Arm Exercise

When trying to stay healthy and fit, exercise is very important.  When a person is trying to stay fit, not only is healthy eating important, exercise is a very important part as well.  There are two reasons a person would perform arm exercises.  One reason it to keep the arm muscles firm and the other reason is for body building.

The major muscles which a person looks to tone are the upper arm and the lower arm.  The muscles in and around the elbow are not as focused upon as is the lower and upper arm muscle.  The muscles in the upper arms, known as the biceps and the triceps are most concentrated on by body builders.  These are the muscles which they look to work to be as large as possible.

As a person gets older, the muscles and the skin in the arm can begin to sag.  When a person gains a large amount of weight, it is also necessary to keep the arms firm.  One of the best ways for this is to do muscle toning exercises.  One excellent exercise is to raise your hands out to your sides and move in a rotating motion.  You should use smaller rotations for more effective muscle toning.  It is best if you are a beginner to begin with large rotations at first and as you begin to tone the arms, make the rotations smaller and smaller.  As you become more and more toned, you can add a one or two-pound hand weight to your regimen.  As the muscles begin to feel more and more toned, curls using the one or two pound weights can be done.

If it is more than just muscle toning which you are trying to accomplish, the exercise regimen is much more intense.  Doing rotations only is not enough.  Using one or two pound weights are also not enough.  It is necessary for the person working out to use much heavier weights and do much more intense exercises.  One excellent exercise for both the arms and the chest are push ups.  You should lie on the floor on your stomach with your toes pointing down on the floor.  Using just your arms push your upper body up off the floor until the elbows are straight.  The more you can do of these, the more muscle you will be able to build.  This can takes several weeks to improve on where you will be able to do more and more pushups.  Using weights is important when trying to build muscles in the arms, however, one or two pound weights are not enough.  If you are just staring out, that may be a good idea.  Once you have mastered the one to two pound weights, using dumbbells is the next step. 

A dumbbell is a weight which is small enough to hold in one hand, however, can be as heavy as ten to twenty pounds.  These dumbbells are used to curl.  The works all of the muscles in the arm.  The heavier the weights are, the larger your muscles will get.  Bench pressing is an excellent way to work the arms as well.  Not only is this good for the arms, but it is good for the arms as well.  Many people determine one’s strength by the amount of weight that they can bench press as well as the amount of times they can bench press.  The amount of times one can   bring the weights up and down are known as repetitions or “reps.”  It is very important when bench pressing to have a spotter.  A spotter is a person who will stand behind you and be sure that each time the weights are taken off the bar that they go up as well.  Without a spotter, the weight lifter may not be able to lift the weight up to the bar and could drop it on their neck.  Another exercise sometimes used to work the arm muscles when trying to build muscles are pull ups.  This is when a bar is stationary above one’s head.  The body builder pulls himself up and brings his chin above the bar.  It can be difficult bringing one’s body weight up above the bar.  It is important when coming down not to stretch the arms too far.

Many people consider the arms the most important of all muscles to work on while many people just choose to tone the arms to keep them looking young and tight.