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.
All you need to do is add a stabilization ball to the routine. You may know of it as a Pilates ball. It’s simply a large rubber ball filled with air. If you do this workout on the ball, you’ll have to stabilize yourself. And that means using muscles all over your body. The arm exercises will be more difficult, but the benefits are well worth it.
Here’s what you are going to do. Start with a couple of free weights, somewhere between 3 and 5 pounds. You’ll need one dumbbell for each hand. We recommend adding the stabilization ball as well but this is optional.
Get yourself balanced while sitting on the stool or ball while holding one weight in each hand. Once you feel comfortable, complete these steps:
Start by forming a 90 degree angle with your elbow. Your upper arm should be parallel to the floor while your lower arm with the weights in each hand should be pointing to the ceiling. Be sure you are sitting up straight so you feel a little stretch in your back as well.
Now, like a football referee signaling a touchdown, you want to lift your upper arms straight up to the ceiling. At this point make sure the palms of your hands with the weights in them are facing each other. If you are doing this on a stabilization ball, your stomach muscles will also begin to tighten as you work to remain balanced.
From this position you will slowly lower the weights down below your head in the back so that your elbows are pointing up. Make sure you do this slowly for two reasons. First you don’t want the weights to just drop back or you won’t be using your muscles. You’ll simply be letting gravity do the work. Second, by moving slowly you reduce the risk of injury.
Now go the other way, lifting the dumbbells back over your head, and again making sure to do this slowly. Repeat this simple motion 10 to 12 times, take a small rest, then do it all again. Then do it a third time if you can so you’ll end up doing 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps. You should feel a small burning sensation in your biceps and triceps. This is good and tells you you’re doing doing the exercise properly and working out your muscles.
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.
These simple are exercises for women are great whether your goal is to reduce your batwings, tone your arms, or simply feel stronger.