How to Build Arm Muscle (4 steps)

Building arm muscles takes regular, high-volume, weight-training workouts that target the biceps, triceps and forearms. High-volume weight-training workouts feature a high number of exercises, sets and reps. Even though your focus here is the muscles in your arms, your workouts should contain compound, multi-joint exercises that work other muscle groups in addition to isolation exercises that specifically target the arm muscles.

Scheduling Your Arm Workouts
In a muscle-building weight-training program, allowing your muscles enough rest is as important as the workouts themselves. Therefore, to give your arm muscles adequate time to fully heal between workouts, schedule just two arm-focused workouts into your training regimen every week. Spread out your workouts throughout the week so that there are two to three days off in between, such as a Monday and Thursday routine.

Starting With Compound Lifts
Compound lifts require movement at multiple joints and therefore work numerous muscle groups. For example, chinups require your shoulders and arms to move and therefore build strength and size in your latissumus dorsi, which handle movement at your shoulder joints, and your biceps brachii, which control movement at your elbows. Start your workouts with compound exercises since they are most effective at bringing about muscle gains. First choose an Olympic lift -- like hang cleans and push jerks; these are compound exercises that heavily involve muscles in your legs, hips and torso, but the muscles in your arms help guide the barbell. Next, add two to three compound exercises that work just the upper body. Choose from dips, close-grip pushups and close-grip bench presses, which work your chest and shoulders and challenge your triceps to straighten your arms and your forearms to stabilize your wrists. You can also include chinups and close-grip, underhand pulldowns, which recruit your latissimus dorsi in your back and place a significant load on your biceps and forearms.

Isolating the Arms
Once you’ve finished your compound lifts, move onto isolation exercises that specifically target your biceps, triceps and forearms. For your biceps, choose from barbell biceps curls, dumbbell biceps curls, cable curls and dumbbell incline curls. Focus on your triceps with lying barbell triceps extensions, overhead dumbbell triceps extensions and standing cable triceps pushdowns. During each biceps and triceps exercise, keep your elbows in a static position as you either straighten or bend them. Work your forearms with wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, hammer curls and wrist rollers.

Significance of Volume
Workouts designed for building muscle are different than ones that focus on developing strength. Muscle-building training requires high-volume workouts, which mean sessions should consist of numerous exercises that are done for multiple sets for a relatively high number of reps. Pete McCall of the American Council on Exercise recommends doing three to five sets of eight to 12 reps of every exercise and resting just 45 seconds in between each set. Use a weight that makes finishing the reps within each set challenging. For example, if you're unable to do eight reps, you should lighten the weight. If you can do more than 12 reps with relative ease, you should bump up the weight slightly.

How to Stretch Arm Muscles

Stretching is an important part of exercising and is too often overlooked. Stretching helps to loosen your body and can help prevent cramping and pulled muscles. Stretching also increases flexibility and improves range of motion.

Stretch Biceps
Extend your arm straight out to the side with your thumb towards the ceiling. Your arm should be parallel to the floor. Remember to keep your hand open.

Place the palm of your hand on something stationary, like a doorway or a pole.

Stand with your feet placed shoulder width apart.

Rotate your upper body away from your extended arm without moving your feet. Rotate slowly and don't let your arm fall.

Stop when you feel a stretch in your bicep.

Hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds.

Repeat this stretch on your other arm.

Stretch Your Triceps
Extend your arm straight out in front of you with your palm facing the ceiling.

Keep your upper arm extended while bringing your hand back to touch your shoulder.

Bring your entire arm up so that your elbow is pointing to the ceiling. Allow your hand to slide from your shoulder to your upper back.

Reach with your other arm, above and behind your head, and push your pointed elbow back until you feel a stretch in your triceps.

Wait, in this position, for a minimum of 30 seconds.

Switch arms and repeat this stretch.

Stretch Shoulder Muscles
Extend you arm straight out to your side with your thumb towards the ceiling.

Lower your arm, so that your hand is level with the top of your abdomen.

Find a doorway or another stationary object and place the palm of your hand on it.

Rotate your upper body until you feel a stretch through your upper arm and shoulder.

Hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds. Rest before the next stretch.

Reach across your body to just above your hip. Take your other arm and, at the elbow, gently pull your stretching arm. Do not pull your elbow up or down, but across your torso as if drawing a line that is parallel to the floor.

