Firm up flabby arms effectively: do away with Bat arms.
“I can’t take it anymore with my arms”: I often hear this reflection in consultation… My Arms, my Arms … I explain and answer you very sincerely according to my experience for 30 years now!
Weak arms, which show cellulite or which hang down (the famous bat effect) can be due to various factors. Age doesn’t help, because the older you get, you lose more and more muscle mass, and this decline starts as early as age 30.
If you are still young, then being overweight may be your primary concern. In this case, you will need to play on your diet to hope to regain the volume of your limbs in hand. If you want to refine your arms by toning them, then it will probably be enough to build up their muscles.
“After 50 years, you should not be satisfied with muscling the arms, but you must work the whole body and strengthen the heart,” warns the coach. A good solution is Nordic walking, which “stimulates the whole body, trains the heart and strengthens the arms and upper body when practiced with sticks”.
It is important to combine the two to obtain a convincing result. Because hoping to lose weight exclusively in the arms, you might as well admit it right away: it’s not possible!
1. What is the Bat Arm Effect?
Goodbye effect, flaccid arms, bat effect, … what is it?
First, a word about the anatomy of the arm. The triceps is located on the back of the arm. Its anatomical position is affected by gravity since the triceps are oriented towards the ground. It is composed of 3 chiefs, hence its name “tri”-ceps:
- the lateral
- the medial
- the long one
Over the years, our body changes little by little, our skin is less firm, our muscles are less toned and it is at this moment that complexes appear. One of them is easily hidden under our clothes: the “bat” effect in the arms. The bat arms are often the obsession of all women after fifty.
In women over 50, “drooping triceps” are mainly caused by a lack of exercise. The physical activity that stimulates the triceps is insufficient, which creates this bat-like effect on the silhouette of your arms. This muscle wasting can lead to difficulty in performing simple daily movements and degrade your autonomy. It is therefore recommended to build up your arms to not only tone them but also to sculpt them.
Why do we have skin hanging under our arms?
This phenomenon occurs when the ratio of muscle mass to skin is unbalanced, meaning that there is not sufficient muscle for the skin surface. After extreme weight loss, if a lot of fat tissue has been lost quickly, the skin starts to sag.
2. Tightening the skin of the arms without surgery: what are the effective solutions?
Exercises to firm up the arms and underarms naturally
We understand that when it comes to slimming the arms, the main focus is on the upper part of the arms. Namely above the elbow and along the arm, up to the shoulder joint. In order to redesign a beautiful arm, it is necessary to build muscle again or tone up the biceps (above) and triceps (below) to counter the bat effect of the tissues of the arm which become slack as we age. And by working on the musculation of its arm, one implies intrinsically the forearm. Building muscle will also generate energy consumption in fatty tissues, and thus contribute to reducing fat cells.
Through targeted strength training, you will be able to firm up your arm muscles.
There are two types of muscle strengthening:
- Toning
- Volume gain.
Since having big arms is not our goal, let’s focus on the first method of muscle strengthening, toning. By using light weight or no weight at all, and a few movements, we will be able to redesign firm and long arms. Guaranteed results.
So how do you firm up and tone the skin under the arms without surgery?
Some basic principles
– Always stretch before starting your exercises, as well as at the end. Indeed, as we age, muscles lose elasticity, pain appears, joints lock up and coordination problems increase along with bad posture. To begin, stand with your arms at your sides, raise one arm above your head, and then flex it behind your head. Place the other arm behind your back, and then try to reach up with your top hand. If you can’t, just try to touch it with your fingertips;
Exercise 1 – no equipment
Push-ups are excellent arm strengthening exercises and can be performed in two ways:
At the wall: place your hands at shoulder height, feet hip-width apart. Bend your forearms to the wall and push them back. Start with 10 movements. After a few days, put your arms down a little further to make it more challenging.
On the floor: arms tight, knees on the floor, go up and down. Do 10 times quickly (30 seconds in all) every morning before showering…
Exercise 2 – with 2 x 50 cl water bottles
Stand with your legs hip-width apart and hold a bottle of water in each hand. Raise your arms above your head and then bend them backwards, with your arms pressed towards your ears. Elbows do not move. Tighten your abs and buttocks to protect your back. Two sets of 25 to start. Recover a few seconds between sets.
