Tone arms in 6 weeks..whos in

Welp, since this post was 3 weeks old anyway, I'm curious to see how the diligent "toning" has come along. The ladies that were originally going in for this should be halfway to their goal at this point and seeing some progress, right?

Where are they? I need some progress pics.

C'mon, there has got to be someone still working toward the toned arms in 6 weeks? I mean, ANYTHING works, right? As long as you're doing something and all that jazz. Surely the results from Pinterest can be found here as well? Surely the bat wings are going away as the weights lighter than my purse are being lifted daily in earnest??

*like*

BUMPITY-bump.

How do you do a chest press without a ball?

You can do it right at home. I am a stay at home mom i have no gym access with childcare im on day2 i am using 5lbs dumb bells for the 6 weeks if i notice a difference them i will try 7lbs for another 6 week There is 4 different exercises i added a chest fly lying down I did 2 sets of 12 for every exercise took about 15mins which i think is fantastic! Especially for a busy mom

remember to take a picture of you arm day 1

I am doing starting pic (may 15), 3 week update(june5th) and 6 week final(June 26th) then i will post all three when i am done

5lbs (2.2kg)??????? I saw my 4 year old lifting those weights in the sport shop when we bought my weight set...... Use some weights that actually challenge your muscles

You know, I am just shocked that no one seems to be able to come in here and show their progress. I can only assume that it didn't work, I guess. So, would that mean that the people saying it wouldn't work were actually right? This could turn this whole site upside down. It's a revolutionary concept, that's what it is.

You can do it right at home. I am a stay at home mom i have no gym access with childcare im on day2 i am using 5lbs dumb bells for the 6 weeks if i notice a difference them i will try 7lbs for another 6 week There is 4 different exercises i added a chest fly lying down I did 2 sets of 12 for every exercise took about 15mins which i think is fantastic! Especially for a busy mom

remember to take a picture of you arm day 1

I am doing starting pic (may 15), 3 week update(june5th) and 6 week final(June 26th) then i will post all three when i am done

5lbs (2.2kg)??????? I saw my 4 year old lifting those weights in the sport shop when we bought my weight set...... Use some weights that actually challenge your muscles

Thanks you for this amazing story. It must be so lonely up there on your high horse.

Since you already bumped a near 3 week old post...

There is no such thing as toning. "Toning" is a made-up term that perpetuates the linked myth of spot reduction. They do not exist.

You want nice arms? Good. Lower your bodyfat through exercise and diet, and lift CHALLENGING weights that work the muscles in your arms. This same rule applies to every other statement like "I want a nice toned _____."

Seriously. Stop with the quick fixes. Stop ever mentioning toning. Stop lifting baby weights. Challenge yourself. Work hard. Get results. Nothing comes easy.

I am also interested to know how the ladies got on with this, hope they werent put off by some of the comments.
When picking up a dumbell to start exercising for the first time what is the best weight to use. Do you pick up the heaviest weight and struggle until it becomes easier, or do you start of with something light and ensure you keep progressing. Just asking as I started with a 5kg kettle bell which is too light now, and then my friend gave me a 12kg one. I can do some of my moves with it, but struggle with some moves.

What moves do you struggle with?

You can do it right at home. I am a stay at home mom i have no gym access with childcare im on day2 i am using 5lbs dumb bells for the 6 weeks if i notice a difference them i will try 7lbs for another 6 week There is 4 different exercises i added a chest fly lying down I did 2 sets of 12 for every exercise took about 15mins which i think is fantastic! Especially for a busy mom

remember to take a picture of you arm day 1

I am doing starting pic (may 15), 3 week update(june5th) and 6 week final(June 26th) then i will post all three when i am done

5lbs (2.2kg)??????? I saw my 4 year old lifting those weights in the sport shop when we bought my weight set...... Use some weights that actually challenge your muscles

Thanks you for this amazing story. It must be so lonely up there on your high horse.

Not at all, I've got plenty of friends up here and the view is amazing. Like everyone else I'm wondering how this routine went and just wish women would pick up weights that are actually challenging. The OP may as well just lug her shopping bags around because it's a damn sight more challenging than a 2.2kg dumbell.

I am also interested to know how the ladies got on with this, hope they werent put off by some of the comments.
When picking up a dumbell to start exercising for the first time what is the best weight to use. Do you pick up the heaviest weight and struggle until it becomes easier, or do you start of with something light and ensure you keep progressing. Just asking as I started with a 5kg kettle bell which is too light now, and then my friend gave me a 12kg one. I can do some of my moves with it, but struggle with some moves.

