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Good Exercises to Tone Up Arms, Legs & Buttocks After Extreme Weight Loss

After you’ve done the truly hard work of losing a significant amount of weight, incorporating regular weight training workouts will help you tighten and tone your muscles. While toning requires a relatively aggressive workout program, take your time to master technique before adding heavier weights if you’re just starting to incorporate weight training. The major muscles in your arms include your biceps and triceps, which are located at the front and back of your upper arms, respectively. Many lower body exercises are effective at targeting the buttocks and major leg muscles simultaneously, including the quadriceps, hamstrings and calves.

A Workout for Toning
Lifting to improve tone requires a workout that features a relatively high volume, meaning it consists of exercises being done for multiple sets at a higher number of reps. Your workout should be designed to increase lean muscle. The American Council on Exercise suggests performing three to six sets of six to 12 reps. Schedule two to three workouts every week, with one to two days of rest in between. Once you’re comfortable with the technique of each exercise, lift weights that make performing 12 reps challenging.

For the Biceps
The biceps are responsible for flexing your elbows against resistance, so incorporating a variety of biceps curls will help you build muscle tone. Utilize the barbell biceps curl, dumbbell biceps curl and dumbbell hammer curl. Barbell biceps curls and dumbbell biceps curls involve holding your arms down by your sides with your palms facing forward. Bend your elbows to lift the weights up to your shoulders, and then extend your elbows to lower the weights back down. Hammer curls are similar, except that your palms face the side of your thighs and then each other as you lift and lower the weights.

Working the Triceps
The triceps straighten your elbows against resistance, and you can target them with overhead dumbbell triceps extension and lying barbell extensions. For overhead dumbbell triceps extension, hold a single dumbbell over your head with both hands, and then bend your elbows to lower the weight behind your head. Extend your arms to lift the weight back up. Lying triceps extension is similar, but you perform it from a back-lying position on a flat bench. Start with your arms extended toward the ceiling, and bend your elbows to lower the dumbbell behind your head. Straighten your arms to complete the set.

Buttocks and Legs
Exercises like squats, lunges, step-ups and deadlifts are compound movements that require movement at the hips and knees. As a result, multiple muscle groups are recruited and developed. Squats involve setting your feet under your hips, bending your knees so that your butt lowers toward the floor, and then standing back up. Lunges are squats done from a staggered stance. Place one foot in front of the other, and bend your knees to lower your hips toward the floor. Extend your knees to rise back up, and then switch legs. For deadlifts, hold the weight in front of your thighs, push your hips back, and bend your knees to lower the load toward your feet. When your back is parallel to the floor, raise back up to finish the rep. For each of these exercises, hold a pair of dumbbells or a barbell to increase the load and make each set challenging.

Dancer's Arm Workout

Dancers are recognized for their sleek, toned arms. Unlike weight lifting or body weight exercises, dance provides an indirect arm workout that tightens and tones arm muscles all at once. Luckily, you don't have to be a dancer to build stronger and more defined arm muscles.

Warm-Up
It is always necessary to warm up the muscles in the arms to prepare them for the exercises ahead and reduce the risk of injury (See Ref. 1). With your arms outstretched perpendicular to your body, make small circles with your arms; 15 clockwise, and 15 counter clockwise. You now have proper arm circulation to do the following dancer's arm workout.

Port de Bras
In ballet, the 'port de bras', or 'carriage of the arms', is an integral part of dance composition. For each position and exercise at the ballet barre, there is a corresponding port de bras. Each of these fluid arm movements provides resistance and stretch to the arms, and they can be done with or without a barre. Stand with the feet together and arms rounded in the front of the body with hands relaxed. Lift arms above the head slowly in a controlled motion and return to start position.

Plank
In addition to giving you incredible core strength, plank is a very common exercise used by dancers to provide increasing power and definition in the arm muscles. A plank is the act of holding the body in a push-up position for a sustained period of time. This not only encourages tightening the abdominal muscles, but also strengthening of the arms as full body weight is being supported by the arms. Hold each plank for 30 seconds, and rest 30 seconds in between.

Stretch
To prevent injury, it is important to stretch your muscles after you work them. Stretch the triceps by crossing one arm over to the opposite side of the body, reinforcing support at the elbow with the other arm. Alternate arms after 15 seconds.

Ball-Squeezing Exercises for Elbow Tendinitis

Tendinitis is a painful condition that often affects the elbow. Tennis elbow and golfer's elbow are the most common types of tendinitis in the elbow. Decreased grip strength is a symptom of each of these disorders. Ball-squeezing exercises can improve strength and hand function with elbow tendinitis.

Overview
Elbow tendinitis can affect the tendons on both sides of the elbow. Repetitive wrist movements combined with gripping can lead to elbow tendinitis. Tennis elbow, also called lateral epicondylitis, is caused by overuse of the muscles that straighten the fingers and bend the wrist backward. Pain occurs at the tendon as it attaches to the pointed bone on the outside of the elbow. Golfer's elbow, or medial epicondylitis, causes pain at the bony point on the inside of the elbow. Muscles that bend the fingers and wrist forward attach to this bone.

Grip Strength
Ball-squeezing exercises are performed to increase grip strength. A tennis ball or other flexible ball of similar size is used for this exercise. The ball is placed in the center of the palm with the fingers and thumb wrapped around it. In this position, the ball is gently squeezed -- without pain -- for approximately 3 seconds and repeated a set number of times, often 10 to 25. A typical goal is to work up to 3 sets in a row. These exercises should not increase pain in the elbow and are routinely discontinued if symptoms get worse.

Finger Strengthening
Ball-squeezing exercises can be used to strengthen weak thumb and finger muscles caused by elbow tendinitis. Thumb bending is strengthened by pressing your thumb into the ball as you hold it in your palm with the other fingers. Pinch between the thumb and index finger is strengthened by holding the ball between these fingers and squeezing the sides of the ball at the same time. Thumb opposition is strengthened by repeating this exercise between the thumb and each of the remaining fingers individually. Although recommendations vary, these exercises are often performed 10 to 25 times each, working up to 3 sets in a row.

Alternatives
Ball squeezes may be difficult or painful with elbow tendinitis. The same exercises performed with a ball can be done with a folded towel, sponge or soft exercise putty until ball squeezes can be tolerated without pain. A "ball" can be made by pouring sand into an deflated balloon until it is about the size of an egg, and knotting the end.

Easy Upper Arm Exercises

Popular workout activities such as walking, running and cycling do little to strengthen the upper arms, a frustrating fact for fitness aficionados who don't have access to a gym or weight-lifting machines. Fortunately, there are plenty of easy upper arm exercises that can be done at home. If you don't have a 1- to 5-lb. pair of dumbbells available, substitute with a full bottle of water.

Full Circle
Arm circles are an excellent way to strengthen your biceps, triceps and shoulders without weights. Stand up straight and extend your arms out to the side so that they are parallel to the floor. Tighten your abdominal muscles to steady your core and move your arms in rapid, fast circles. Gaiam recommends doing as many circles as you can before reversing the direction of the motion. Once you're tired, take a break and then repeat two more times.

Tender Loving Chair
You can tone your triceps even while sitting by doing triceps extensions. Grab one dumbbell and sit on a chair with your back straight and your feet planted firmly on the floor. Hold your dumbbell with both hands and lift it straight up over your head. Bend your elbows back slowly towards the center of your shoulder blades until your elbows form a 90-degree angle. Straighten back up and repeat. In his "People Magazine" article, personal trainer Harley Pasternak recommends doing three sets of 20 repetitions twice a week.

Raise and Shine
To exercise the shoulders, arms, upper back and chest, try a standing v raise. Stand with a dumbbell in each hand, arms straight by your sides with your palms facing in towards your body. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart. Without overextending and locking your elbows, raise your arms up diagonally in front of you so that they are parallel to the floor and forming a v-shape. Hold for one second, then bring your arms back to your sides. Repeat 12 to 15 times.

