Toning my chicken wings!

spiderdiane

So, my best friend is getting married in Dec this year and my matron (I sound old!) of honor dress is of course sleeveless. So I'm suddenly desperate to tone up the super flabby chicken wings I have. I know overall weight loss will help a lot, but I also need a lot of toning. My arms have never been lean, pretty, or strong. What're the best exercises you know to get toned? I have no gym access, only 2 and 5 lb weights. Hope to start a running/walking regime soon since the weather is warming up and it's light outside when I get off work now. Thanks for any advice!

DrBroPHD

Lose weight

ChrisLindsay9

In order to lose bodyfat, you have to go into a calorie deficit. You can't spot reduce, but fortunately, time's on your side, so you don't have to make it a deep calorie deficit to start. Maybe 75-100 calories under your maintenance (or current calorie budget) to start? Bump up your protein intake a smidge, and decrease your carb intake a smidge.

In order to build lean muscle in your arms for toning, I would suggest using a pair of 2 lbs., 5 lbs. (and eventually 8 lbs.) dumbbells and do a variety of bicep, tricep, and shoulder strength-training exercises three times a week. 20 minutes on each body part.

Click on the links and filter by dumbbell for some videos/pictures of various exercises.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/15/muscle/biceps
http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/10/muscle/triceps
http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/12/muscle/shoulders

You may need to make adjustments every month or so. And if you can incorporate a full body strength training program, then you will burn bodyfat much faster. Also HIIT cardio may help here as well. Take pictures and measurements. You're likely not going to to see much difference, but it will happen. And even if they are not as toned as you like by the wedding, you should see some progress.

I hope this is of some benefit. Good luck to you!

KANGOOJUMPS

weird BUT,,, i am cooking chicken wings as we speak.

mustgetmuscles1

Losing fat anywhere on the body is more to do with a calorie deficit than any particular exercise. With that said the fat will burn off from wherever the body decides. You can not control this and it usually comes off in the reverse order it went on.

To lose "weight" put your calories in a moderate deficit. Notice I said "weight". To make sure the majority of your weight loss comes from "body fat" you will need to do resistance training. Muscle is very expensive to maintain calorie wise. If you do not convince your body that the muscle is necessary it will get rid of it. This can look great on the scale but is terrible for body composition. This site is full of people who reach their weight loss goals and are not happy with the way their bodies look. This is usually do to excessive calorie deficit (from severe dieting or excessive cardio) and no resistance training (lifting relatively heavy weights). I recommend a linear beginner program like Stronglifts 5x5. You are not going to build much muscle, if any, while in a caloric deficit so working a body building program is not ideal. It will work but a strength program based on the major compound movements will work a lot better. Any resistance training will work pretty good though even body weight programs.

Is cardio necessary for fat loss? Nope. You can lose weight just with diet alone or diet with strength training combined to maximize fat loss.

Should you do cardio anyways? Yep. Many benefits of doing cardio but I recommend high intensity cardio. 20-30 minutes as hard as you can go. Try HIIT training at first. Do that about 3 times per week. Spending hours on a treadmill will burn calories but is so inefficient that I think its a waste of time.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets