Top tip for toned arms is to build your relative strength

What is “toned” anyway?

I’m going to give you my top tips for toned arms in this article but first I think it’s important to explain what does “toned” actually mean? Someone who’s toned we typically think of that horseshoe shape on the arm or legs that have definition. You’ll see a lot of athletes with this or fitness models etc.

Being toned is basically someone who has built some muscle and then has a low enough body fat so you can see the muscle

Unfortunately many people (esp women) still associate building muscle with getting ‘bulky’ so a lot of fitness people use the word ‘toned’ as people understand what it means and it’s less intimidating. Getting bulky usually happens when the nutrition (energy balance) isn’t quite right for that specific person.

So let’s now get onto the top tips for toned arms.

Top tip for toned arms is to get good at pull ups, push ups and dips.

Build a good level of relative strength and upper body strength

Relative strength is your strength relative to your body weight. The best examples of people with excellent relative strength are gymnasts, rock climbers and free runners. Ever seen an overweight person doing chin ups? When you get good at body weight upper body exercises you’re forced to work on your nutrition and training which in the long run will give you those toned arms you’re looking for. Get good at push ups, dips, inverted rows and chin ups etc.

Every time you do a push exercise like a chest press or overhead press your triceps are working too. And for every pull (eg chin up and rows) exercise that you do your biceps are working too. So by getting stronger in general in your upper body your arms will have to get stronger and have muscle in order for you to lift those heavier weights. And as I’ve said before as long as your body fat isn’t high you’ll be able to see that muscle which gives that ‘toned’ look.

Want toned arms? check your nutrition and body fat level

No one carrying lots of body fat has toned arms or visible abs. If you want those things you will have to work on your nutrition and your activity levels

There’s no two ways about it, to lose weight (or fat) you have to get into a calorie deficit. So if you’re carrying a lot of body fat I would recommend you focus on your nutrition and track your calories for a short while (Make counting calories easier — BVOY). You should calculate your maintenance calories and from there go into a deficit of around 15-20% for most people.

However if you don’t do any exercise and you just lose weight then you might find that your arms aren’t so toned due to the fact you haven’t built enough muscle yet. If you’re looking to build muscle you might want to eat at a maintenance level of calories and work on your strength. Or if you have a lot of fat to lose I would work on getting into a calorie deficit while still lifting weights.

Add some isolation work

While it may not be the “meat and potatoes” of your workout I would recommend including some isolation exercises for the arms. Adding more volume (work) to your arms will help to add some muscle to them which is what that toned look is, it’s muscle. It can be as simple as adding 2-3 sets of a bicep and tricep superset at the end of each full body workout. You want to focus on really feeling the working muscle.

Protein is important

A simple way to get enough protein is by either aiming for 1 palm size of lean protein at each meal for a woman and 2 palm sizes for men. Obviously the optimal way is by tracking but you don’t have to do that. If you do track aim for at least 30-50g of protein at each meal depending on your size. Protein is a top tip for toned arms because protein gives your body the building blocks for building muscle and helps you keep onto your muscle when you’re in a calorie deficit.

Be as active as you can

I think it’s important to put this as I want you to have lasting results. Being active everyday is not just about looks but it’s really important for health too. It will help you maintain a healthy weight and recover from your workouts. It helps with mental wellbeing too and stress levels. Try to do at least a 30-45min walk everyday and ideally in the morning.

Walking and being active is great for maintaining a healthy body weight and a healthy mind so I included it as a top tip for toned arms

I hoped you enjoyed this and that it helped you out. Please share etc if you got some value from it. Ed

Top tips for 'toned' arms