So Summer is coming! And I want to be ready... I want smaller toned arms for tank top season.. but I realize I don't know HOW to accomplish that! I'm calling on all of your combined expertise to help a gal out! Arm Curls? Tri-cep extentions? Light Weights? Heavy Weights? I'm fairly muscular right now, and can jump in doing the above with 10lb weights (curse me! My muscle tone doesn't seem to go away!). I've got 17 inch guns and would hope to have maybe 13-14 inches tops. I'm going to dig out my Advanced Tae-bo which has been collecting dust, but I can use all the extra help! Suggestions?

-Aimee

Maybe I'm not understanding this right, but are you saying that you want to have smaller muscles in your arms? If so, then I guess the best way to do that would be to not work them at all if you can help it. It just seems counter intuitive to me that any sort of useful lifting would make muscles smaller.

If you want to lower the size of your arms by decreasing the amount of fat you have stored there, then from what I've heard there is no way to lose weight in one specific part of your body. As you lower your overall body fat store then you will lose the fat in your arms, as well as in the rest of your body.

If I am misunderstanding you, then my apologies.

Well, I was reading, and so, by doing crunches, you don't actually lose fat from your middle, but you tone the muscle which in turn makes your waist smaller. I just want to tone my arms up, I know I can't make the muscles smaller.. I'd love to lose some fat from them, which I'm sure will happen along the way.. perhaps I actually need to focus my attention elsewhere. I thought perhaps that the same theory would apply.. I could definitely be wrong though..

-Aimee

One of the sites I visit to learn about the effects exercise is likely to have is http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html . If you look under the "Lies in the Gym" section she give some pretty good clarification about what one can and cannot expect from working out as far as toning goes. To be even more exact, she stresses that there really isn't such a thing as toning.

If nothing else, it is an interesting read, and you might find it to be useful.

Hey Swimgirl - live up to your name and get in the pool! Honestly, my arms are getting so toned and muscley (sp?) from swimming 3 times a week, as well as toning the rest of my body. By Summer I reckon that my arms will looking excellent and I'll be proud to show them off!

Love Amanda x

Hey Swimgirl. On the 10th January this year the circumference of my upper arm was 42.7 cm, two months later it is 38.2 cm. I do toning with resistance bands , chest presses, rowing, arm lifts (they hurt!!) and bicep curls, and I swim three times a week. Since doing the toning exercises, the swimming has been a lot easier. I am hoping by September to have good arms!!!! I am having a holiday in Greece and want to wear dresses and little tops and not be bulging out of them!!!!

Swimming? The heck you say! I like the idea of swimming, but I don't even own a suit that fits anymore, I should invest in one.. I barely have time these days for a walk. We'll see though, when I've changed my job I should have at least 15 extra hours a week (my commute time combined for a week). Thanks for the advice, I think I'll turn to weights in hopes of smaller arms, oh and of course a healthy diet!

-Aimee

I can vouch for resistance bands, these have worked for me, they're not too expensive, and they are easy to store. You can do loads of different arm exercises.

No sympathy on the pool front from me Missy!!!! I work 8 hour days, my commute time is two hours each way, and I still swim three times a week!!! It does mean getting up at 6 in the morning to fit it in.

ok spot reducing size by excersise is impossible fat is stored and there fore stripped from you body from all over otherwise us big losers would have looked really odd at one point lol. toned arms you say yoga look at madona's arms. good old fashioned push ups are probably the best as well as general weight loss i got 16inch arms tensed lol which is the same size as my neck lol

I know I can't spot reduce.. everything is reducing on me.. I just want to have nice arms in the end! No more double wave!

kykaree - when I'm working 9-5:30 I get up at 5:30 am, and get home at like 7pm. Which would work to go afterwards, if my bf is around he usually picks me up, or I walk up my "hill" which is 2km's straight up. And the walk to the pool is about 45 minutes, if I really did go to the pool 3 times a week, the walk to and from would alone cause me to drop major sizes! I should invest in a car, eh?

slimmingsi - are you saying my guns are bigger than yours? I don't know if I should be bragging here...

-Aimee

Swimgirl, for me, yoga works wonders on my arms. If you don't want to do a full yoga workout, you can still do a few poses and see results. I do plank:
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/470_1.cfm

And work on doing a handstand (though I don't get anywhere close!):
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/788_1.cfm

Upward facing dog is also good:
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/474_1.cfm

I think modified pushups are wonderful, too:
http://www.prevention.com/article/0,...4762-1,00.html

Good luck!