Hold this position for 30 seconds, resting a few seconds before the next stretch.

Reach across your chest and place your hand on your opposite shoulder. If you cannot reach your other shoulder, go as far as you can without serious discomfort.

Use your other arm and gently pull the elbow on your stretching arm towards the shoulder your grabbed with your hand.

Maintain the stretch for at least 30 seconds, and then repeat these stretches on the other shoulder.

How to Gain Muscle Mass But Lose Stomach Fat

Proper nutrition is important for increasing muscle mass and losing fat. Gaining muscle requires adequate energy and protein intake, resistance training and consuming more calories than expended, while losing fat requires the consumption of fewer calories than used per day. Accomplishing these goals simultaneously can be difficult, coupled with the inability to specifically reduce fat from a particular area. However, it is possible to increase muscle mass and minimize gaining fat throughout the body with a combination of weightlifting, a healthy diet and aerobic exercise. Consult your physician before engaging in any exercise or fitness regimes.

Nutrition 1
Consume more calories. Eat a well-balanced diet that contains high quality proteins, carbohydrates and healthy fats. Avoid empty calories contained in soft drinks, candy and chips, which do not help build muscle, but may increase fat.

Nutrition 2
Eat more carbohydrates for increased energy. Consume 2.3 to 3.6 grams per pound of body weight. Good sources of carbohydrates include whole grain breads and pastas, brown rice, fruits and vegetables.

Nutrition 3
Add fats in moderate amounts. Although not a fuel source with high intensity and resistance exercises, fat is an essential macro-nutrient. Aim for a diet containing 20 to 35 percent of healthy fats from fish, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils. Limit your intake of trans-fats and saturated fats from whole milk, butter, high-fat cheeses and animal fats.

Nutrition 4
Eat protein to help build and maintain muscle. Consume .63 to .77 grams per pound of body weight. Good sources of protein include lean meats, skinless chicken and fish, legumes, eggs and low-fat dairy products or soy.

Nutrition 5
Drink plenty of water. Consume at least 64 ounces per day to avoid dehydration. Fluid intake is important before, during and after exercise to help with optimal performance.

Exercise 1
Perform more resistance training to increase muscle mass. Lift heavier weights to the point of muscle exhaustion. Do three to six sets with six to 12 repetitions. Take a 30 second to 1 1/2 minute rest between sets. Beginners should gradually increase weight load and intensity.

Exercise 2
Perform compound exercises that work larger muscle groups, such as squats, dead lifts, bench press, push-ups and pull-ups. Do not lift weights on consecutive days.

Exercise 3
Add cardiovascular exercises to help lose fat. Do at least 30 minutes on the days that you are not lifting weights.

Full Body Workouts With Dynamic Stretching

Dynamic stretching is a form of stretching based on movement. By doing dynamic stretches, you should be able to progressively increase the range of motion of a given muscle or joint with each repetition. In addition, when performed at a fast pace, dynamic stretching can double as a workout to elevate the heart rate and increase core temperature.

Warm-ups
Before performing dynamic stretches, do a basic warm-up. The warm-up should raise the core temperature, elevate the heart rate and increase blood flow to the muscles. This will prepare the joints and muscles for stretching. Good warm-up exercises include jumping jacks, seal jacks and light jogging for approximately 5 to 10 minutes.

Lower Body Exercises
Lower body dynamic stretching should focus on proper hip movement and increasing range of motion in the quadriceps, posterior chain and calf complex. Dynamic stretches for the lower body might include forward lunges, knee-to-chest pulls, leg swings forwards and sideways, side lunges and split squats. Perform each exercise for 10 repetitions, attempting to increase range of motion and the speed of movement with each repetition as well.

Upper Body Exercises
Dynamic stretches for the upper body will concentrate on improving mobility of the thoracic spine and shoulder girdle. Dynamic stretches for the upper body might include a lunge and twist, wall slides, arm swings and supermans. The emphasis should be on scapular control and rotation stability and mobility of the shoulder and rotator cuff. Perform each exercise for 10 repetitions, attempting to increase range of motion with each repetition and the speed of movement as well.

