what size weight for toned not bulky arms?

S

sophie-xx

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Hi all!
Im trying to get nice toned arms, i need to lose another 7-8lbs and im doing arm weights

with advise of my fitness advisor im doing 10 x4 reps of bicep curls and triceps too...

im using 3kg weights, so the question is - are these too heavy - i dont want my arms to get bigger, which to be honest, when i tense they are looking big.

should i switch to 3kg weights and do more reps?

many thanks x

ps - when i lose more weights, will they look thinner - or will the muscle ive built still make them look big?

im really bored of covering up and feel self conscious.
 
I think 3kg is like 6.6 or 7 lbs? I doubt if you muscles are going to get bulking on 7 lbs. It takes a lot of time, effort and heavy weights to become bulking. If you want toned arms with definition.. keep lifting small weights and cut out sugar from your diet. Haha
 
lol, ok thanks, :grinning:
Thats what i wasnt sure about, whether the 3kgs were a good weight to be classed as 'low weights for repition'
I do lift weights 4 times a week, so do worry about bulking.
I eat healthy enough hopefully il get there soon. thanks for the response x
 
Hi Sophie, I agree with Waitwhat, that level of weight is unlikely to build bulk, unless I suppose you are very tiny. It would help us help you if you'd post a picture of one of your arms if you're comfortable doing that.

By 10 X 4 reps does that mean you're doing 4 sets of 10 reps for each of your biceps and triceps? I would expect over time you should be able to do more reps with that light a weight. If it is currently hard to do the last couple of reps then you don't have a lot of strength in those muscles yet.

The bottom line is you need to decide though if you want to add more muscle to your arms or not. My simple definition of toning is combining a reduction of fat with some addition of muscle so the arms look tighter, with the skin more tightly wrapped around your bone, muscle and fat, with less fat so the muscle tone better shows. If you already have the muscle then as Waitwhat says, you need to focus on the fat loss bit and just maintain the muscle you have.

Hope this helps.
 
ok here goes...

this is the best one i could find for an arm shot, taken yday ..and tensed just now
 

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Using light weight will not help 'tone' your arms. There's no such thing as losing fat from one area of your body. If you eat right, and exercise readily your body will burn fat. If you lift weights enough to strain your body and supply it with the right nutrients, your muscles will grow. Its your choice if you want to gain or lose fat, and gain or lose muscle. 'Tone' is a word that has many definitions that differ depending on who you're talking to. Even if you lifted the heaviest weight you could for 10 reps, you wouldn't get 'bulky'. It's very difficult for even a guy to do this, and girls' hormones are much less suited to build this amount of muscle.

IMO, get your diet in order. Good amount of protein, healthy fats and carbs. On a side note, very pretty ;)
 
It does look like you have good muscle structure in your arms, your bicep anyway. So you probably only want to lift as much weight in your arm exercises to maintain that. As the others have said, you can't spot reduce though, so will indeed have to focus on the fat loss side, and it will come off all over your body, so your arms will get "toned" along with the rest of you as the weight comes off.

You should not just focus the strength training on your arms, ideally you should do weight training for all your major body parts. But if you think you perhaps have a bit too much muscle on your arms for what you like, you will want to put less emphasis on the weight lifting for them. I don't think your arms look bulky at all by the way. All the best.
 
thanks to all! very helpful, ill keep going, def needto get some weight off still..and ill 'maintain' what ever muscle i already have there and hope it shows better definition once lost the surrounding fat layer -
im waiting on some decent running shoes, to get back into my running,

Thanks again - x
 
The fact that you don't have a pair of testicles is the biggest reason you shouldn't worry about 'getting too bulky'. Testosterone is what helps men and women gain muscle mass...but women have significantly less testosterone, and thus end up looking 'sporty' or athletic, rather than 'big n bulky'.

The female bodybuilders you see that look too 'manly'....they ALL use anabolic steroids and testosterone injections to get to that level.

The average woman is not going to look like this. However, if you have the genetics to pack on muscle as a woman, you're going to put it on. Don't look at it negatively. Even if it looks 'big and muscley' to you, chances are the rest of the world doesn't see it that way. We are all our own worst and most critical critics.
 
totally agree with above poster, i certainly am my worst critic.

ive always wondered, if anyone knows, what happens to muscle if we stop working out?
say if i stopped doing weights, does that muscle do away? turn into fat?
 
Muscle cannot 'turn into' fat any more than a duck can turn into a napkin.
If you don't use the muscle it will atrophy and reduce in size and strength.
 
haha, nicely put!
Thanks again guys.
 
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