"Batwings" - best weight machines to tone?

slieber

Yes, I know, I know, I know there's no such thing as spot reduction. BUT, I want to do toning as well as possible on the "batwing" part of my upper body.

Right now I do twice a week weights on the upper body - about a half hour of varying machines. I'm not sure which ones are the most effective for that part of the body, though. Granted, I'll still do the all around toning with weights, but I would like to know what weight machines are the most effective. I'm going to say straight out that I don't like using free-weights, for the most part.

I also do cardio 4 times a week, minimum, and legs 1-2 times, using weight machines. I take ballet classes 6 days a week, though - 11 hours per week total.

I would appreciate insight as to which machines might help tone the area from the shoulders to the upper arms - the underarm area, that I unaffectionately call "batwings."

Thanks! :-)

songbyrdsweet

LOL...had to check out what body part this described. :laugh: Sounds like the fat/skin over your triceps, which are the muscles that extend/straighten your arm.

I will say that twice a week isn't enough to make changes in the muscle...too many days go by between challenges to the muscle so it doesn't maintain the adaptations it makes. This de-training effect happens in about 3 days. If you want to make appreciable changes, you should be lifting 3-4 days per week, especially if you've been training for a while. You don't have to do free-weights if you don't like them, but use what you do like more frequently.

In the end, it comes down to fat loss and skin tightness in the area. That's an area notorious for fat storage in women. As you lose body fat the area will become more firm. But I have well-defined triceps and that still wiggles when I shake it and it's not flexed.

jhb090107

I think you are talking about lat pull downs both in front of and behind the head and tricep extentions - lower weight high reps and high sets is usually the best way to tone

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/lat-pull-down.html

check out this video

these will also give you those sexy shoulders (a personal favorite)!

jhb090107

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/cable-tricep-extension-with-v-bar.html

one for the tricep

lotusfromthemud

I'm going to say, based on my experience. . .that I can do extensions and kickbacks until the cows come home, and not get the definition I want.

I've discovered that yoga (ashtanga with plenty of sun salutations) and pushups/tricep dips and arm balances using my own body weight are the key. (for me.)

:flowerforyou:

songbyrdsweet

I think you are talking about lat pull downs both in front of and behind the head and tricep extentions - lower weight high reps and high sets is usually the best way to tone

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/lat-pull-down.html

check out this video

these will also give you those sexy shoulders (a personal favorite)!

Lat pulldowns don't actually use the triceps. They use the biceps, lats, rhomboids, and teres groups. They can't use the triceps as they are antagonistic to the biceps.

slieber

Thanks. That helps quite a bit. I can't really get more than 2 weight days in a week due to my schedule, unless I take no breaks between lifting days. My gym days are all packed into Sunday-Tuesday. Ballet is daily apart from Sunday, though. Sometimes one of my teachers has us do push-ups in class - that's on Wednesday.

LOL! I'm not looking necessarily for sexy shoulders - they look okay - I just want some jiggling to go away before I have to wear a particular ballet costume. Erm...I don't want anything to be over the edge of the bodice, if you get my meaning! <sheepish grin>

So any of the standard machines I use (and I use practically all of them) are okay, then?