Getting rid of arm flab: is there a way to tone my upper arms without building bulk? … and more of your questions answered here - Fitnessq+a

Shape, April, 2004 by Suzanne Schlosberg

Q How can I tone my flabby arms without developing bulky muscles?

A First off, don't worry about getting big arms. "Women just don't have enough testosterone to build large amounts of muscle," says Keli Roberts, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise and group fitness manager at Equinox Fitness Clubs in Pasadena, Calif. "It's actually very difficult for women to get big."

Getting rid of arm flab is a two-part process: You need to reduce the fat that sits on top of your muscles by burning more calories than you eat. "Examine your diet and make sure you're creating a caloric deficit," Roberts says. (For help figuring out how many calories you should consume a day, visit calorie control.org.) At the same time, you need to tone the muscle underneath the fat. "The best strategy is to work your arm muscles from a variety of different angles," Roberts says. For instance, for your triceps (the rear upper-arm muscles), do some basic exercises such as triceps press-downs, kickbacks and overhead presses. These will ensure that each of the three heads of the triceps muscle gets its proper due. You can learn a variety of triceps and biceps exercises in videos, books or Web sites or from a trainer at a gym. At Shape.com you'll find basic moves for your upper arms, and our book Do It Right: The 75 Best Body-Sculpting Exercises for Women includes seven arm workouts ($20; to order, visit Shapeboutique.com or call 877-742-7337).

Whatever strength exercises you choose, be sure to use heavy-enough weights that your muscles fatigue after eight to 12 repetitions. "Lifting weights that are too light is a waste of time," Roberts says. "Lift enough weight so that by the end of each set, you can't do one more rep." Do three sets of eight to 12 repetitions, total.

Q Whenever I do lunges or squats, I hear a horrible crunching noise in my knees. Sometimes it hurts, and sometimes it doesn't. What causes this? Am I damaging my knees?

A Chances are, you may have some degree of chondramalacia patellae, a wearing away of the cartilage underneath the kneecap, says Giles Scuderi, M.D., chief of adult knee reconstruction at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. Whether the cartilage is worn from overuse, an old knee injury or some sort of kneecap misalignment, your kneecap isn't gliding as smoothly across your femur (thighbone) as it should. That's why you hear the crunching noise. "If the pain becomes persistent, you should be evaluated by an orthopedist," Scuderi advises, noting that serious cases of chondramalacia can degenerate into arthritis.

Strengthening and stretching your quadriceps muscles--the muscles that surround the kneecap--can help the kneecap work more efficiently and prevent further wearing away of the cartilage, Scuderi says. An orthopedist or physical therapist will likely recommend exercises such as straight-leg raises and modified (i.e., short range of motion) lunges or squats. When you do lunges and squats, Scuderi says, it's important for your knee to be in line with your ankle and not ahead of it.

Stretching both the quadriceps and the hamstrings also can help. When these muscles are tight, more pressure is put on the kneecap.

Q Sometimes I'm exhausted after a night interrupted by my 2-year-old's teething and nightmares. Should I avoid the gym the next day or stick with my planned treadmill and weight-training workout? Is it a mistake to exercise when you're very tired?

A "In general, it's not harmful physiologically to exercise following a night of sleep disturbance, but do raise your level of caution," advises Edward O'Malley, Ph.D., director of the Norwalk Hospital Sleep Disorders Center in Norwalk, Conn., and a research assistant professor of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine. "There is an increased risk of accident or muscle-strain injury resulting from the impaired judgment that accompanies acute sleep loss or disturbance."

But, O'Malley says, you should be capable of running as fast on the treadmill or lifting as much weight as usual. After those nights that your toddler has kept you up, though, you may want to use weight machines instead of free weights and keep your treadmill workout brief.

Don't skip your workouts altogether, however. Break the habit a few times, and it's a lot easier to get seriously off track before you know it. Besides, if your energy is flagging, exercise--even a short workout--may give you just the boost you need.

Send your questions to Shape, Fitness Q & A, 21100 Erwin St., Woodland Hills, CA 91367; fax to (818) 704-7620; e-mail to FitnessQ&A@Shape.com.

Suzanne Schlosberg is the author of Fitness for Travelers (Houghton Mifflin, 2002).