Not looking to lose weight but want to tone my arms. Advice?

pbandbananas96

I’m 5’10 and 136 pounds. I’ve always had what I consider to be big arms (in proportion to the rest of my body). Are there any ways I can tone that area without actually losing weight overall?

ninerbuff

Arms look normal in every sense. You can "tone up" the muscle underneath with a good structured arm program where the reps are a little higher, but still use enough resistance to challenge them.


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littlegreenparrot1

They look like perfectly normal arms to me....

I would suggest yoga/pilates and swimming as being things that may make some small difference to the muscle tone in your arms as well as doing the rest of you some good. And imo being quite nice to do

Xellercin

"Toning" isn't really a thing. You can lose or gain fat and you can lose or gain muscle. That's pretty much it.

You can spot gain muscle, but you can't spot lose fat.

Besides, your arms look perfect as they are. I would focus more on not nitpicking your body so much.

That said, if you want nitpicking advice, what may help you feel more comfortable with the appearance of your arms is some PT to pull your resting shoulder position back. In the photos, you seem to have curled shoulders and winged blades.

I always feel like my arms and shoulders look and feel better when I'm doing my posture PT. I had a curled right shoulder due to my work, and now it's straightening up and I'm much happier with how my whole body looks and feels, it certainly shows off my arm and shoulder muscles better when the shoulder isn't collapsing forward.

Plus your neck and spine will thank you in the coming decades.

csplatt

I would eat at maintenance and lift weights.

tulips_and_tea

Your arms aren't big at all. I agree with the other posters re: weightlifting. Done consistently over time it makes a big difference.

Also, the suggestion about paying attention to posture is also very important.

Oh, and put on that tiara on the counter in the background and celebrate having a healthy, functioning body!

Retroguy2000

Nothing to add to the above informative posts other than echoing that your arms are totally normal.

Get some light dumbbells, do some dips, etc.

upcyclist

Some good advice in this thread!

1. Clearly we see nothing wrong with your arms, but if you want more definition, an increase in muscle mass will help--but you may need to decrease body fat for it to show more. Body fat is the reason folks like me no longer have a six pack, regardless of how many crunches I do

2. Depending on how hard you hit the weights/pushups/whatever you do to build strength, you may want to keep an eye on your body weight. While you may do okay with your current caloric intake, you may want to actually increase your intake if you start burning significantly more calories. More muscle mass will mean you will burn more calories at rest.

3. I have heard some say "I don't want to get bulky, though." That's OK. There is both muscular strength (high weight, low reps in weight training) and muscular endurance (low weight, high reps, as @ninerbuff said). When I do the latter (as I cycle between max strength, muscular endurance, and other training phases), I'm doing 40-60 reps each set.

4. When thinking about #2, remember that muscle is denser than fat. If your weight increases, and it's primarily muscle mass you're adding, you're not necessarily getting "bigger" visually/volume-wise. I have a medium (albeit 52-year old) build, so I don't say I'm trying to lose weight. I say that I'm trying to lose fat, gain muscle, and move it to other locations

kshama2001

Thank you so much for posting pictures.

I agree with the others who said your arms aren't big.

If you do start lifting weights, you may first wish to take measurements of your arms. When I started lifting weights again, it seemed like my arms were getting bigger, but the tape measure showed that in fact they were getting smaller.

pbandbananas96

Thank you everyone! I’m very critical of my body so it was helpful that people pointed out that my arms aren’t as big as I think.

I definitely have bad posture so straightening that out will help. Other than that I’ll just work on some of the strength training exercises mentioned.

Appreciate everyone’s input

Chef_Barbell

pbandbananas96 wrote: »

Thank you everyone! I’m very critical of my body so it was helpful that people pointed out that my arms aren’t as big as I think.

I definitely have bad posture so straightening that out will help. Other than that I’ll just work on some of the strength training exercises mentioned.

Appreciate everyone’s input

Working on this will go a long way imho

ythannah

Xellercin wrote: »

That said, if you want nitpicking advice, what may help you feel more comfortable with the appearance of your arms is some PT to pull your resting shoulder position back. In the photos, you seem to have curled shoulders and winged blades.

I always feel like my arms and shoulders look and feel better when I'm doing my posture PT. I had a curled right shoulder due to my work, and now it's straightening up and I'm much happier with how my whole body looks and feels, it certainly shows off my arm and shoulder muscles better when the shoulder isn't collapsing forward.

Plus your neck and spine will thank you in the coming decades.

I'll echo this advice. I'm a lot older than you are and have badly rounded shoulders from decades of computer desk work, and it's a lot harder to correct later in life.

Your arms look quite slender to me. But if you'd like to see a bit of muscle definition, weights are the way to go.

allaboutthecake

Vinyasa flow yoga would definitely improve muscle tone and also as a side benefit help with posture. If you get a good instructor, they help you with your stance and gently position poses, putting your body in correct position. After class, you will feel long and lean yet strong. It quiets the mind, too.

natasor1

Lift weight for arms, but not light, go for heavy , try 80% of your max. If you do 2-3-4 sets of 12 reps. For beginning you do 2 sets and your weights have to be such that you can rep only 10-12 times. So you can see that 8 lb wont do the trick. I recommend 15 lb for military press, 8 lb for flies, 8 lb for forward lifts, 15 lb for tricepses, 15 lb for biceps. Ofcaurs you should always do push ups, reversed push ups, planks on all 4 directions.

Xellercin

ythannah wrote: »

Xellercin wrote: »

That said, if you want nitpicking advice, what may help you feel more comfortable with the appearance of your arms is some PT to pull your resting shoulder position back. In the photos, you seem to have curled shoulders and winged blades.

I always feel like my arms and shoulders look and feel better when I'm doing my posture PT. I had a curled right shoulder due to my work, and now it's straightening up and I'm much happier with how my whole body looks and feels, it certainly shows off my arm and shoulder muscles better when the shoulder isn't collapsing forward.

Plus your neck and spine will thank you in the coming decades.

I'll echo this advice. I'm a lot older than you are and have badly rounded shoulders from decades of computer desk work, and it's a lot harder to correct later in life.

Your arms look quite slender to me. But if you'd like to see a bit of muscle definition, weights are the way to go.

Yup, it's a B of a problem to try and fix later on in life. A lot of my colleagues have progressed to full on hunch-backs in their 40s because they let it go too long.

I know I phrased my advice in appearance terms, but that's only because OP seems to care about appearance.

But OP, if you listen to my advice, you really will be better off for the rest of your life.

Plus, if you start working with a great PT, it may help you learn to focus on your body's well-being instead of it's appearance.

Dreamroper

Your arms aren't big at all, but I know how you feel. If you want to see someone with big arms, look at my profile picture. You can't miss those huge biceps. I hate them, but I do everything as I should for exercise, so they are what they are. All of us are critical of our bodies I think.

age_is_just_a_number

Your arms look completely fine to me. If you want to add more muscle definition then I suggest building shoulder and arm exercises such as:
Plank
Tricep kickback
Tricep push-up
Lateral raise

Good luck