arms--to tone/build/fill saggy skin???

[want_so_bad 0]

my question is for the best way to go about working/building my arm muscles.

i like the size of my arms for the most part, but i NEED more tone. i have some saggy skin and am wondering, if i build muscle (heavier weight, low rep, right?) will it help fill that sag? but i also want it to be nice and toned, so low weight, high rep right?

any hints/suggestions would be great.

[AirKuhl 1]

The only way to tighten skin is either shrink the skin or fill the empty space. Since we don't have much control over shrinking skin short of surgery, you can work on building up some muscle volume to fill it in. Aside from looking better, muscle uses a lot of calories just sitting there, so you end up either losing weight faster or being able to eat more and still lose.

I suggest aiming for 2 sets of 15 reps. Find a weight where it's hard but still possible to do 15, but doing more is impossible. You want to hit muscle fatigue at the last rep. Muscle fatigue is that point where you simply can't lift it anymore. That's after the point where it feels difficult or "burns". That burn feeling is good and you want to feel it the last few reps.

Make sure for upper arms you work the triceps and shoulders too. Most people focus on the biceps but the other 2 are probably even more important.

Good luck!

[want_so_bad 0]

air- thanks for responding. kinda of a stupid question, but here goes anyway...while building the muscle, do i need to tone too? does that make sense? like, do the muscle building lifts one day and toning the next? or not? does it just stay toned as it builds? omg, that seems retarded to ask. lol. i have been working on my shoulders and triceps too. do you have any suggestions for which lifts/exercises i can do to really focus on this? thanks!

[scarecrow 4]

because of the huge amount of skin some of us have to fill (me,) I fully believe in lifting for bulk instead of tone. General bulk building rules apply. I lift with lots of sets/low reps (5 sets of 5 usually) with about 80% of my max. It may be better to keep your down time between sets around 2 minutes or though, as you are kinda focusing on building size as opposed to strength.

Do your larger muscle group first every time. Believe it or not, working the hell out of your tricep will make your biceps look big faster than working the actual biceps to death.

For a mass-heavy look, concentrate heavily on back (lats and traps) and delts. Back day and shoulder day should be your longest. larger lats, traps, and delts cause wide shoulders and a wider chest. Just concetrate on widening yourself and bulking for now, if you have loose skin, trying to do true toning exrcise is kinda poinless as it won't be seen anyways.

[AirKuhl 1]

air- thanks for responding. kinda of a stupid question, but here goes anyway...while building the muscle, do i need to tone too? does that make sense? like, do the muscle building lifts one day and toning the next? or not? does it just stay toned as it builds? omg, that seems retarded to ask. lol. i have been working on my shoulders and triceps too. do you have any suggestions for which lifts/exercises i can do to really focus on this? thanks!

Toning just means that you make yourself a bit stronger but don't really build the muscles up. If you work out for size, your muscles will automatically "tone".

There are lots of different ways to work a particular muscle group, a lot of it may depend on what gear your gym has. Feel free to ask, that's what they are there for.

My personal preference is to use free weights and calisthenics instead of the fancy machines. I'm trying to become more fit and have good core strength. The machines isolate a specific muscle group, while free weights tend to involve lots of other muscles at the same time. My trainer is a former special ops guy, they trained this same way for strength over looks.