Strapless Dress Girls

I really really really wanna get my arms in good shape for the big day. I dont want bulk, just toning. My arms are pretty thin but they lack definition and when they lay flat against my side I dont like how it looks in picturs

Anyone have any special exercises they are doing or know about??? Please share

my trainer said to just use very little weights or no weights at all and just do more reps so you dont get man muscles.

hope that helps!

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Posted by wo0shply

my trainer said to just use very little weights or no weights at all and just do more reps so you dont get man muscles.

hope that helps!

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Thanks! Could you just please specify what kind of 'reps' you mean. Sorry but I'm not good at this stuff. The most I ever do is cardio and pilates.

i use weights and NO i didn't bulk up, the key is not to do more than 5 pounds...infact if you dont work out your arms often then i suggesting getting 3 pound weights. Theres many arm workouts on exercise on demand to pick from, try tammy lynn webb and trust me your arms will get in shape in no time.

Also do push ups, and use the pilates ball and arm dips on the back of a chair.

Boxing is also great and love the workouts.

when i lost weight i took pictures of my arms to monitor my weight loss hahaha...if you want to see a picture of me working out my arms for months with weights and doing strength training i can send you a pic...you'll see that they were thin and not bulky at all and all you see is a bit of definition

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Posted by Espo22

i use weights and NO i didn't bulk up, the key is not to do more than 5 pounds...infact if you dont work out your arms often then i suggesting getting 3 pound weights. Theres many arm workouts on exercise on demand to pick from, try tammy lynn webb and trust me your arms will get in shape in no time.

Also do push ups, and use the pilates ball and arm dips on the back of a chair.

Boxing is also great and love the workouts.

when i lost weight i took pictures of my arms to monitor my weight loss hahaha...if you want to see a picture of me working out my arms for months with weights and doing strength training i can send you a pic...you'll see that they were thin and not bulky at all and all you see is a bit of definition

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I would really appreciate it. I am a bit broad in the shoulders and I am so afraid of looking like a line backer and not realizing it until its too late

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Posted by Espo22

ill post some pics of arm workouts if i can find them online by name, such as table top, butterfly and other stuff

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Yesssssssss!!..That would be great!!!..I need to work on this asap!!

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Posted by Espo22

ill post some pics of arm workouts if i can find them online by name, such as table top, butterfly and other stuff

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Thank you SO much Very helpful of you

Thanks to all of you for your feedback I'm def gonna try these ideas out !!

ok first let me see if this pic is going to work, ill post more after

if you get the pilates ball which is like $15-20 you can do push ups on this



ill be back with more

ETA: ahhh it didn't work, im gonna have to save it to my folder and then post it

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Posted by Espo22

ok the pilates ball push up pic should come up now

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cool!!!! I have one of those. Thanks

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Posted by NC1011

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Posted by Espo22

ok the pilates ball push up pic should come up now

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cool!!!! I have one of those. Thanks

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well if you have it, then go here and look at a few other arm workouts to use with the pilates ball...im still getting more pics so ill post more...i was searching table top arm workouts and it gave me the pilates ball version which wasnt what i was looking for but its still good

http://www.ncpad.org/exercise/fact_sheet.php?sheet=258&view=all

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Posted by wo0shply

my trainer said to just use very little weights or no weights at all and just do more reps so you dont get man muscles.

hope that helps!

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Fire your trainer!

That doesn't happen. The only way you can get man muscles is to have an excess of testosterone, and you don't. You NEED weights to shape your muscles. If you're using only 3 or 5 pound weights, you're not challenging your muscles at all. Sure, you won't bulk up... but you won't see any change either. Unless you do, like, 100 reps, but why waste the time when you will get BETTER results by doing 3 sets of 15 reps with a better weight?

Strength Training Myth

More info

Push-ups are great - sure you're not using dumbbells, but your body weighs, let's say, 130 pounds, and you're using your muscles to push it up off the ground. Tricep dips are also great for this reason (the excersice where you hold on to the edge of a chair with your feet on the ground and use your arms to push your butt from near the floor to near the chair.

To look toned in a strapless dress you need to work your triceps, delts (shoulders) and lats (back). Lats are strong already because you use them so much in your daily life - less than 10 lbs. for each side would be a joke, and a waste of time.

I'm sorry this is so long. It's just... I've been strength training for 10 years and read all the magazines, talk to serious weightlifters, etc. and I know a lot about it, and it drives me CRAZY when women say that they won't use heavier weights because they're afraid to look like men. With an 8-lb dumbbell? NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. And with a 3-lb. dumbbell? You're not going to see any difference in your body and it's such a waste of time.

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Posted by DavaDay

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Posted by wo0shply

my trainer said to just use very little weights or no weights at all and just do more reps so you dont get man muscles.

hope that helps!

---

Fire your trainer!

That doesn't happen. The only way you can get man muscles is to have an excess of testosterone, and you don't. You NEED weights to shape your muscles. If you're using only 3 or 5 pound weights, you're not challenging your muscles at all. Sure, you won't bulk up... but you won't see any change either. Unless you do, like, 100 reps, but why waste the time when you will get BETTER results by doing 3 sets of 15 reps with a better weight?

Strength Training Myth

More info

Push-ups are great - sure you're not using dumbbells, but your body weighs, let's say, 130 pounds, and you're using your muscles to push it up off the ground. Tricep dips are also great for this reason (the excersice where you hold on to the edge of a chair with your feet on the ground and use your arms to push your butt from near the floor to near the chair.

To look toned in a strapless dress you need to work your triceps, delts (shoulders) and lats (back). Lats are strong already because you use them so much in your daily life - less than 10 lbs. for each side would be a joke, and a waste of time.

I'm sorry this is so long. It's just... I've been strength training for 10 years and read all the magazines, talk to serious weightlifters, etc. and I know a lot about it, and it drives me CRAZY when women say that they won't use heavier weights because they're afraid to look like men. With an 8-lb dumbbell? NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. And with a 3-lb. dumbbell? You're not going to see any difference in your body and it's such a waste of time.

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i agree that a woman wont bulk up easy and dont know why everybody thinks that once you do strength training it means you'll get real bulky...for a woman this is not going to happen.

However i would do workouts with 5 pound weights and in just a few short months lost ALOT, i lost close to 40 pounds and my arms got very thin. If you go to the gym and do machines and a few arm workouts then yes maybe...i would incorporate 5 pound weights with pilates workouts and do about an hour so i did see a huge difference. I also did incorporate other things such as push ups and arm dips.

If a person does 30 mins or more of JUST arm workouts and they are not used to working out then they wont be able to do more than 5 pounds for that long and non-stop arm workouts, itll be too much for them since they probably dont have much upper arm strength...if you do just 3 different arm workouts or a few then yeah thats different...but i would do about 15 different type of workouts using weights

i dont know why its so difficult to find the workouts with picture demonstrations hahaha

but here is a site that shows quite a few...the reverse flys are great, one arm side push ups,and the tricep dips

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/fitness/exercises/index.html

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by DavaDay

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Posted by wo0shply

my trainer said to just use very little weights or no weights at all and just do more reps so you dont get man muscles.

hope that helps!

---

Fire your trainer!

That doesn't happen. The only way you can get man muscles is to have an excess of testosterone, and you don't. You NEED weights to shape your muscles. If you're using only 3 or 5 pound weights, you're not challenging your muscles at all. Sure, you won't bulk up... but you won't see any change either. Unless you do, like, 100 reps, but why waste the time when you will get BETTER results by doing 3 sets of 15 reps with a better weight?

Strength Training Myth

More info

Push-ups are great - sure you're not using dumbbells, but your body weighs, let's say, 130 pounds, and you're using your muscles to push it up off the ground. Tricep dips are also great for this reason (the excersice where you hold on to the edge of a chair with your feet on the ground and use your arms to push your butt from near the floor to near the chair.

To look toned in a strapless dress you need to work your triceps, delts (shoulders) and lats (back). Lats are strong already because you use them so much in your daily life - less than 10 lbs. for each side would be a joke, and a waste of time.

I'm sorry this is so long. It's just... I've been strength training for 10 years and read all the magazines, talk to serious weightlifters, etc. and I know a lot about it, and it drives me CRAZY when women say that they won't use heavier weights because they're afraid to look like men. With an 8-lb dumbbell? NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. And with a 3-lb. dumbbell? You're not going to see any difference in your body and it's such a waste of time.

---

i agree that a woman wont bulk up easy and dont know why everybody thinks that once you do strength training it means you'll get real bulky...for a woman this is not going to happen.

However i would do workouts with 5 pound weights and in just a few short months lost ALOT, i lost close to 40 pounds and my arms got very thin. If you go to the gym and do machines and a few arm workouts then yes maybe...i would incorporate 5 pound weights with pilates workouts and do about an hour so i did see a huge difference. I also did incorporate other things such as push ups and arm dips.

If a person does 30 mins or more of JUST arm workouts and they are not used to working out then they wont be able to do more than 5 pounds for that long and non-stop arm workouts, itll be too much for them since they probably dont have much upper arm strength...if you do just 3 different arm workouts or a few then yeah thats different...but i would do about 15 different type of workouts using weights

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15 arm workouts with weights? You're a champ! I 'talk the talk' but lately I've been so stressed and busy, plus with my hand injury and all, I haven't been to the gym.

I totally agree with you... for someone just starting out, 5-lb weights are where to start. After 3 or 4 weeks, when you can comfortably do 15 reps with the 5-lb, go up to 8-lb weights. The key is that by the 15th rep, you should fee fatigued. If you do 15 reps of an exercise and feel like you could easily lift the weight another 5 times, that's when you graduate to a higher weight.

Okay, all this talk is making me feel really lazy for sitting on the couch watching the Ghost Whisperer I TiVo'ed... time to pop in 'The Firm' and get moving!