6 Standing Moves to Tone

Want to tighten and firm your arms? Weave these moves into your workouts.

Developing jiggly excess fat is never on anyone’s wishlist. Firm, defined arms is a fitness goal of many—and it’s important to have the right game plan on deck in order to achieve them. Tricep workouts will help you develop firm arms by reducing flab and building muscle. However, we’re here with something even better. An effective standing workout can eliminate arm jiggle faster than tricep exercises. We spoke with experts who share six standing exercises that will tighten and tone your arms after 55.

“Arm ‘jiggle,’ lunch lady arms, bat wings: You know it and you probably hate it. It’s frustrating to women of all ages, but especially as they approach peri-menopause and menopause. This stubborn area seems harder to lose fat from than most,” explains Logan Herlihy with Essential Prescription, who has been in the fitness industry for almost 10 years. Herlihy’s specialty is high-intensity training with a focus on bodybuilding and strength and conditioning.

He adds, “Arm jiggle is almost always an issue of excess fat deposits. Unfortunately, there is no exercise that will specifically target muscle development and speed up fat loss in a specific area … Whatever your ultimate goal, realize that a slimmer, more toned physique comes from more muscle, and less surrounding adipose tissue (fat).”

With age, your joint tolerances shift. Deep elbow flexion like dips can cause irritation in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists.

“It is so important to train the whole skeletal system to support the visible change we want to see,” says Julie Dermer, CPT, founder of The Reinvention Project and a longtime Master Instructor at SoulCycle. “Start thinking about how your posture can play a bigger role in how our arms look. When shoulders are forward and you have a weak upper back, this can exaggerate arm looseness.”

Below are six exercises to add to your fitness regimen to make your arm definition truly stand out.

Arm Jiggle Exercises After 55

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Keep in mind that training your delts, pecs, shoulders, and lats helps establish more defined triceps.

“When doing standing exercises, even the core and glutes help out—stabilizing everything so the arms work properly. Something many women don’t realize, is that hormonal changes can affect muscle tone and skin elasticity, too,” Dermer shares.

Coach Amanda Grimm, certified Personal Trainer and Running Coach with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sports Science, says tricep exercises alone lose their effectiveness as you age. She agrees that building firm upper-arm muscles isn’t just about training the triceps.

“You need your shoulders, your rear deltoids and your upper back all working together to create that toned appearance. When those supporting muscles are weak the skin and tissue underneath has nothing holding it up. That is where the arm wobble comes from,” Grimm adds.

Standing Dumbbell Bicep Curls

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“This classic exercise targets both heads of the biceps and is a staple in bodybuilding circles for a reason,” Herlihy explains.

1. Stand tall with your feet slightly staggered.
2. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides with a supinated grip. Choose a weight that allows you to achieve 10 to 15 reps with solid form.
3. Bend your elbows to curl the weights up toward your shoulders.
4. Squeeze your biceps at the top.
5. Use control to lower, stopping right before your elbows fully lock out.
6. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

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Standing Lateral Raises

“This exercise will target your lateral deltoid (the outside of your shoulder). In conjunction with the bicep exercises, this will help form a “cap” in your arms that will help your triceps really pop,” Herlihy explains.

1. Start this exercise by standing tall in a staggered stance, holding a dumbbell in each hand at your sides.
2. With a slight bend in your elbows, raise the dumbbells out to the sides of your body until you reach shoulder height.
3. Use control to slowly lower the weights, stopping right before you feel a decrease in tension.
4. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

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Seated Hammer Curls

“Another biceps exercise to hit the muscle from a different angle. I prefer to do these on a bench with a slight backwards angle (45 degrees). This allows for a deeper stretch in the bicep muscles and new research continues to show that the stretch is significantly more important than other ranges of motion for muscle growth,” Herlihy tells us.

1. Begin seated with your feet flat on the floor.
2. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, using a neutral grip.
3. Keep your arms completely extended at your sides and relax your shoulders.
4. With your palms facing inward, curl the weights up toward your shoulders.
5. Use control to lower.
6. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

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Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press

“This exercise will target your shoulders primarily (all three heads of the deltoids) as well as engage your triceps as a secondary benefit. This gives you another unique angle to work your shoulders from, and a little more volume mixed in with the triceps work you’re already doing,” Herlihy says.

1. Begin sitting tall on a sturdy chair with your feet flat on the floor and your core engaged.
2. Hold a pair of lightweight dumbbells at shoulder level, palms facing forward.
3. Press the weights straight overhead without locking out your elbows.
4. Gradually lower the weights, stopping when your elbows get just below 90 degrees.
5. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

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EZ Bar Standing Bicep Curls

“This exercise will hit your biceps from one more unique angle. Using a barbell will add a slightly different stimulus. An ‘EZ bar’ is just a prefixed weight barbell with a slight angle in the middle. You’ve more than likely seen these at your gym, even if you didn’t know what they were. The slight internal rotation of your wrists just offers another unique angle to hit your biceps,” Herlihy tells us.

1. Stand tall and assume a staggered stance, holding an EZ bar. Start by using a weight you can complete roughly 10 to 15 reps with solid form.
2. Curl your arms just past 90 degrees.
3. Slowly lower the bar, stopping right before your elbows are totally locked out.
4. Once you reach 15 reps, swap the bar out for a slightly lighter weight.
5. Perform 10 to 15 additional reps.
6. For the third set, drop to a lower weight for the last 10 to 15 reps.

Standing Tricep Kickbacks

For this exercise, Dermer encourages you to “pause at the full extension and feel the burn.”

1. Begin by standing tall, holding a dumbbell in each hand.
2. Hinge forward just a bit, keeping your back flat and your core engaged.
3. Keep your upper arms parallel to the ground as you extend the dumbbells behind you.
4. Squeeze your triceps at the top of the movement.
5. Use control as you return to the start position.
6. Perform 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps.

Alexa Mellardo

Alexa is a freelance writer, editor, and content strategist based in Greenwich, CT. She has 11+ years of experience covering wellness, fitness, food, travel, lifestyle, and home. Read more about Alexa