Fitness health centre

The best arm exercises

Banishing ‘bingo wings’ is a long held dream for many women and well-toned arms appear to be the latest must-have body part. The Duchess of Cambridge's sister Pippa Middleton is the last high profile example of someone the newspapers highlighted for their fitness regimes.

Pippa caused a sensation at Kate and William's wedding in her sleeveless dress. Reports say regular Pilates is Pippa's fitness secret.

If you're ready to get your own arms toned enough to go bare, what are the best arm exercises for strengthening and toning? We asked fitness experts to share some of their tips for building stronger, tighter, arm muscles.

The benefits of upper body strength

Arm toning and strengthening exercises are important throughout life, says exercise physiologist, Dan Agresti, and the benefits go way beyond looking good in a sleeveless top.

“Life is a lot better when you're strong”, he says. “It's fun to know I can do just about any task”.

Having upper body strength also helps us combat the physical pitfalls of our culture.

Being hunched over the computer, in front of the TV and at the steering wheels of our cars takes a toll, says Lori Incledon, athletic trainer and author of Strength Training for Women. The shoulder girdle becomes stretched, the chest muscles get tighter and we set ourselves up for decreased range of motion and potential injury.

“We're never going to be able to reach for the glass on the highest shelf anymore, if we don't balance out our muscles with exercise”, she says.

Arm toning tips: the whole-body prescription

As we all know by now we need to think about the big picture. “The emphasis should be on the entire body and cardio and diet”, says fitness expert Mark Nutting.

Diet and nutrition are a huge part of the equation, says Dan Agresti. If you work the arms and don't see results, look at your whole fitness programme: “Underneath that fat is the most beautiful set of arms you've ever seen”, he says.

All three fitness experts use multi-muscle, multi-joint exercises for their clients, so they work more muscle at one time, thus increasing the calorie burn.

“We need to train the body the way it was designed to work” says Dan Agresti. Otherwise, it’s not very effective.

You need to use some sort of resistance to really strengthen the upper body and tone the arms, whether it's weights, bands, machines, cables, shopping bags, or your own body weight.

You also need to be willing to push yourself a little, he says..

“If you want to tone and shape your arms, you have to use a bigger weight”, Dan Agresti says. “I don't think women tend to push themselves with sufficient weight and to the level of effort and fatigue necessary”.

It's all about motivation, he says. “Could you have done more? For £100,000 could you have doubled the reps? If your response is ‘Absolutely!’, you're cheating yourself”.