Total Body Dynamic Stretches
For a complete workout integrate upper and lower body dynamic stretches. Examples might include a knee-to-chest pull followed immediately by a lunge and twist. Quadruped movements -- moving on hands and feet -- are also effective. The best example is the inchworm crawl. From a standing position, slightly flex the knees and bend forward to place the hands on the ground. Move the hands forward until the body is in a pushup position and then walk the legs to the hands using small steps while slightly flexing the knees. Repeat for 10 repetitions, stretching further with each repetition.

Beginner Workouts for Running And Upper-Body Strength

"I'm out of shape" is a lament many of us hear virtually every day -- sometimes in our own heads. Getting fit can take many forms, but ideally, people should seek to balance aerobic gains with strength gains to achieve overall fitness. This means doing several runs and strength workouts a week, with an eye on each type of exercise complementing the other to the fullest extent possible.

General Running Guidelines
Former "Runner's World" editor-in-chief Amby Burfoot offers a number of tips to people just starting a distance-running program. If you're over 40 years old, sedentary or 20 or more pounds over your ideal weight, ask your primary care provider whether it's safe for you to start a walk-run regimen. Also, set aside specific time for exercising so that you won't find excuses to skip your runs. Expect to have days on which you don't feel great, and above all, be patient -- it takes a while to get fit if you've been inactive for a significant stretch.

General Training Guidelines
Certified strength and conditioning specialist Cameron McGarr, writing for "Men's Fitness," suggests always taking a day off between strength-training sessions if you're returning to the gym after a layoff or getting started for the first time. You should experiment in your first few sessions to determine how much weight you should use for each exercise. One recommendation is to do about 80 percent of your max; for example, do 12 repetitions of a given exercise if your maximum for that weight is 15, or eight if your maximum is 10. If you don't have access to a gym, take heart -- you need no special equipment to work your upper body. You can do pushups, triceps dips and other exercises in the comfort of your own home.

Specific Running Workouts
Burfoot advises that you begin training with a mix of walking and running, and take one day off a week all together. In your first week, shoot for 10 sets of one minute of running followed by two minutes of walking; don't worry about your pace. Do this on four days, and reserve two other days for 30-minute vigorous walks. As the weeks roll by, add more continuous running while shortening the walk breaks, so that at the end of one month you're running for eight or more minutes at a stretch while walking for one minute in between running bouts. By the end of eight weeks, you should be able to run for 30 minutes at a time.

Specific Upper-Body Exercises
If you go to a gym or have your own weights, three times a week, do two sets of 12 repetitions of the following exercises: bent-over dumbbell rows pushups and planks. Take 30 to 60 seconds between sets. If you prefer to work your upper body without using weights, you can do rotational circles, doorway pushes and around-the-worlds for your shoulders, pushups for your chest and dips for your triceps. A physical therapist can provide you with a length of rubber tubing you can use to do shoulder resistance exercises such as internal rotations, abductions, extensions and stretches. You can even install your own pullup bar above a doorway; visit a sporting-goods specialty store to find one.

The Best Underarm Exercises for Women's Flabby Arms

Even young, healthy women can have underarm flab, which is the bane of most women, particularly those who like to wear sleeveless tops. No one likes having underarm flab that flaps every time you move your arms. There are ways to combat this problem but it’s going to take dedication and a lot of hard work on your part.

Waging the Battle Against Underarm Flab
Battling sagging skin in the underarm area is challenging, particularly for older women, because as we age we lose collagen and elastin, which are the connective tissues that essentially hold our skin together. Dr. Anita Cela, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City, explains that our skin also tends to get stretched out over the years because we’ve gained and lost weight. Without the proper amount of elastin and collagen our skin can’t bounce back and return to its pre-stretched shape. Our skin starts to droop and the outcome is flabby, loose skin under your arms, and elsewhere.

When you lose weight, no one can predict where the fat will be lost. If it’s lost from under your arms, this can result in flabby underarms. Since older skin doesn’t snap back as it once did, weight loss may make your problem with underarm sagginess even worse, according to Dr. Cela.

Techniques and Suggestions
You need to work on toning both your biceps, which are the muscles that run along the front side of your upper arm, as well as the triceps that run along the back of your arm, according to Dr. Debra Price, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Miami School of Medicine and a dermatologist in South Miami. By doing this, you will create the appearance of firmer skin because you are filling in the saggy skin with muscle. The skin may still sag some but it won’t jiggle as much.

