Is it Possible to Tighten up the Loose Skin on Your Upper Arms with Exercise?

When people complain of loose skin on their arms, it's often fat, not loose skin. This happens with weight loss, when too much muscle is lost and the fat-to-muscle ratio is higher than it was before.

Weight Loss

• Many people diet without strength training, causing an imbalance in the fat-to-muscle ratio. Unless you've lost more than 100 pounds, most "loose skin" is fat that still needs to be lost.

Skin Elasticity

• The skin is very elastic. According to natural bodybuilder Tom Venuto, "I've seen and heard of many cases where the skin gradually tightened up, at least partially, after a one- or two-year period where the weight loss was maintained and exercise continued."

Aerobic Exercise

• There is no such thing as spot reduction. If you've still got too much fat on your arms, aerobic exercise will burn fat there and elsewhere in the body.

Strength Training

• Add strength training to your routine, making sure you get plenty of protein: .75-1 gram per pound of body weight a day.

Bulking and Cutting

• Bulking consists of eating more calories than you burn, with plenty of protein and strength training to gain muscle weight. Cutting is the process of losing that same amount of weight but keeping the muscle you just gained and losing fat instead.