Forget the Gucci purse and the pearl-rimmed Chanel sunglasses. There is one accessory that goes with everything and never goes out of style: sleek, strong, sculpted arms. Here JJ Virgin, author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, explains why many women are losing this critical attribute and how they can get it back.
My grandmother was a thin woman, but she had an odd situation going on up top: her arm fat draped down like two veils. I remember playfully flapping her arm veils around, and they would swing to and fro. Of course, she didn’t really mind because she was a granny and strappy tank tops weren’t exactly on her list of must-have fashion items.
When I first worked as a personal trainer some twenty-five years ago, women didn’t even use hand weights. I had to sneak them in during aerobics classes. I would also have them do pushups and they would protest, “That’s a guy’s exercise. I’m going to bulk up and look like a football player.” (Absolutely untrue, but more on that later.) I would even take some of my clients to Gold’s Gym in Venice, California, and they would shriek, “I don’t want to look like those he-man body builders!” These were women who weighed 140 pounds. There was no chance of their bulking up unless they started doing mass doses of steroids.
Now women understand exercise a bit better, and they want that lean, firm, muscular look. They also know that they need muscles because that sort of toning is sexy and holds everything in tighter. Just look at any of the major female stars of our day, including Halle Berry, Kelly Ripa, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Lopez, and Blake Lively. Their arms are for public consumption in those gorgeous designer gowns.
Muscles are also a metaphor for something larger: empowerment. Arms represent strength. They’re symbolic of not being the little waify woman who needs a man to lift and carry for her. If you have muscles, you’re not weak. Arms say you can handle things. (And what if there’s a fire and you need to lower yourself out of a window — could you do it?) It turns out that strong arms are also practical and functional. Who knew?
This brings me to a question I’m asked over and over again:
“JJ, how did my arms get so bad?” Well, as with any slippery slope, you slide down bit by bit over time. Suddenly, you’re sort of used to that fat on your arms and you just put a few more layers of clothing over them. As you get older and a little heavier (each year), it seems as though the fat just pours into your arms. Most women don’t just gain five pounds a year; they may gain ten pounds of fat and lose five pounds of muscle. Your muscles are your metabolic girdle and hold everything in tighter so that you have shape.
Muscles keep your metabolism up all day long. When it comes to your muscles, if you don’t use them, you lose them.
In a nutshell, that’s why your arms are getting worse and worse.
Women do want to get in shape. In fact, they spend a good chunk of change talking to trainers and trying chemically based diet “foods.” There are many $75-an-hour trainers who tell their female clients that the way to get their entire body in shape is with a daily hourlong power walk. They promise that simply swinging your arms while walking will tone them up.
Tune out that advice.
A steady power walk is simply controlled falling and really doesn’t burn much fat or develop muscle. What I advocate is walking for two minutes and then performing a minute all-out “burst” in which you go as fast as you possibly can. When you burst and recover, your body becomes involved in a major metabolic workout that raises your lactic acid levels. The lactic acid “burn” signals that you are raising your growth hormone levels. Now you’re burning more fat, building muscle, and staying young.
Women don’t burn fat naturally; we’re fat storers in order to have and feed our babies. Arms are a common place to store fat. In order to get rid of that fat, you will have to do burst exercise, eat right, and work on the science that will help you achieve results.
One interesting side note is that women aren’t described as “apples” and “pears” anymore when it comes to body shapes. Between our stressful lifestyles and our steady diet of refined carbohydrates and artificial foods, most of us have screwed up our metabolisms to the point where we store fat and gain weight like a man. This means we now carry our fat in our stomachs and our arms.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JJ Virgin, author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy: The 5-Step Plan to Sleek, Strong, and Sculpted Arms (Copyright © 2010 by JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc.), has successfully coached Hollywood elite, rock stars, heavyweight champions, Olympians, and CEOs into shape using her powerful weight loss program. She is an on-camera nutrition and fitness expert, writer, professional speaker, and radio personality on nationally syndicated shows, including two seasons as the nutrition expert on Dr. Phil. A board-certified 25-year veteran of the health and fitness industry, she lives in Palm Desert, California.
MORE ARTICLES BY THE AUTHOR
- A Fat-Burning Cardio Program You Won’t Hate
- How to Stay Committed to Your Exercise and Weight Loss Goals
- Is Stress Making Your Arms Chunky and Your Waistline Expand?
- What to Eat to Burn Fat and Lose Weight
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