Exercise Is Paramount
Aside from plastic surgery, exercise is the only way to get rid of the underarm flabbiness. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your feet or heels resting on the floor. Your palms should be placed flat on the floor beside your hips with your fingers pointing to the front, according to Peggy Norwood-Keating, director of fitness at Duke University Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina. Leaning back, bend your elbows and support your upper body with your arms. Keep your hands in place next to your hips. Hold this position for a few seconds and then press forward. Your arms should fully straighten once you are back in your starting position. Norwood-Keating explains that this works the back of your arm or the triceps

Push-Ups
Consider doing push-ups. If you can’t do a regulation push-up, do them while balancing on your knees. Push-ups are a great way to tone your triceps and underarm flab.

Hand Weights
Use hand weights--3 lb., 5 lb. or heavier. Pick the weight that you are comfortable with. You can lift hand weights while you are watching TV or carry them while you are walking.

Sit on the floor, holding a weight in each hand, raise the weights above your head and lower them to the back, bending your arms at the elbow, and then raise them. This is a good exercise for the underarms.

Sitting on the floor, with a hand weight in each hand, put your hands together in front, just below your chin, and then lower your arms down and press your left hand and forearm out to the left while pressing your right arm and forearm out to the right simultaneously. Your forearms and the tops of your hands will now be facing the floor. Bring your hands and arms back to the starting position and repeat. Do essentially the same movement except this time press your arms to the back and then return to the starting position.

Yoga and Other Approaches
Do yoga. Many of the yoga postures involve using your arms. These postures not only strengthen and tone your underarm muscles but will make you look leaner. Do bench dips, according to Yourtotalhealth.IVillage.com. Sitting on the edge of your bed, plant the palms of your hands on each side of your hips. Let your fingers danger over the edge of the bed. Proceed to walk your feet out to the front so that your hips have been lifted up and off of the bed. Your buttock should clear the edge of the bed as you utilize your arms to lower yourself. Maintain the bent knees and lower your butt until your elbows are parallel to the floor. Using your arm strength, raise yourself up and then proceed to lower yourself and raise yourself, repeating 12 times. As you become more accomplished at doing this--sort of an upside down push-up--try doing it with your legs straight.

How to Get a Small Waist and Big Hips

Reducing your waist size while increasing your hip size takes a three-pronged effort: changing your diet to reduce the fat on your waist, performing cardiovascular exercise to further burn fat on your entire body, and performing leg exercises to increase your hip muscles. If you follow this regime, you will be surprised by how quickly you see results. The larger your hips get, the smaller your waist will look and vice versa. Success in one area will increase success in the other.

Diet 1
Reduce your simple carbohydrates and other foods that do not provide you with long-term energy. This includes white bread, sugar, alcohol and baked goods. These foods do not give you as much energy as their complex counterparts, and therefore require you to eat more.

Diet 2
Increase your complex carbohydrate intake, like whole grain bread, oats and vegetables. These foods take longer to process than simple carbohydrates but release the same amount of energy, which means you do not have to eat as much.

Diet 3
Increase food that is high in fiber, as the fiber content effectively cancels out the carb content. So, a food with 10 grams of carbs and five grams of fiber has five effective grams of carbs.

Diet 4
Eat protein, particularly right after weight training. Protein (in addition to carbs) is used to build your muscles - including your hips.

Squat 1
Perform regular squats. This is widely accepted as the most effective leg exercise.

Squat 2
Squat down, starting with bent knees and moving your butt backwards once your knees bend all the way.

Squat 3
Ensure that the tops of your legs go past parallel. Essentially, your ankles and butt should be almost touching. This ensures that your whole leg is worked and also keeps pressure off your knees.

Squat 4
Push up, ensuring that your feet are flat. Curl your toes to force your body to push on the balls of your feet. Once you've mastered form without any weights, start adding some gradually, until you reach an amount where you are struggling to do between eight and twelve reps. This is the prime muscle-building range.

Cardio 1
Perform regular cardiovascular exercise. This is essentially anything that gets you sweaty and makes your heart pound -- boxing, swimming, running, biking.

Cardio 2
Perform any kind of cardio you want, as long as it makes your body work and burns some calories. This could be an hour of medium effort or twenty minutes of extremely hard interval training. It's really up to you.