One exercise will tone the back of your upper arms.
Having trouble toning the back of your upper arms?
Ladies, I have a great exercise for you that will really tone and tighten the flab in the back of your upper arms.
Among the best exercises for toning the back of flabby upper arms? It is the triceps push-down, using the rope.
Now, many women are already doing triceps push-downs with the rope, and some are not seeing any tone in their upper arms at all.
This is because they are not performing this exercise correctly.
Subtleties in this exercise need to be taken seriously, if you want it to tone the back of the upper arms.
Going through the motions is not enough. Body position must be very particular.
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#1) Upper arm position: Upper arms remain vertical at all times throughout this triceps exercise.
All the time I see women allowing their upper arms to move forward, away from their sides, sometimes even flaring them out. This will sabotage goals.
The key is to isolate the back of the upper arms. This can only be accomplished when the upper arms stay in a fixed, vertical position, close to your sides, every moment of the set. They do not move, not at all.
#2) Forearm position: Forearms go no higher than a little past parallel with the floor. I see many women allowing their forearms to get yanked all the way up by the weight stack, and their arms end up in the position of a chipmunk’s forelegs.
Forearms should never go much past parallel with floor. Once you reach parallel (or a little more is okay), push back down.
By going too high with the forearms, you release tension off the back of the upper arms, and in order to really tone the back of the upper arms, you must maintain continuous tension.
#3) The release: Release with control; do not rush.
#4) The trickiest part, perhaps: Hand position while in the push-down position. This is where a major mistake occurs, and just about everyone does it.
The rope has knobs at the end. Hands should be above the knobs, not holding the knobs.
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If the rope has knots instead of knobs, hands should be above the knots, not holding the knots.
However, that’s not the tricky part. Here it is: As you achieve the push-down position, pull the knobs/knots away from each other, so that the rope forms an upside-down V — a wide upside-down V. This means that wrists must not flare out.
The wrist-flare-out is a deceiving move that fools people into thinking they are getting in that last few inches of the pull. Wrong.
All you’re doing is flaring out the wrists, and the back of your upper arms are doing absolutely nothing at this point; the wrist flaring creates an incomplete motion.
Result of this is a horse shoe shaped or “bell curve” rope, rather than the upside-down wide V.
Pull knobs away from each other to form the upside down wide V, and this will recruit every last fiber of the triceps muscle group: the upper back of your arms.
#5) Hold the V position for two seconds before releasing.
#6) Maintain as erect posture as possible. Don’t stoop forward too much. Keep legs shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent.
#7) Set weight so that eight reps are difficult.
#8) Immediately after completing eight reps, lower the weight load 20 or so pounds and do another eight.
When this second set is done, lower the load again and do 8-12 reps. The back of your upper arms (triceps muscle group) should be on fire at this point.
The burn should be significant. If it’s not, the weight you were using was too light. Increase it and try again after a few minutes.
For toning the back of the upper arms, this drop-set exercise with the rope is remarkable, but the weight load must be high enough to create a significant burn, requiring a two minute rest in between sets. Do four sets, 1-2x per week.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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