Best way to tone "bat wings"?

Options
melsmith612
melsmith612 Posts: 727 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Anyone have any suggestions for how to tone up that flabby skin that hangs from your upper arm? I've lost quite a bit of weight already on a different program but they didn't emphasize exercise much and I failed to remember that I'm 5 years older than the last time I dropped this much weight... the old skin isn't bouncing back as quickly as it used to (I'm only 30 but those 5 years made a BIG difference).

I can't afford a gym membership right now so exercises that utilize normal household items, hand weights or Wii Fit Plus would be most appreciated! Thanks for your help!
«13

Replies

  • chelledawg14
    chelledawg14 Posts: 509 Member
    Options
    If you do a search in the posts and type in "bat wing exercises", you'll find quite a few posts on the subject :)
  • areesaha
    areesaha Posts: 1
    Options
    Unfortunately, there's no way to "spot reduce" fat from a certain body part. You're just going to have to stick with your diet and exercise to further lower your body fat percentage, and you should see those "bat wings" slowly diminishing.
  • huckahe
    huckahe Posts: 11
    Options
    Try some tricep dips on your stairs or a chair! Try them with both wide and narrow arms. When you work one are of muscle you must work its compliment; so therefore do some bicep curls and hammer curls along with your tricep work. Any kind of exercise that works your lats will also be helpful in that all those muscles are tied together. You can buy some cheap weights at Walmart or Target or even use those flexible workout bands. It will all be a good start to sculpting those arms ;-)
  • wcrathbun
    wcrathbun Posts: 85 Member
    Options
    I really like Jillian Michael's "No more trouble zones" for that kinda of thing...
    I am not quite where you are yet but I know it really worked that part of my body!
  • lrob100
    lrob100 Posts: 122 Member
    Options
    I'm 35 and have lost 41 lbs, and I am having the EXACT same issue, melsmith612! I was just staring at my bat wings in the mirror before I logged on and read your post. I even photographed them, thinking to work on my arms to hopefully improve them, and later compare the photos. I have been doing simple arm exercises with 5 lb weights, but I don't think that's enough for me.... any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
  • ChannelBZ
    ChannelBZ Posts: 1 Member
    Options
    Take up archery!
    If you find a coach that teaches proper archery form, you'll find that you'll lose the batwings. The coach will also teach you how to use a stretch band to practice for archery and I found mine improved considerably in a couple of months.
  • emkohler77
    emkohler77 Posts: 34 Member
    Options
    I do Ballet Body by Leah Sarago and her upper body workout is really awesome (difficult but good). I might hurl insults at my tv during the workout, but I am getting great results and i am so much stronger. All of her workouts are great- go slowly, take breaks, and stick with it :)
  • geonbaeLeilee
    geonbaeLeilee Posts: 606 Member
    Options
    Anyone have any suggestions for how to tone up that flabby skin that hangs from your upper arm? I've lost quite a bit of weight already on a different program but they didn't emphasize exercise much and I failed to remember that I'm 5 years older than the last time I dropped this much weight... the old skin isn't bouncing back as quickly as it used to (I'm only 30 but those 5 years made a BIG difference).

    I can't afford a gym membership right now so exercises that utilize normal household items, hand weights or Wii Fit Plus would be most appreciated! Thanks for your help!

    I'm in the same boat as you all the way. I was actually going to ask this question today. I hope you get the answers you're looking for!
  • misalillstead
    misalillstead Posts: 407 Member
    Options
    Bump for later! :)
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Options
    So, the best thing you can do is continue losing body fat in general and strength train. This way, when you lose the BF covering them, you will have nice defined arms. It may take a while as they can be the more stubborn places that your fat goes from.

    A couple of good exercises are - push ups (vary width of hand placement for either more tricep or more bicep) and, if you can get a pull up bar, chin and pull ups.

    ETA: pull ups and chin ups are hard, especially for women, so start of with negatives - where you start at the top and lower yourself as slowly as possible.
  • claram5415
    claram5415 Posts: 512 Member
    Options
    Those muscles are called triceps. Push ups are also bench dips which you could do with a chair. If you go to your local library you can check out exercise books, like Fitness for Dummies and exercise DVDs that will be very helpful. Here's a link to a youtube video on doing bench dips. Not sure if I can link it but here goes:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST4HaFhi-X4

    Hope this is helpful! Remember just keep at it!
  • lrob100
    lrob100 Posts: 122 Member
    Options
    Thanks for everyone's advice. I think I personally still have a LOT of body fat left to lose (41 down out of 101 leaves 60 to go), so hopefully after the other 60 lbs is gone, the arms will improve.
  • melsmith612
    melsmith612 Posts: 727 Member
    Options
    Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The "dips" sound right up my alley! I'm still doing my push ups against a wall because I don't have the upper body strength yet to lift my 200+ lbs off the floor without landing there a split second later. I'm also trying to bowl on the weekends every couple of weeks with my husband but that's only trimming the bat wing on my right side because ambidextrous I am not. ;-)

    Keep the ideas coming and please no more posts asking me to search through other posts... truthfully? I find that annoying. I'm here for ME not to see what people said to someone else with a similar question.
  • melsmith612
    melsmith612 Posts: 727 Member
    Options
    I'm 35 and have lost 41 lbs, and I am having the EXACT same issue, melsmith612! I was just staring at my bat wings in the mirror before I logged on and read your post. I even photographed them, thinking to work on my arms to hopefully improve them, and later compare the photos. I have been doing simple arm exercises with 5 lb weights, but I don't think that's enough for me.... any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

    You're braver than I am, I don't want any photos of my bat wings - it's bad enough seeing them in the mirror! lol I've gone from 262 lbs to 205 lbs since February 10th of this year and the flabby skin is just eating my soul. I hope we get some good suggestions so we can both abandon our "wings" for good! :)
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Options
    Ignore the actual routines - but this has links that you can click through to see explanations/videos of the exercises that use dumbbells as you mentioned that you had some.

    http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/frankoman-dumbbell-only-split.html
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    Options
    It will take time but it will happen, I promise. The less fat that's in your upper arms,the more the skin will start to contract. I'm almost 10 years older than you and started at about the same weight as you. And unfortunately, a lot of the fat left is still being stored in my upper arms - thank you genetics! I'm now at 173 and although they're still not pretty, my arms have definitely reduced (wish I had the measurements handy, sorry) I even noticed how much more of my elbow shows the other day! :)
  • melsmith612
    melsmith612 Posts: 727 Member
    Options
    Ignore the actual routines - but this has links that you can click through to see explanations/videos of the exercises that use dumbbells as you mentioned that you had some.

    http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/frankoman-dumbbell-only-split.html

    Awesome, thank you!
  • melsmith612
    melsmith612 Posts: 727 Member
    Options
    It will take time but it will happen, I promise. The less fat that's in your upper arms,the more the skin will start to contract. I'm almost 10 years older than you and started at about the same weight as you. And unfortunately, a lot of the fat left is still being stored in my upper arms - thank you genetics! I'm now at 173 and although they're still not pretty, my arms have definitely reduced (wish I had the measurements handy, sorry) I even noticed how much more of my elbow shows the other day! :)

    What's an elbow? :laugh: j/k

    I think my main problem is that I've lost so much so quickly that my body hasn't had time to keep up (and I haven't done it any favors by avoiding regular exercise like the plague). :embarassed:
  • EyeLikeTacos
    EyeLikeTacos Posts: 324 Member
    Options
    Rapid HJ's
  • angel823
    angel823 Posts: 190 Member
    Options
    I liked the V pushups, did great things for my flabbies

Categories