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Arms Race Keeping your arms in shape is about more than looking good. it can keep you from dropping the ball – or anything else – in your daily routine. When Grace DeSimone, a Gold’s Gym Fitness Institute trainer, talks about keeping arms fit, she’s not thinking about “fly-by arms,” that unbecoming flab that advertises how unfit and untoned you are. It’s the way we use our arms every time we get up off the floor or get up from a chair. It’s the strength required to pour a glass of milk from a freshly opened gallon jug or to hoist groceries from the trunk of a car or to lift a grandchild to your cheek. Then she ponders how doing these things often become more challenging as we age. “People in their 40s, 50s and 60s become very fascinated when I talk like that because they know that’s going to be them pretty soon,” DeSimone says. "We like to keep people’s arms in shape to be able to support what they want to do day-to-day, because that equates to quality of life and independence." Sagging arms, DeSimone says, are mostly an aesthetic problem. But weak arms can cause some real problems. Luckily, she says, strengthening your arms can often help to ground those fly-by arms. “Vanity isn’t a hidden benefit, but when you look better you feel better,” DeSimone says. Why so flabby? Arms lose their tone over time for two reasons: The first, says Eddie Carrington, a trainer for Bally Total Fitness health clubs, is because the fat and muscle composition of arms change as we loose strength. “A lot of people have problems with their arms because there is not a lot of lean muscle there,” Carrington says. “When there’s no lean muscle there, all there is is fat, and that’s where you get the double wave.” Because men and women store fat differently, he adds, women generally get floppy arms at a higher rate than men. The second reason our arms sag has to do with a universal truth: gravity. “As we get older, our ears get longer, our lobes get longer,” explains Dr. James Garrick, medical director of the Center for Sports Medicine at Saint Francis Memorial in San Francisco. “The same thing is at work where arms are concerned.” The reason for this, he says, is skin loses tone and elasticity as we age, so as we loose mass, we’re left not only with too much skin but also skin that hangs. Garrick doesn’t believe there’s much, short of plastic surgery, that people can do to fight this part of the aging process, “It’s difficult to create enough muscle mass to fill up that space,” he says. The good news, however, is Garrick sees no medical problems with sagging skin, and he adds, when it comes to the first part of the problem, the loss of strength, “there are all kinds of programs.” Let’s defy gravity While plastic surgery is the only proven way to offset the effects of gravity, you can stem the decline of the muscle-to-fat ratio in your arms with a well-balanced exercise regimen. In fact, an unbalanced routine can do more damage than good. “A lot of older people suffer from rotator cuff problems,” says DeSimone, giving one example of how ineffective attempts at spot reduction can strain your arms. The best way to plan a workout, she says, is to think about the connections in your body. “Your back and shoulders are connected to your arms. I would have people working on their chest, back, shoulders and arms in a ratio of three exercises for your back, two for your chest and one each for your arms.” Be realistic about your goals, though, Carrington says: “The area that fat likes to sit, will, unfortunately be the last place you see results. But that doesn’t mean that you aren’t seeing any benefits.” DeSimone adds: “Toned muscle creates a nice toned arm. Even if there’s fat over it, it’s going to look a lot nicer and function a lot better than an arm without muscle.” Workouts at arms length DeSimone suggests using household items to kickstart your arms-control workout plan. “We joke about soup cans, but they are great things to work with,” she says. “Just doing your household chores can be a good place to lift.” She recommends starting in the kitchen. “You can just use your own body weight. Position yourself against the countertop and push yourself away from the countertop. That’s a great place start. You can slowly work yourself up from the counter to a desk and from a desk to the floor.” Another exercise she recommends is packing a bag with cans and lifting it the same way you’d lift it out of a grocery cart. The idea behind this type of exercise is to re-create day-to-day activities. By practicing the things you do every day, they will become easier. While Carrington agrees that home-based workouts are beneficial, he’s a fan of working out with a certified trainer because so many gyms are designed for people 50-plus. “Don’t allow the gym to intimidate you,” he says. “It can be an excellent learning center.” Garrick agrees. “Most fitness programs in a gym or fitness facility probably spend more time on your upper body than your lower body. They all have a host of exercises for the upper body. So if people are interested in toning their upper bodies, they shouldn’t have any problem finding a gym or program to help them with that.” “anity isn’t a hidden benefit, but when you look better you feel better.” GRACE DESIMONE, a trainer at Gold’s Gym Fitness Institute SOURCE: Eddie Carrington, Bally Total Fitness |
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