Terrific Triceps
Traditional pushups can be challenging, requiring a strong core as well as powerful arms. A tricep pushup is an easier alternative that will still reap rewards. Lie on your stomach with your palms planted on the floor by your chest, using a mat for cushioning. Press your elbows against your ribcage and push up, straightening your arms but keeping your lower body glued to the floor. Lower yourself back to the floor and repeat, doing three sets of 20 repetitions.

Pregnancy Abdominal Exercises

While pregnancy isn't a time to strive for "washboard" abs, strong abdominals support the additional weight and can ease your delivery. Unfortunately, your pre-pregnancy core exercises do not apply. Your new exercises include those that are performed from a face-down, or upright position to protect you and your baby.

Things Are Not Looking Up
As your baby grows, especially after the first trimester, you should avoid exercises while lying face up. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that this supine position puts pressure on your blood vessels may restrict returning blood flow to you heart. This is dangerous to you and your baby. This may also increase your blood pressure. The good news is with a slight change in position, you can perform daily abdominal exercises.

Let Gravity Pull You Down
Instead of facing up for your abdominal exercises, position yourself face down, in an all-fours position. When you are on your hands and knees, gravity helps to pull the weight of the baby off the blood vessels in your core. For example, rest on all fours with your hands positioned underneath your shoulders and your knees positioned under your hips. Raise an opposite arm and leg as you straighten your arm and leg to reach away from you. Maintain this position for a count of five, then lower the arm and leg and repeat with the opposite pairing. Complete 10 lifts on each side.

Vacuum It Up
The stomach vacuum exercise is performed in multiple positions. You can be on your hands and knees, sitting or standing. To do the vacuum and strengthen the deepest layer of abdominal muscle, tighten your stomach and pull your belly button toward your spine. Breathe normally as you maintain the pulled-in abdominals for two seconds. Release and then repeat 10 to 20 times.

Sit Back and Relax
The abdominal sit-back is an upright exercise you can perform on the floor, in bed or seated in a chair. Sit with your back straight, your chest lifted and your knees bent with your feet flat. Extend your arms out at your shoulders as if reaching toward the wall in front of you, or cross your arms over your chest for a beginning sit-back. Inhale and lean back slightly, keeping your core tight and chest lifted. Exhale and return to an upright position. Repeat 10 to 15 times.

Examples of a Crunch With Legs Elevated

Elevating your legs during a crunch can help take some pressure off of your back. It also alters the position of your lower back, making it easier to engage your abdominal muscles. You can do almost any type of crunch with your legs off of the ground, but some crunches are specifically designed to keep your legs elevated.

Bicycle Crunches
Bicycle crunches tone both your obliques and your re**us abdominus muscles, making them an ideal choice for abdominal conditioning. They also top the American Council on Exercise's list of most-effective abdominal exercises. Simply lie on the floor with your knees bent and your feet off of the ground. Crunch up, pulling your right elbow toward your left knee as you pull your left leg slightly in. Then repeat the maneuver, switching sides so that you pull your left elbow toward your right knee. Continue alternating knees and elbows.

Flutter Kicks
A flutter kick is a challenging version of the traditional crunch that works your lower-abdominal muscles. Lie on your back with your legs extended straight out, but elevated 6 to 12 inches off the ground. Using your abs, kick your legs up and down. Then lower your legs back to their starting point and spread your legs slowly apart, also using your abs.

Reverse Crunch
While a traditional crunch has you lifting your torso, the reverse crunch requires you to lift your legs instead. Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet off of the floor. Using your abs only, slowly rock your hips and legs up, lifting them off of the ground and holding for one to two seconds before lowering them back down and then lifting again.

Vertical Leg Crunch
The vertical leg crunch positions your legs straight up in the air. Lie on your back with your toes pointed toward the ceiling. Lift your torso off of the ground, reaching for your feet as you crunch up. Keep your abs engaged by keeping the small of your back flat against the floor.

