“Bat wings” aren’t just spooky around Halloween time—they’re the frustrating underarm jiggle many strive to firm and tighten. The good news is you don’t need fancy gym equipment to tone this stubborn area of the body. Along with tools like resistance bands and dumbbells, a few essential chair exercises can help tone your upper arms.
“Bat wings can be the bane of our existence as we age, impacting our self esteem and stopping us from wearing the clothes we want,” explains Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Hilliard, certified Pilates instructor and owner of Hilliard Studio Method at Hilliard Studio Method. “There are multiple reasons many of us struggle with upper arm jiggle when we get older. As we age, our skin loses elasticity, and along with age-related hormone changes and muscle mass loss in both women and men over 45, you have a trifecta of factors working against you. Luckily, there are a few exercises that can target the area and tone up your arms starting today.”
3 Effective Chair Exercises To Tone ‘Bat Wing’ Arm Fat
Chair-based movements offer a supportive, stable option for certain exercises.
“If balance is an issue, working from a chair will allow you to focus on properly toning your muscles without the risk of falling and aids in keeping you from overextending the range of motion in your exercise,” Hilliard explains. “Lifting weights while seated provides more support for your joints, especially the hips and knees.”
Tricep Dips
- Begin sitting at the edge of a sturdy chair.
- Place your hands on the edge of the seat and lift your tailbone off the chair.
- Walk your feet away until your knees, hips, and torso form 90-degree angles.
- Activate your core and keep your shoulders relaxed as you bend your elbows to lower your body just below the seat.
- Press back up until your arms are straight, engaging your triceps as you do so.
- Perform 3 sets of 10 reps. Increase rep count to 20 as you progress.
Incline Pushups
- Use a stable surface like a sturdy chair positioned against a wall.
- Place your hands just outside your chest on the chair.
- Walk your legs back so you’re at a straight incline from your head to your heels.
- Keep your legs together and rise onto the balls of your feet. Engage your core and keep your gaze forward.
- Bend your elbows to lower your body until your chest lines up with your elbows.
- Return back to straight arms.
- Perform 3 sets of 10 reps. Increase rep count to 20 as you progress.
Iron Cross Arm Circles
- Begin seated.
- Hold a 3-pound weight in each hand.
- Raise your arms out to the sides at shoulder height to form a T shape or “iron cross.”
- With your knuckles facing the sky and palms of your hands toward the floor, start to circle the weights up, back, and around, forming circles the size of a softball.
- Perform 3 sets of 10 reps. Increase rep count to 20 as you progress.
Alexa Mellardo
Alexa is a content strategist, editor, and writer based in Greenwich, Connecticut. She has 11+ years of experience creating content for travel, lifestyle, fitness, wellness, F&B, home, and celeb news publications. Read more about Alexa
