Toning upper arms without building muscle?
- Thread starter lally
- Start date
I doubt you are gaining that much muscle simply by doing some isolation arm training. For starters, in general you need to be in a caloric surplus to build any appreciable amount of muscle. Are you eating above maintenance?
There are instances when you can increase your muscle mass when you are a novice, unaccustomed to any sort of resistance training. However, this magic-like recompositioning is temporary.
Many people seem to confuse muscle gain with fat loss. What I mean by that is, most people (especially women) believe they are building muscle when in reality they are simply lose fat therefore exposing the muscle that resides below the fat.
And that's part of the answer to your question. If you want to lose fat, you must in a caloric deficit (burning more cals than you consume). That said though, you don't get to pick and choose where the fat comes off. Your upper arms may be a problem spot for you. Most problem spots are the first place a person will accumulate fat. Unfortunately, these are also the areas that will be the last place to lose fat when dieting.
You can't specifically target the fat in a particular area through resistance training. It just doesn't work like that.
That doesn't mean you should do resistance training. Just realize what its purpose is.
And you could start keeping track of specific measurements with a tape measure to make sure you aren't 'bulking up.'
I think you'll find you aren't.
There are instances when you can increase your muscle mass when you are a novice, unaccustomed to any sort of resistance training. However, this magic-like recompositioning is temporary.
Many people seem to confuse muscle gain with fat loss. What I mean by that is, most people (especially women) believe they are building muscle when in reality they are simply lose fat therefore exposing the muscle that resides below the fat.
And that's part of the answer to your question. If you want to lose fat, you must in a caloric deficit (burning more cals than you consume). That said though, you don't get to pick and choose where the fat comes off. Your upper arms may be a problem spot for you. Most problem spots are the first place a person will accumulate fat. Unfortunately, these are also the areas that will be the last place to lose fat when dieting.
You can't specifically target the fat in a particular area through resistance training. It just doesn't work like that.
That doesn't mean you should do resistance training. Just realize what its purpose is.
And you could start keeping track of specific measurements with a tape measure to make sure you aren't 'bulking up.'
I think you'll find you aren't.