If you choose not to wear certain types of clothing because you’re afraid to show your arms, it’s probably time to do something about it. Strong, toned arms not only allow you to wear whatever kinds of tops you desire, they also make you stronger and help you burn more fat. The more muscle mass you have, the more fat your body burns. And no, you don’t need Arnold arms to accomplish that extra fat burning!  Your arms may sag because you’ve recently lost weight. The fat cells may be gone, but the skin doesn’t exactly know what to do with itself.

The arms are complicated areas to firm and tone, but definitely not very difficult. The moves are actually fairly easy, but the arms tend to store more fat cells than other areas of your body. It’s just about impossible to target weight loss in just one area without going under the knife (as in surgery), so a combination of strength training moves to build the muscle and cardio sessions for fat loss are exactly what needs to be done in order to firm and tone the arms as quickly as possible.

Building lean, sexy arms is done by strengthening the bicep and tricep muscles in your arms. The bicep is the muscle along the front part of your upper arm and the tricep muscle is the one found on the back of your upper arm. When you strengthen and tone these muscles, you’ll soon start to build up more muscle where the sagging skin used to be.

The only piece of equipment you need to start toning your arms is a resistance band. Include the following exercises in your regular workout routine:

• Step on the middle of an exercise band with your feet to hold the band down. Hold an end of the resistance band in each hand and bend the elbow on one arm from the waist, stretching the band forward and upward. You’ll feel the resistance on your bicep muscles as you raise the band outward and upward. Be sure your elbow is always slightly bent. Take turns repeating this exercise on each arm for 8 to 12 repetitions.

• Repeat the above exercise, except pull the band outward from the left and right sides of your body.

• Step on the middle of an exercise band with your feet, with each hand grasping the end of it and raise your arms straight above your head. To execute this move, slowly bend your arms at the elbows bringing your hands down behind your head and then slowly raise back to the starting position. This exercise will strengthen and tone the triceps muscles.

Weights are also a great way to tone the arms. Lift weights, such as dumbbells (or even soup cans as a substitute) when sitting in a chair or lying on the floor. Start with light weights and gradually move up to heavier ones in order to keep your muscles challenged.

Basically, any exercise that causes resistance to your biceps and triceps will help to tone your arms. Don’t feel like you have to pass up those sexy tank tops because of jiggly underarms – instead, do something about it. Participating in regular resistance training will allow you to see results pretty quickly.