How can I tone my arms?

Hi Christap,

 One good and fun way to tone your arms is through Pilates. The following video can show you the basics of toning your arms through pilates.
VideoJug: Pilates: How To Tone Your Arms

Make sure you check out the websites below! 

If you can get a gym: go for the nautilus machines.  They show you right on them what muscles they are working.  Start off light, like 20-30 lbs.  Stay light with the weights for toning, if you go heavier and heavier you will be body building not toning.  You should start off doing the lifting 8-10 times per rep and do 2-3 reps (you can increase the reps weekly/biweekly).  In between each rep you should take a minute or two to just breath and/or stretch the muscle.  You can also use free weights at the gym.

If you can't get to a gym: you can buy dumbbells or a weight set to work w/ at home.  You can also use things  you have at home, such as a bag of dog/cat food, jug of water, phonebooks...  If you can buy the resistance "rubber bands", they work really good for muscle toning.

Also, when you are doing cardio exercise...move those arms! :)  If your gym has one: I used to love working out on a rowing machine, but the gym I go to now doesn't have one.  So now I go on the eliptical machine (the one where your feet are moving like you are running...not the skiing motion one).

Good luck!  Here are some websites you can check out:

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/fitness/category.jhtml?categoryid=/templatedata/fitness/category/data/1145287956294.xml

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/fitness/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/fitness/story/data/1144354052328.xml

 http://www.exrx.net/

 http://www.online-personaltraining-nyc.com/article11-tone-flabby-arms.html

http://diet.ivillage.com/tone/tarms/0,,76,00.html

just stay calm. stay calm

Hey have you tried a tanner or sun bathing just a thought.

Key to looking toned is through diet diet diet and then exercise

 You need to eat 5-6 small meals a day. Eat some protein with each meal! Cut out all refined sugar!!! Also add more fiber. The fiber and protein will fill you up, helping you to cut down on your unhealthy eating. Also by eating more than 3 meals spread out through the day you will kick your metabolism in high gear. Here is a general meal for a day:

Breakfast: 2 poached eggs
whole wheat toast
1/2 cup fruit

Snack: Cottage Cheese with veggie

Lunch: Turkey, lettuce, tomato, whole wheat bread sandwich
1/2 cup fruit

Snack: Protein Shake

Dinner: Turkey Burger ( no bun )
Side of brown rice
Side of Broc.




Then exercise regularly 4-5 days a week. Do both cardio and lifting. But on days that you do both. Do lifting before your cardio and you will maximize your fat burn.

So Example :

Monday - 30 mins lifting then 1 hr cardio
Tuesday - 1 hour lifting
Wednesday - Rest
Thrusday - 30 mins lifting then 1 hr cardio
Friday - 1 hour lifting
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - 30 mins lifting then 1 hr cardio

For exercises for your triceps and biceps check out:

http://www.xercisefactor.com/

Also check out the XGen to randomly generate a workout routine. And they have hundreds of exercise clips.

Diet is very important. Some good exercises : hammer curl, bicep curl with ez bar, tricep kick backs, Skull crushers ( add a twist at the top , you will feel a burn) and push ups.

Focus on triceps and biceps exercises using a weight that is challenging after about 8-12 repetitions.  Focus on strict form, use the right weight, and you will

Christa, I'm going to let you in on a secret that will help you immensely: There is no such thing as toning.

"Toning" is a word made up by trainers and fitness article writers to mask its actual meaning -- which is to build muscle. They created the word because women -- in general -- are obsessed with becoming too muscular, despite the fact that unless you have unsual genetics or on anabolic steroids, you'll never become as muscular as a man, or a heavy weight female bodybuilder.

When you see examples of "toned" celebrities or fitness models in women's fitness and health magazines, you are looking at women who are carrying a lot of muscle. This gives them "tight" bodies and lots of firm curves. And in nearly all cases, they got it from lifting heavy weights, limiting long-duration cardio and eating plenty of food. They typically don't get bodies like that from the high-rep, low-weight workouts they might be modeling in the magazines. They are paid to pose with resistance bands and swiss balls -- they don't necessarily use them themselves.

So, if you want to "get toned" you pretty much need to ditch everything you've read so far.

I won't go into it all here, because I deal with it in-depth in a number of articles (including an interview with a very successful fitness model and Muscle & Fitness Hers covergirl, Amanda Carrier), so check out the links below and it will make sense to you.

• Look Like A Fitness Model: Interview with Fitness Model & Actress Amanda Carrier  
• Workout Routines for Toning: Why They Fail
• Total Body Workout
• Full Body Workout

Best of luck!

Feel free to email me with additional questions.

Matt