Honest opinion- upper arm flab

Strength training is good for everyone. I can't guarantee you it will help you with your arm flab, but it is in beneficial in many ways and it would certainly be advantageous to do it, regardless.

3 kids here and 44 years old. Honestly you need to strength train. Dont be afraid to lift heavy. Sign up with a personal trainer to make sure form is ok and they can tell you a plan or take muscle classes at a gym.
Pilates and core are great but if you want results you need to step up the workouts.

Hiit training (high intensity interval training) a few days a week
Lifting weights 3-4 days a week
And pilates or yoga 1 day a week

The flab on my arms has definitely improved since I began eating in a deficit and lifting weights. I’ve only lost about 13 pounds but that plus the lifting has helped. I don’t even lift heavy (dumbbell press 20 pounds, bench press about 58 pounds). I still do have flab, though.

Strongfitmama100412 wrote: »

3 kids here and 44 years old. Honestly you need to strength train. Dont be afraid to lift heavy. Sign up with a personal trainer to make sure form is ok and they can tell you a plan or take muscle classes at a gym.
Pilates and core are great but if you want results you need to step up the workouts.

Hiit training (high intensity interval training) a few days a week
Lifting weights 3-4 days a week
And pilates or yoga 1 day a week

37, 4 kids, and I went from ~200 to ~130 with 3 out of 4 (ah, miraculous 3rd pregnancy of only 35lb gain, you were wonderful). Bigger upper arms are a thing for my family, so I wasn’t shocked when I saw some in the mirror. I was a runner, so not much muscle.

After 3 years of primarily lifting, my arms are a bit smaller but way firmer. When lifting my arms to redo a ponytail, I see muscle and far less jiggle. My arms are by no means skinny and now I’m okay with that bc I can see they’re strong and have some shape instead of being one flabby tube of fat.

So all that to say, lifting is the way to go. Lifting heavy (for you—as long as you keep pushing yourself, that’s “heavy”). You can work at reshaping your body, within some genetic confines, and you’ll be far happier with how you look and feel in your skin.

As I wrote on a post about the dreaded saddle bags, lifting didn’t erase my problem area, but I could build up muscle around it to make the saddle bags less disproportionate and to increase overall muscularity/decrease overall jiggle.

A good amount of the benefit of lifting is mental for me as well. At the pooll yesterday, I didn’t have the slimmest legs or arms (and I never will—my friends with 3-6” on me and far more delicate bone structure will have me beat with their discernible ankles and tiny wrists), but I knew my arms and legs were strong and there was a lot of muscle under there that lets me do things I’m really proud of, so I was rocking my non-skirted sans rash guard.

I will also jump on board of lifting and building up those muscles...I am happy to report that, with time and exercise, my arms only wave when I CHOSE to wave! #nomorebatwings

It usually boils down to genetics. Age of course will make a difference too, but flabby arms are usually from excess fat deposit and lack of muscle conditioning in that area at the same time. Now you CAN improve the muscle underneath, but like your ab muscles, to be able to visually see the difference will require losing fat around the area. As you know you can't target where you lose fat (unless you do something like lipo), but reducing the amount of body fat % will usually show just about anywhere on the body. If you're female, try shooting for 25% BF.


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition