Ahhh..."Bingo Wings" strike again! That jiggly loose flesh on our triceps region is a pain! I have good and bad news. First the good news, I do have
help for you. Next the bad news, the "Bingo Wings" are stretched out
skin with fat in them and you cannot do any specific exercise to
"target" fat in a specific area. If you could, gum chewers would all
have skinny faces.
I know ads say this or that exercise will target….
Unfortunately it is scientifically impossible to spot
reduce (remove fat from one area by doing a specific exercise). This is why.
Fat is stored in our bodies much like gas is stored in a tank. The fat cells
all work simultaneously to store or burn this energy resource. Unlike a car,
our tanks grow. We do not choose where our tanks (fat cells) exist in our bodies.
This is heredity. If most of my fat was in my lower body (common in many women) and I spent many hours daily using and upper body ergometer (bike wheel you turn with your hands.) ...then added seated upper body exercises and reduced my caloric intake: I WOULD ACTUALLY LOSE FAT ON MY LOWER BODY!!!! My arms might even get bigger from the muscles I was building there if I really pushed it hard.
I always feel so sorry for the girls with big thighs at the gym doing all the lower body exercise machines thinking this is the way to lose the fat there. Any exercise will help and they would be so much better off with a well rounded program that actually focused on building upper body muscle, while losing lower body fat. Result - a more hour glass shape!
Do not despair! We still have ways to work on a specific
area.
Remember this is loose skin with excess fat so...
1. You are already building your engine capacity to burn
the excess fat reserves on your arms by lifting weights.
2. Both your weight lifting and cardio sessions are
burning up fat. If you only do cardio, you will burn up muscle too (not
good!!!) This is why I have you doing both. I will have another blog post on
this called:
“Body sculpting” It will give more detail.
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| Kathryn Upper Body |
1. The Bicep and Triceps exercises (and shoulder to a
degree) will start to fill up the extra skin and create FIRM defined muscles;
simultaneously, you will be reducing the fat there (and all over your body) –
the extra unnecessary fat just jiggles. The workouts you are receiving, along with cardio and diet
will reshape everything.
When it is all said and done, nothing short of plastic
surgery will remove older stretched out skin. However, as we age, as long as
what is under the looser skin is firm and has a healthy amount of fat (rather
than excess), it will look great!
Keep in mind also that we all have areas we do not like
but we all have areas we do. That is because everyone has fat somewhere or
other. My best friend used to walk in my office at the gym and say, “I wish I
had your legs.” I carry very little fat on my legs and her body fat is much more
prevalent from the hips down (giving her a tiny cute waist that I will never
have!)
One day when she pined, I said, “OK, deal, I will trade
my legs for your waist.”
“Hmmm…maybe I should be happy for what I have.” was her
response. Truthfully, she loved her tiny waist and she liked her girly hips. I
am very square and more boxy shaped than most girls. We really must be grateful
for how beautiful we are and then do our best to work on sculpting as best as
we can. I work on building bigger shoulders and butt to detract from the straight look of my body. It works! It makes my body much shapier than it would be otherwise.
I will help you with these areas and steer you in the best direction for your specific shape!