Pick the heaviest weight that allows you to complete the set with proper form and full range of motion but still challenges you greatly on the last repetition. As you progress you increase the weight, or increase the repetitions.

thanks for answering, esp since this is not related to this thread. i guess i was being cheap as i got the 12kg for free. i think i will go and get a slightly lower weight so i can continue and switch between the two. the 5kg one is much too light now. thanks for answering.

Bump for later!

bumo for later.

Just to get a sense of how much weight we're talking about here, this is my 2 year old bench pressing a 10 pound bar. (And comically pretending it's hard because he's imitating daddy.) He weighs about 32 pounds, so it's about 1/3rd of his body weight. He did almost 40 reps before I stopped him, which would mean that even if this counted as an exercise for him, it would be cardio.

If you want your exercises to be productive, you should be doing what maxes you out in the ballpark of 5-10 reps, which is about 70-85% of your 1-rep-max amount. Exhaustion doesn't mean you're just beginning to feel something, it means if someone held a gun to your head and told you to keep going, your arm would still physically be incapable of moving. You don't need to actually go all the way to exhaustion, but if you're at a good weight/rep range you will likely be feeling a slight burn or tingle about halfway through the set and it will likely be challenging (not comfortable but not painful) to do your last rep or two.

Just to get a sense of how much weight we're talking about here, this is my 2 year old bench pressing a 10 pound bar. (And comically pretending it's hard because he's imitating daddy.) He weighs about 32 pounds, so it's about 1/3rd of his body weight. He did almost 40 reps before I stopped him, which would mean that even if this counted as an exercise for him, it would be cardio.

If you want your exercises to be productive, you should be doing what maxes you out in the ballpark of 5-10 reps, which is about 70-85% of your 1-rep-max amount. Exhaustion doesn't mean you're just beginning to feel something, it means if someone held a gun to your head and told you to keep going, your arm would still physically be incapable of moving. You don't need to actually go all the way to exhaustion, but if you're at a good weight/rep range you will likely be feeling a slight burn or tingle about halfway through the set and it will likely be challenging (not comfortable but not painful) to do your last rep or two.

this is not even worth a comment but I willl give you one....I got resutls as you see in my profile it was worth my time. Also my first time doing anything with weights. My next round I will be uping my weights.

I only posted this to see if others wanted to participate, NOT to made fun of by you or other ignorant ppl on this forum I am making better choices in my life. It may not be the way you do things but thats fine. If you dont have anything nice or helpful things to say please do not comment

thanks

Wow, holy crap, lady. Your failure to see useful information in my post, and seeing an illustration of how much weight we're talking about as "making fun of" you, is your own shortcoming.

There is a reason to use a certain amount of weight when you lift, because you want to engage the muscles in an anaerobic fashion. If there's enough weight that you can keep lifting it over and over, the muscles are able to just keep replenishing with oxygen the whole time. Anaerobic lifting, on the other hand, produces lactic acid which is essential in the production of HGH which triggers growth of lean tissue (bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles) which is the point of doing these exercises, and has many other benefits.

And this is the part where many women will start in with, "but I don't want to get bulky!" But you don't need to worry about that, you are about as likely to accidentally get super rich as you are to get bulky, and both 'problems' are easy to solve.

I've tried using myself as an example but people just stereotype me as a gym rat or bodybuilder (even though I am a computer nerd) and ignore everything else I say, so the only other option is to use a toddler to illustrate how much weight is appropriate. The point is that someone who is clearly not an experienced or trained bodybuilder or weightlifter or "gym rat" is effortlessly doing what amounts to 5 pound dumbell chest presses. There's no reason to believe that 5 lbs is going to be enough for the vast majority of women reading this thread who weigh at least 4 times as much as him.

And here's him deadlifting 15 lbs. Consider your rows in this context, look at your arms and his arms, and you might see again that you should probably increase the amount of weight you're using. Again the amount is how much you can do 5-10 times.


Instead of using a 5 lb fixed dumbell I would recommend getting the kind he's using here, where you can go from 5 lbs on up, because you will quickly gain strength and you need to progress to heavier weights to stay "heavy" with them. (This set is available for like 40 bucks and comes with two bars.) If you can't afford that right now, a 1 gallon milk jug full of water is 8 lbs. Putting two together would get you anywhere up to 16 lbs, which is probably a better starting point.

Whether or not you the OP get it, there are plenty of others who are reading this thread and wanting to improve their arms (and/or the rest of their body) and hopefully at least some of them will get over our culture's ridiculous belief that women should only work out with weights lighter than their own purse or a jug of milk lest they turn into hulking men.