Exercise 3 – with 1 large water bottle
On your knees, with the bottle in one hand, extend your arm backwards, elbow fixed and tight along your chest. Exhale each time you open your arm. Two sets of 15 to start, 1 fast and 1 slow. Switch to the other arm.
Stretch
It’s time to stretch again! Raise one arm behind your head and flex it so that it comes down toward your back. With your other hand, grasp your elbow and gently pull it out while blowing. Repeat on the other side.
Exercise 4
Stand with feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent. Spread your arms like a cross, palms facing the ground, shoulders down and away from the ears. Hold this position and make small circular movements, repeat and turn your hands towards the sky.
Remember to increase the number of sets and the number of repetitions per set after a few sessions to progress. The rhythm should alternate between a fast and a slower set. Consistency is essential: it is better to do fewer sets when practicing 3 times a week, than to do 30 sets in one session once a week.
Electrostimulation to complement
Electrostimulation, devices for muscle building without mobilizing the joints at the physiotherapist’s, you can now find very effective devices for building muscle at home with the same principle. You put on armbands that are connected to a small remote control, and you modulate the intensity of electrical impulses sent to the muscles. Under the impulse, the muscle contracts and relaxes. While contracting, the muscle fibers are solicited and consolidated. Do not imagine that you will lose arms only with this small device. It allows you to build muscle but not to burn fat, so we do not ignore the dietary rebalancing…Slendertone and Compex sport are the two leading brands in this field, both for the general public and for athletes.
Diet: an important factor in changing the volume of the arms and tightening the skin of the arms
To really obtain convincing results for losing arms, sports activity alone is not enough. It is undoubtedly necessary to control one’s food balance and not eat more than one spends. This means that not only do we try to understand the amount of calories we take in so as not to overdo it, but above all we eat a varied diet. If you want to dry out, build muscle and lose body fat, you have to be really careful and eat fruits and vegetables often. In order not to lose muscle mass, you absolutely must not skip proteins, which guarantee healthy muscles (otherwise you will lose muscle, which would be a shame). Finally, be sure to distinguish between good and bad fats, and good and bad carbohydrates.
In short: more fruits and vegetables, proteins, complex sugars, no sodas or sweets, no industrial, ultra-processed foods, such as sandwich bread, pastries, ready-made meals… And drink a lot (of water), your muscles will love it!
Different techniques and treatments to tighten the skin of the arms without surgery: what are the effective solutions?
The Jet Peel® to deeply moisturize and fill micronutrient deficiencies that have an immediate effect on the skin (read Jet Peel article for more explanation)
Finally, Microneedling, the collagen induction therapy, is a cosmetic procedure that consists in perforating the skin several times with tiny sterile needles… It is efficient for many problems such as wrinkled skin, sagging skin, wrinkles or fine lines… (read Microneedling article for more explanation).
3. What results can we expect? How long will it take?
Results: before and after
I would like to tell you about my professional experience of more than 20 years with the ” Bat Arm ” treatment
My career as director and manager of a dermatology and aesthetics center has allowed me to be passionately involved in my profession/activity. I have a global vision of the functioning of the different treatments and the interaction between these various treatments.
I have treated different cases expressing this problem, the results depended on several factors, age, hereditary capital, the different surgical interventions if there were any, the lifestyle, sedentary, active, sporty etc. ….
First of all, forget the preconceived recipes, where you are told that to problem A, you must respond with treatment B or C, this is not a school exam, each case is particular, the advice after the care to be applied at home is essential and necessary.
Don’t just count on the solutions in the clinic, but your determination to get there, “I believe in it”, is essential to the result, and this is true in all spheres of our lives.
In the majority of cases, we obtain very satisfying to pleasing results. There is still a small percentage with average results. This concerns women who are very thin and have advanced sagging or those who are not realistic and objective…
How long does it take to firm up the arms?
As a reminder, for all rejuvenation treatments, maintenance at the rate of 2 to 3 sessions per year after a protocol is necessary.
Nowadays, we know how to repair and rejuvenate but unfortunately, we do not know how to stop the aging process. However, we must recognize that the latest technologies, which do not require surgery, are progressing more and more and hold great promise for us.
“I propose to put my experience and knowledge at your service.”
Ruth Niddam