face at chin level.

Couch Pushups (chest, back of arms)
Facing a couch, kneel on the floor about 2 feet away from it. Cross your ankles, and place your hands shoulder-width apart on a cushion edge. Slowly bend your arms, and lower your upper body until your chest touches the couch. Hold, then press up again.
Do them until failure

Finish by doing jumping jacks. Garg was not off on this one. The cardio helps reduce fat all over which helps you to see your beautiful new muscles better.

Toning is often tangled up in the myth of spot training. Someone might say, "I want to tone the back of my arms, so I'm going to do some tricep exercises." Fine...you can (and should!) work your tricep muscles, but that isn't going to get rid of the fat around your triceps, which is what keeps you from seeing that muscle. If you reduce your calories, lift weights and do some cardio, you CAN lose body fat. Can you lose it over your triceps? Sure you can...but only your body will decide when (or if) the fat over that particular area will go.

STACY's RANT (YOUR EDUCATION) ON TONING

Toning is such a girly term that I just can't stand it. Many women say they want to "tone" their muscles but they don't want to build them up. What these women don't realize is that "toning" and "building" a muscle are one in the same thing. Thinking they are two different things is a myth. In a nutshell, this is what your muscles can do:

1. Grow larger and/or stronger
2. Shrink smaller and/or get weaker

Str training in general is wonderful. More muscle = more calories burned + good daily exercise and healthy eating = HEALTHIER YOU = HAWT!! :wink:

[The Kizzy]

They aren't fat, they just hang there.

[liquidstayce]

No extra fat? I find that kind of hard to believe but if it is true you still have three options.

1) Fill it out with muscle (still need to do cardio and workouts in general it all helps- building muscle has to do a lot with diet)
2) Get plastic surgery to tighten up the loose skin. When people loose a lot of weight fast the elasticisity of the skin doesn't always bounce back and only surgery can help in these cases along with filling it out with as much muscle as possible. I doubt this is you though.
3) Wear long sleeve shirts forever (not a real option =P )

[The Kizzy]

Thanks Stacye, that was exactly what I was looking for.

[leah]

When people loose a lot of weight fast the elasticisity of the skin doesn't always bounce back

my biggest fear.

i've been lucky so far--i think my age contributes. i still have youthful elasticity. ^_^

[Gypsiyee]

I didn't have the skin problem.. but it did leave some killer stretch marks on my hips/close to my underarms

[leah]

oh stretch marks ><

how does one go about fixing those? again, i've been lucky, but there're a couple pesky ones.

[The Kizzy]

I don't think you can, unfortunatly.

[Harrison]

Depends on the severity of the stretchmarks...

When you notice them use cocoa butter on them.

[The Kizzy]

cocoa butter prevents, it doesnt cure

[veeneedefeesh]

prevention is the only thing to do for stretch marks, once you got them, nothing short of plastic surgery can remove to my knowledge

[Harrison]

Worked on mine, they're there...but they're damned near invisible.

[The Kizzy]

they do fade after time, but never disappear.