Arm & Leg Weight Workout

Training your arms and legs together makes for a tough workout. You can expect to burn a lot of energy and feel worn out by the end of it, but you'll see great improvements in your strength and work capacity. Plus, you get the added benefit of only having to train two to three times per week, instead of four or five times. Be sure to take at least 36 hours off between workouts to give your muscles time to recover properly.

Get Warmed Up
You might feel a warm up is boring and cuts into your workout time, but it's actually very important. It prevents you from getting injured, and it even improves the quality of your workout. To warm up your arms and legs, do some body weight movements. Do 10 burpees, 10 pushups and 10 deep squats twice through. This will make sure your joints are lubricated, your muscles have increased blood flow and your heart rate has increased a little to support the upcoming workout.

Pump Your Legs
Start your workout with your leg exercises -- leg workouts take significant amounts of energy so it's best to do them while you're fresh. Do three sets of deadlifts, squats and walking lunges with a barbell. Choose weights that allow you to complete at least six repetitions of each movement, but don't do more than 10 per set. Take a few moments of rest in between each exercise until you feel ready to start up again. Each of these exercises targets your quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes very effectively.

Arm Action
Once you've completed your leg exercises, move on to your arms. With a pair of dumbbells, do three sets of bent over rows, overhead presses, bicep curls and overhead tricep presses. Again, choose weights that allow you to complete at least six repetitions per exercise, but don't do more than 10 per set. Bent over rows and overhead presses are compound movements -- they use multiple muscles in the arms. Bicep curls and overhead tricep presses are isolation movements and target those muscles specifically.

Make It Complex
Complexes are an effective way to hit both your arms and legs in the same workout. Keeping in mind that you've already done some work on both areas, this will be a challenging way to round out your workout. To perform a complex, select four to five exercises, say front squats, single leg deadlifts, upright rows and shrugs. Load the barbell with weights that will allow you to complete your weakest lift correctly and then complete six repetitions of every exercise without resting or putting the bar down. Do this five times.

The Effects of Running Stairs on the Knees

If you have access to stadium steps, or even if you work or live in a building with five or more floors, you have the option of running stairs for a challenging cardio workout. Running stairs not only provides valuable aerobic exercise, but it also helps improve strength in your quadriceps. You may be concerned about the effects of running stairs on the knees, but it doesn't pose a threat of injury to everyone.

Less Impact Than You Think
Any time your foot leaves the ground and you put it back down, there is some impact involved. That prompts the idea that your knees will take a pounding when you run stairs. Although your knees will be subject to some impact during stair running, it isn't as much as running on flat ground, according to ESPNW. It's actually the descent that is high-impact. Running down stairs doesn't really provide the aerobic benefit you want, either, so stick to running up stairs, and avoid running down.

Safe for Healthy Knees
Running stairs is a useful way to train for building leg and glute muscles as well as improving your cardiovascular system. According to Nicholas A. DiNubile's 2010 book "Framework for the Knee: A 6-Step Plan for Preventing Injury and Ending Pain," running stairs shouldn't adversely affect you if you have healthy knees, so feel free to run stairs for cardio and leg strength benefits. If you do have knee problems, get your muscle building and cardio workouts from low-impact workouts with free weights, weight machines and the stationary bike or elliptical trainer, and stick to taking the stairs at a walking pace.

Train Smart
You'll get optimal benefits and have minimal chances of stair running negatively affecting your knees if you train smart. Before you tackle the staircase, get your legs used to the motion by running on flat ground or a treadmill for two to three weeks beforehand. Always warm up for five to 10 minutes before running stairs. Don't take more than one step at a time if it requires you to bend your knee more than 90 degrees. Also, totally disregard the "no pain, no gain" aphorism when it comes to your knees. If running stairs causes any knee pain at all, don't do it.

Build Strength for Protection
There's less of a possibility of stairs affecting your knees if you build up the muscles around them to provide support. Increase strength in your hamstrings, quadriceps and calves with exercises such as bodyweight squats, leg curls and calf raises. Your hips and illiotibial band play a part in knee stability, too, so include glute bridges and IT band stretches as part of your knee-strengthening program.

