Want to Tone Your Arms Fast? Follow These 3 Tips

1. Choose the Right Exercises

Wondering how to tone your upper arms? Resistance exercises help build muscle and burn fat. And while you can't shed fat from specific parts of your body (aka spot reduction), incorporating arm exercises in your workouts can help you build strength and muscle tone, according to Carolina Araujo, CPT, a New York-based certified personal trainer.

3. Dumbbell Kickback

Tip

As you stand in the bent-over position, keep your back flat by pulling your bellybutton into your spine, Araujo says.

2. Tailor Your Sets and Reps

Your exercises aren't the only part of your workout that you need to tailor to your goals — your reps and sets matter, too. To build strength in your arms and shed a little body fat, Araujo recommends high-volume training. That means you need to perform a relatively high number of reps and sets.

For fat loss, aim to do 4 sets of 12 to 20 reps for each exercise, according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). Higher reps and sets increase the total time your muscles work to resist the weights (aka your time under tension). The longer your time under tension, the more strength you build and the more calories you burn.

Araujo also suggests mixing drop sets into your workout. A drop set involves doing an exercise with a specific amount of weight for as many reps as you can with good form, according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE). Then, you repeat the same exercise with a lighter weight, resting as little as possible between sets.

Drop sets can actually help improve muscle definition, per the ACE. Technically, a "toned" muscle is one that stays permanently tense or contracted. Drop sets can help increase control of your muscles, helping them stay partially contracted even after your workout.

3. Try Some Arm-Focused Cardio

All kinds of cardio can help keep your heart healthy and boost your total calorie burn. But if you're worried about weak arms and "flabby" triceps, Araujo suggests you include types of cardio that target strength, too.

"For clients looking to sculpt and tone their arms, I love to recommend battle ropes or a rowing machine," she says. "They're kind of a like a two-in-one workout. Your heart is working hard and getting the cardio benefits but at the same time, your arms get a resistance workout."

During high-intensity interval workouts, she also suggests mixing in a few of the arm exercises above. If one of your intervals calls for dumbbell squats, for instance, add a biceps curl at the top of the motion.

How to Tone "Flabby" Arms With Your Diet

Although your workouts are a major part of building strength and muscle tone, your diet plays a big role in fat loss across your whole body (arms included). Choosing a healthy, sustainable — and enjoyable — eating plan will help you achieve the strong arms you're looking for, Araujo says.

Wondering how to calculate your calories for weight loss? Download the MyPlate app to do the job and help you track your intake, so you can stay focused and achieve your goals!