How to Get Rid of Underarm Flab

Nearly all of us have a part of our body we are less than happy with. There’s no doubt that having excess skin or fat under your arm can make you feel self-conscious. Does it prevent you from wearing certain clothes? Does it stop you from participating in some of your favourite activities? If so its time to do something about it!

If you want to get rid of the unsightly underarm flab, I warn you now, there’s no quick fix! You will need to stay positive, it will take time, but by following all the steps and exercises outlined below, with videos and detailed how-tos, you will be well on your way to fixing the nagging underarm fat/flab holding you back.

 Causes of Underarm Fat

• Getting older-As you get older, it becomes much harder to lose the extra few kgs you might have put on on holiday or over Christmas. Our metabolism slows. As our metabolism slows, we spend less time sleeping, our lives are busy with kids and demanding jobs, often leaving us missing healthy meals prepared at home and opting for high-fat convenience foods.
• Diet-Overeating, drinking, and lack of exercise are probably the three worst habits for adding unwanted fat.
• Low Testosterone-Recent studies have shown that having a low testosterone level in (men&women) increases the risk of becoming obese. Women tend to put on weight a little more easily than men, and having low testosterone makes it much harder to lose the extra weight they are carrying.
• While some studies suggest that having low levels of estrogen affects your weight gain, other research suggests there is little or no evidence of this. The jury’s out on this one! But low estrogen levels in menopausal women have been linked to lower metabolic rate; it seems it’s highly likely that low estrogen could lead to weight gain because of this. (low metabolism=burn fewer calories)

How to lose that unwanted sag(fat)

If you are determined to lose your underarm flab, I’m afraid to say it’s almost impossible to target a single area for fat loss. We need to look at the whole body when losing fat. And this means a better diet and more exercise.

Try to eat 100 calories less from each meal, just removing the skin from a chicken breast or leg will give you that 100 less, instead of fries, eat a jacket potato or opt for rice, go for low-fat margarine instead of butter. 300 fewer calories a day adds up to 2100 a week, and you hardly notice you are doing it.

Try eating smaller meals more often and drinking more water, this helps increase metabolism.

Swap processed foods for natural foods such as whole grains, vegetables, fish, lean meats, and healthy fats like coconut oil. Olive oil and corn oil are great too.

Eating healthily is just as important as, if not more important than, the workout itself. If you want to tighten that underarm sag or add muscle, it’s always going to be 60% diet and 40% workout.

Below are some great toning exercises to tighten your underarm muscle, the tricep, which will help lift that horrible sag and give an overall tightness in your arm.

How to Lose Underarm Fat Without Weights

If you don’t want to fork out for some weights? We have 3 fantastic tricep-toning exercises to help tighten up that troublesome fat.

Close Grip Push Ups

Personally, a favourite of mine, it really targets the triceps and also gives your pecs (chest) and shoulders a little workout too.

No need to worry if you haven’t done a press-up before, you can start out doing this one on your knees. A month or so later, you should have built up enough strength to try a few sets without any assistance. Warm up first, you need to get the blood going.

Same as the classic push up, apart from your hand being slightly less than shoulder-width apart, use your knees to make the movement easier.

1. Place your hands slightly less than shoulder-width apart. Push yourself off the ground.
2. Keep your body in a straight line from heel to neck.
3. Be careful, don’t let your butt stick up at all.
4. Keep your core tight (midsection)
5. Lower your body until the elbows are at a 90-degree angle.

1. Triceps Dips

Another great bodyweight movement to tone your triceps is to use a chair or a bench.

Pay close attention to the video and my instructions, it’s very important to complete this movement correctly to avoid getting injured. Don’t let that put you off, they’re easy after a little practice, and one of the best you will find for toning your arms.

Mark Laren, the master of body weight exercises and Author of You Are Your Own Gym, says, ” Find your own surface, between knee and waist level. The lower the surface, the more difficult this exercise becomes. But it cannot be below knee level.”

Place your hands on the edge of the surface behind you, making sure your knuckles are facing forward.
Walk your legs forward until they are straight out in front of you, and your butt is only a few inches from the ground.
Slowly bend your elbows to lower your body straight to the floor until your arms are parallel to it. Forearms should stay perpendicular to the floor throughout the movement.
Then push yourself back up until your arms are fully straightened.

2. Crab Walk

Primary toning your triceps, the crab walk will also work your shoulders, back, core, and legs. This one’s going to feel a little alien at first putting you in a position your body is not used to, but keep practising and you will soon get the hang of it, gives a great body workout. Ready, let’s try it!

Start by sitting on the floor with your knees bent and your hands placed palms down behind you. Fingers facing hips.
Lift your hips (butt) off the floor and tighten your core.
Now walk forward or backward “crab walking”: left hand, then right foot; then right hand, then left foot.

With Weights
Here are two simple but effective tricep exercises to help you tone the muscles under your arms; both target the triceps. You can combine a couple from the list above to get a full workout. You will need a set of dumbbells for both of the exercises. Warm up first!

3. One Arm Tricep Extension

Stand up straight, feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart, and hold one dumbbell with one hand behind your head, with your elbow bent at 90 degrees towards the ceiling.
Raise the dumbbell with one hand until your arm is nearly straight and the dumbbell is directly above you.
Now slowly lower your arm back to the starting position and repeat the desired number of reps.

4. Tricep Kickbacks

With a dumbbell in one hand, palm facing your body, bend forward at the waist, keeping your back straight. Make sure to keep your head up throughout the movement.
Keep your dumbbell arm close to the body; the elbow should be at a 90-degree angle between the forearm and the upper arm.
Extend your elbow to straighten the arm. By doing this, you will push out the dumbbell behind you.
Bend the elbow slowly back to the starting position.

If you start exercising regularly and eating healthily, you will soon notice your underarm fat disappearing and a more toned look developing. 3 resistance training sessions a week, with weights or bodyweight exercises mixed with some cardio, will really help burn those calories and replace fat with much-needed muscle mass.

Resistance training is one of the best ways to keep your resting BMR up (Basal metabolic rate). This means your body is burning calories even when you are resting.