The Best Rep Range for Woman Looking to Lose Weight

When it comes to weight loss, not only do you have to consider what type of routine to follow, carefully select your exercises and stick to a diet plan, but you also need to think about your rep ranges. Surprisingly, the advice you've previously heard on the best rep ranges for fat loss might not be the most beneficial and may even be harming your progress.

Dispelling the Myth
Weight training for fat loss is typically associated with light weights and higher reps, the theory being that this tones the muscles, rather than making them bulky. This, however, is a fallacy. To tone a muscle, you need to lose fat to achieve a greater degree of definition and this has little to do with rep ranges, notes personal trainer Harley Grosser. The trouble with using light weights for sets of 15, 20 or even 50 plus reps is that it's unlikely to challenge you or burn a high number of calories.

More Muscle
Having more muscle can actually help progress your weight loss, according to coach Brad Gouthro. To ramp up your metabolism which can help you burn calories to lose fat, you need more muscle. This means training with a heavier, more challenging weight and working in the eight-to-12-reps-per-set range, Gouthro adds. Provided you're eating in a calorie deficit and not following a high-calorie, high-protein bodybuilder-style diet, you won't get bulky lifting in this manner.

A Strong Base
One way to make your weight-loss training program more effective is to build a base of strength when you're starting out. For this, Jean-Claude Vacassin of W10 Performance Personal Training in London recommends dropping your reps as low as four to six per set. While this may sound low, lifting heavy weights above 70 percent of your one-repetition maximum has a powerful after-burn effect, which can accelerate weight loss, according to strength coach Charles Poliquin.

Middle of the Road
If you're looking to break away from light weights and high reps but don't want to plunge into a low-rep routine just yet, trainer Alli Mckee of Girls Gone Strong suggests starting out with sets of eight to 12 reps. Once you're used to this, increase your workout volume to accelerate weight loss, either by adding more sets, lifting heavier or completing more total exercises each workout. Should you decide to increase the reps above 12, remember to keep your intensity high and use weights that challenge you.

Foam Roller Exercises for Upper Arm

In the absence of a massage therapist, a hard, dense foam roller allows you to apply sustained pressure to your own muscles. This technique, called myofascial release, can help relieve pain in sore muscles. Using either a massage table or a yoga mat on the floor, you can foam roll your biceps, triceps and rotator cuff.

Myofascial Release
The fascia is the connective tissue that surrounds your muscles and organs. It creates a dense, continuous web throughout your body. If you become injured or have bad posture, the fascia can become constricted. When you exercise regularly, you can inflame or injure the fascia through repetitive stress. Myofascial release uses deep, continuous pressure to help reverse constrictions and relieve pain.

Biceps
Stand at a 90-degree angle to the massage table. Place the roller alongside your body. Bend at the waist and place your biceps across the roller, extending your arm. Shift your weight back and forth to roll out your arm muscles. If you don't have a massage table, lie on your side on the floor and place your corresponding arm across the roller. Place your other palm on the floor in front of you to balance your weight. Stack one knee on top of the other, keeping the top leg extended slightly and the lower leg bent.

Triceps
Place the foam roller at a slight diagonal on the edge of the massage table. Stand next to the table, slightly behind the roller. Bend at the waist, bend your arm 90 degrees and place your triceps on the roller so your hand points toward the ceiling. Rest your other hand on your knee. Slowly shift your weight forward and back to roll the foam roller between your armpit and elbow. To increase the amount of pressure on your triceps, take a step back and lean more of your weight on the roller. If you don't have a massage table, lie on your side on a yoga mat and perform the same motion, balancing yourself on your opposite hand and stacking your knees on top of each other.

Rotator Cuff
Lie on your side with the foam roller under your armpit. Roll backward slightly so the roller is just beneath your shoulder. Separate your legs, keeping your lower leg bent and your upper leg bent with the sole of your foot on the floor to help balance your weight. Extend your arms overhead with your palms facing out, overlapping your thumbs. Use your top leg to move the roller beneath your shoulder. You will feel this release not only in your rotator cuff but also in your shoulder blade.