Getting beach body ready doesn’t only involve your shredded six-pack abs. Working on your arms can make you feel stronger and look better than ever too. While you may not want bulging muscles, achieving well-defined, or cut arms look great on anyone. But how do you get to this point?
Well, as with any muscle-building exercise, you will need to do an arm routine a few times a week. The great news is that it’s not a daily routine. Just two to three times a week of lifting certain weights can produce physical results in a short amount of time. You will need to work the two major muscles of your arms:
- Biceps
- Triceps
And don’t think you can target your arms to only lose weight in this area. This is not possible. But doing these arm exercises will see you strengthen and define the muscles. Integrate this with an existing full-body workout routine and your beach body will be the envy of everyone.
Today, we are going to look at the secrets behind cut arms. We will discover the right exercises to do, how often you should perform them, and the meal plans that go hand in hand with getting physically fitter. So, let’s define those arms of yours so you can hit the beach with the utmost confidence as soon as possible.
Workouts
There is a fine line between doing too little and too much when working out. Do too much and you run the risk of burning out and injuring yourself, do too little and you will become frustrated with slow to no progress.
A grueling, tough workout uses a high level of glycogen (sugar) from your muscles for fuel to power you through. What you should be aiming for is two to three high-intensity intervals every week. These should last around 10 to 20 minutes each. Just these short workouts are enough to keep your metabolism going at high speeds so the weight stays off.
We don’t advise long fitness sessions or classes. An hour-long workout will just make you hungry. For definition in your arms, you need to perform shorter daily workouts to build your strength. Mix this up with walking and standing throughout the day. As long as you keep moving, your weight has a better chance of staying off.
You want your body to use stubborn pockets of fats as fuel instead of supplying food all the time. Of course, you must eat but lengthy vigorous exercises can be counterproductive as you eat to make up for the energy you lose over a longer workout. You’re at a higher risk of burnout and burning too much muscle glycogen which makes you feel like eating just to feel better again.
The main mistake people make when trying to get cut is eating more calories during the day than what they burned in their workout. Therefore, their fat levels remain the same, and cuts are never seen.
So, what workouts should you do to get cut arms? Let’s take a look at a few here:
- Bicep curls
- Inner bicep curls
- Hammer curls
- Seated isolated dumbbell curls
- Preacher bicep curls
- Tricep extensions
- Tricep dips
- Tricep kickbacks
For the most effective results using these workouts, you should create an arm workout routine. It’s important to note that you should give 48 hours for your body to recover after weight lifting or the use of resistance bands. Therefore, you should alternate your arm exercises (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, etc).
Vary your workout with different exercises and do full contractions with every movement for the best and quickest results.
Meal plans
If you’re tired of seeing a deposit of fat on the back of your arms, you’re not alone. This is one of the body’s favorite storage deposit areas for fat as well as the abs, hips, and glutes. However, with an active lifestyle and a calorie deficit, fat can burn quickly. As we mentioned above, long, big workouts tend to leave people exhausted, hungry, and bulkier. If you’re looking to get lean and cut arms, you must eat properly alongside your high-intensity workouts.
You should eat energy-appropriate foods with at least two hours between meals every day. Keeping to this schedule of precisely portioned meals means your stomach will fully empty before the next meal. When you become hungry again, you just eat. Then, you stop before you become too full allowing your metabolism to become more even.
An active lifestyle and smaller portions of food that are eaten on a regular schedule are the best formulae for mobilizing your body fat from stubborn areas such as your arms. Allow your stomach to empty between your meals and your metabolism will remain high.
Paying close attention to what you eat and performing moderate, scheduled workouts each week is the fastest path to cut arms. Also, regular walking and standing keep your metabolism working hard so your fat reserves are being used as fuel more frequently. We suggest an additional 90 minutes of standing every day. This doesn’t need to be consecutive. Just do short 10 to 15-minute bursts throughout the day to build up.
Your meals should be eaten around 2 to 4 hours apart so your stomach empties fully. Grazing will just confuse your metabolic hormones making you hungry more often. When you plan your workout routine, ensure one of your meals or snacks is within one hour after finishing your workout.
This hour after your workout is key for your metabolism. Food portions plus a regular schedule equates to the quickest way to cut arms.
In Summary
As with any form of exercise, it takes time to see results. Don’t expect to see cut arms within a week or two. But with a balanced diet, an active lifestyle, and scheduled workouts, your goals will be met a lot sooner.
Once you have the muscle size you desire, you just need to focus on your diet, dial down your workouts, and let your muscle definition shine through.
