The Three Most Important Exercises For Flabby Arms

All you need for this exercise are three towels folded into a square. Place one on the floor in front of you where your forehead will touch the ground and place the other two under your knees.

Kneel down on the towels and place your hands shoulder width apart on the floor in front of you directly underneath your shoulders with the towel in front of your hands. Hold your body weight steady with elbows straight and your back straight (try not to arch or sway your back or stick your butt in the air), Keep your chin tucked in and slowly lower yourself until your forehead touches the towel, and your chest is just above the ground. Reverse the position. Continue until you feel that you cannot go on. Make sure that you breathe at all times.

If you have strong upper body strength and strong core then you can probably do a full press up (shown below), but if like me you're not quite strong enough yet, then keep on with the "girl" press up.

To go from a girl push up to a full push up seems as impossible as climbing Everest or going to the moon. That's what it seems to me. Obviously you need to have arm strength, but the other factor is a strong and stable core. Core strengthening exercises, strengthen your abdominal muscles, back muscles and pelvic muscles. This means you will be able improve your performance as well as protecting your body.

Good core strengthening exercises include plank, side plank and abdominal crunches.

Doing push ups is a really great upper-body exercise that builds muscular strength to the chest, shoulders and arms, specifically the triceps, those muscles at the back of your arms which tend to sag the most.

When doing push ups you tend to put a lot of pressure on your wrists which can lead to pain. To help prevent this you can use push up bars in order to alleviate any wrist pain as you put less pressure on your joints. Push up bars don't make push ups any easier, and in fact it is often harder because you have to stabilize your abdominal muscles. This means that you get a much more intense core workout which definitely helps improve your push ups.

There are so many types of push up bars for sale that it's difficult to know which ones are the best. Some people say that rotating handles are better than stationary handles as they help you put your arms in the proper position throughout the range of motion and minimizes the stress on your wrists, elbows and shoulders.

I recommend the Perfect Pushup Original push up bar. It has well padded and comfortable hand grips and the bases are very stable with rubber under coating so you can use on any surface. Very popular push up bars and affordable.

For this exercise all you need is a 6-8 pound dumbell or a filled gallon bottle or jug of water and a stool or chair.

In this exercise you work one arm at a time while supporting yourself with the other hand on the chair seat or stool. One foot is forward and your legs comfortably apart so you have a strong foundation.

Lean forward toward the stool at about a 45 degree angle and arch your back slightly. Take the dumbell or water jug in your working hand and let it hang down. Then slowly pull the dumbell or water jug back and upward until your hand reaches chest or armpit level. Continue lifting and lowering until you cannot lift the weight anymore. Now switch to the other side and repeat the process.

All you need for this exercise are a pair of dumbells or filled water bottles or jugs and a stool or chair to sit down on.

First of all sit on the stool with good posture and place a dumbell or filled water bottle in each hand. Let your arms hang down by your side with dumbells or water bottles facing forward. Keep your elbows into your side and slowly bend your arms up towards your shoulders. The only thing that should move are your lower arms.

Make sure that you breathe and not hold your breath. Continue raising and lowering the weights until you find that you can no longer lift them again.

If you want you can do the bicep curl standing up. I use a filled 4.7kg laundry liquid bottle, placing it in a horizontal position, keeping my elbows tucked into my side, I raise the water bottle up towards my chest. I repeat this for three sets of 10. My biceps are coming on nicely now.

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Sometimes working out at home in front of a DVD or from a book doesn't really do it. Unless you're really self-motivated, working out on your own is difficult and often boring. If that's the case then I would like to suggest Bootcamp. A few months back I decided to join our local Bootcamp group and even though I found it extremely hard to begin with, I'm really feeling the benefits of it now. Not only have I dropped over 17 pounds, but my strength and stamina have improved.

What I really like about Bootcamp is that no expensive equipment is required. You use what's around you like the grass for push ups, core exercises, etc., low walls to do step ups and also tricep dips and push ups (see picture). Our instructors also bring plastic containers filled with liquid for us to use instead of dumbbells. You can do this at home, for example I've filled an empty 4.7kg laundry liquid bottle with water which I use for my arms.

I also like being part of a group who all have the same goal - to get fit and another benefit is that you can make new friends. Sometimes you feel like battering the instructor when he or she tries to push you too hard, but quite often in life we need to be pushed to reach our full potential. If you have a Bootcamp not too far from you, then why not try it out.