Most effective upper body moves? Please help :)

lisamarie2181

Hi everyone! I am trying to start my weight training next week and my arms have got to go!! Can anyone suggest the best arm workouts ( not sure if thats the right way to put it lol ) that will give me the best results? I wasn't sure how many different kinds of workouts i should do, i was told by many to lift heavier and do 3 sets of 10 to 15. I am planning on doing all upper body together, and just wasnt sure how many different moves i need to do to get my arms lean.

Can anyone help this girl out?

DawnEH612

What's your goal? If you are trying to loose fat, well, that's diet and cardio. If you are Tryng to build muscle than that's lifting weights. My arms were one of my most embarrassing features. I hated them.. Fat and disgusting. So much so, I never wore short sleeves, even in the summer... I began lifting pretty heavy and have built a good deal of muscle now. I get complements about my "guns" a few times/week... It's crazy. My arms are still big, still have some fat. It's a family cur for all the females on my moms side... Genetics,can only work with them..

subcult

Pullups if able if not chin ups, and if you are not able to do them reverse chin/pull ups by using a chair and slowly lowering yourself lots of videos online for reference. And push ups too of course.

zechks

Hi everyone! I am trying to start my weight training next week and my arms have got to go!! Can anyone suggest the best arm workouts ( not sure if thats the right way to put it lol ) that will give me the best results? I wasn't sure how many different kinds of workouts i should do, i was told by many to lift heavier and do 3 sets of 10 to 15. I am planning on doing all upper body together, and just wasnt sure how many different moves i need to do to get my arms lean.

Can anyone help this girl out?

My advice is workout your entire body. That's the usual mistake done by beginners, neglecting their lower bodies. They focus mainly with arms or chest or shoulders too much while forgetting training their legs. So what I mean is you may want to train your upper and lower body. You may start doing compound movements, like squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, bench presses. And you want to get your arms leaner right? Let me tell you that you cannot spot reduce the fat around your arms, no matter how heavy you work your arms, it just won't lean out unless you reduce your body fat percentage. And reducing body fat is done by the combination of strength training, cardio, and a sound diet. Among those the most important is your diet. So that's basically it, workout the entire body, build some muscle, have a sound diet, do some cardio, be consistent and eventually reduce your body fat percentage, then you will see results. Again this is just my advice. You don't have to follow it. You can still do whatever you wanna do.

lisamarie2181

I currently do workout, try and at least do the 5 days, i Zumba most of the time, if not walk. Im not looking to target my arms, but i am going to work on different muscle groups each day as part my strength training routine and i want to know what moves are best to incorporate in the routine to get the best results, i am worried about sagging skin and from all of my reading on here, the main agreement on here is get into strength training and i am looking for anything i can do prevent the skin problem lol

Also, i eat pretty much all whole food diet with the occasional slips ups here and there, but i love cooking and for the most part make everything i eat from scratch or do my best too. I eat veggies, lean protein, some dairy, and limit my carbs ( no bad carbs at all for the most part) and sugar intake because i have pcos and these are no no's for me

lisamarie2181

What's your goal? If you are trying to loose fat, well, that's diet and cardio. If you are Tryng to build muscle than that's lifting weights. My arms were one of my most embarrassing features. I hated them.. Fat and disgusting. So much so, I never wore short sleeves, even in the summer... I began lifting pretty heavy and have built a good deal of muscle now. I get complements about my "guns" a few times/week... It's crazy. My arms are still big, still have some fat. It's a family cur for all the females on my moms side... Genetics,can only work with them..

I hate my arms too i am the same way, dont like wearing short sleeves and all! This is why i wan to make sure i am getting the most effective upper body routine on the day of my strength training. i have all the other stuff down, diet, cardio

rkr22401

Most effective upper body exercises (that also work arms) are pull-ups, military press, rows, and bench press or pushups.

If you still feel you need some direct arm work after these, I prefer dumbell overhead tricep extensions and any variety of curl. They burn fewer calories than the previous exercises. I start off my workout with the compound exercises and do some limited direct arm work afterwards. You won't be able to curl as much after a few sets of pull-ups for example, and you may not need them at all (especially when first starting out).

As was stated, you can't spot reduce. Calorie deficit will reduce fat all over (including your arms) and eventually reveal the muscle beneath.

As also stated, don't neglect lower body. Squats are amazing for not only reshaping your entire body, but also lowering body fat and producing a hormonal response that is conducive to building muscle everywhere.

I disagree with the poster who said losing fat was all diet and cardio. I've lost more fat (as opposed to scale weight) lifting than I ever did on a cardio regimen. Lifting now will ensure after the fat is gone, that you like the body that is left.

lisamarie2181

Most effective upper body exercises (that also work arms) are pull-ups, military press, rows, and bench press or pushups.

If you still feel you need some direct arm work after these, I prefer dumbell overhead tricep extensions and any variety of curl. They burn fewer calories than the previous exercises. I start off my workout with the compound exercises and do some limited direct arm work afterwards. You won't be able to curl as much after a few sets of pull-ups for example, and you may not need them at all (especially when first starting out).

As was stated, you can't spot reduce. Calorie deficit will reduce fat all over (including your arms) and eventually reveal the muscle beneath.

As also stated, don't neglect lower body. Squats are amazing for not only reshaping your entire body, but also lowering body fat and producing a hormonal response that is conducive to building muscle everywhere.

I disagree with the poster who said losing fat was all diet and cardio. I've lost more fat (as opposed to scale weight) lifting than I ever did on a cardio regimen. Lifting now will ensure after the fat is gone, that you like the body that is left.

thanks for the advice! I will definitely be doing lower body as well, just not the same days. I have a good routine down for the legs, core and back but like i said my arms are my worst nightmare and though i know i cant spot reduce i just want to make sure i am doing the best routine for my upper body that i can. May have to leave out the pull ups for now but the rest sounds like great options for me. Thanks again

rkr22401

Don't leave out pull-ups...modify them. Here are a few ways:

You can rest your legs on a chair (or equivalent) to lessen the weight you must lift or even provide (the minimum) assistance to get over the bar.

What's is even better is looping a large crossfit rubber band over the bar and putting your feet in stirrup-style. Bands come with different levels of assistance and are relatively inexpensive. They provide more assistance at the bottom of the movement and less as the band is stretched less. Rather than use one large band, you can use two smaller bands so you can adjust the assistance as you become more fatigued. This has improved my pullup strength immensely. I can provide a link if interested (I have no financial interest).

Others start with negatives. Stand on a stool that puts your chin at bar height. Step off the stool and resist gravity as best you can. Rinse and repeat. Once you can do a pull-up, start with that then move to negatives. When you can do two, do those, then move to negatives. You get the idea.