Arm Curls

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i went on a bit of a ramble, exercise is one of my interests, so if you want the cliff notes, go to the bottom of the post.

arm curls won't make you noticeably stronger, you'll only really be working your biceps so you'll only really be stronger in one movement. if you're just looking for a general increase in strength, you should be working your whole body. a gym is a great place to do this but if you'd like some exercises you can do at home with a simple dumbbell set i can help with that. it also won't really help with weight loss since you're working such a small muscle. when you lift weights you burn energy by actually lifting the weight but you're also making small tears in your muscles that your body has to repair (and in doing so, it makes the muscle bigger and stronger to compensate for the extra stress it has to handle) and while it's repairing it's also burning a bit more energy. so if weight loss is another goal, then you'll want to work the biggest muscles you have, so you should definitely be working your legs.

as for cardio, it's really up to you what you want to do for that. there are many different ways to do cardio, the best method for you depends on your goals. for example, i'm training for rowing, i focus mainly on 2000m races (there are head races that are longer, up to 6.5k around here, but they aren't nearly as important as the 2k's) which are around 75-80% aerobic, and 20-25% anaerobic. so my training is comprised of a lot of different intensities and durations. right now i'm usually doing 60+mins of cardio a day at a low intensity, but as the year progresses i do many different intensities to train the different energy systems effectively.

now cardio for weight loss is a bit of a tricky subject. there are people who say that long pieces at a low intensity are best, others say that intervals work best because although you don't burn as many calories while doing the exercise, your body is recovering for the rest of the day and is expending energy the entire time. long slow pieces will work your aerobic system while high intensity intervals will work your anaerobic (lactic acid forming) system. the way i see it, if you're looking to lose weight, the kind of cardio you're doing doesn't really matter, you're burning calories either way. i usually suggest long, low intensity pieces to most people because that's what will strengthen your heart most, and i think that will benefit most people in the long run more than doing anaerobic work (which will also be good for the heart but not as good). the other issue is heart problems, anaerobic work will have your heart beating at a much higher rate than aerobic exercise so older people may have issues with this. at 43 i probably wouldn't worry about it unless you or your family has a history of heart problems, then you should obviously talk to your doctor before doing any training, but you're still young so you should be able to handle strenuous exercise.

to summarize: arm curls alone aren't going to do anything but give you bigger biceps, so i'd suggest implementing a full body workout plan. do what you want for cardio, in the end it doesn't really matter what you do, different methods will yield slightly different results, but for the goal of weight loss it really doesn't matter too much as long as you're burning energy.

if you need any suggestions or help with anything don't be afraid to ask.

p.s. what kind of cardio machine do you have?

Just to build-up (no pun intended) on what beef_bourito had said....

Yes, to burn fat it's recommended you work on your bigger muscle groups. More muscle used=more energy needed=more calories burned, get it?

The largest are the legs, followed by the back, the chest, the 'core' or abdominals, the shoulders, and the arms.

3 times a week, 10 reps per arm. Basic, but at what weight? Is the intensity right? You should be doing at 70% of your "one-rep-maximum" (one-rep meaning that you can only lift it once, and after that you couldn't lift more than you can.) How many sets? At that reps, you should be doing 3 sets of 10 reps per side, with average 40 seconds rest between.

Actually, simple body weight exercises are good enough to burn fat, as long as you have more 'output' (burning calories) than 'input' (eating calories) you'll lose weight.

Here's a suggested exercise plan, with minimal equipment.

Note: do this in one session, once every alternate day, and switch the order around every three weeks or so to prevent plateaus.

Bodyweight lunges, 4 sets of 10 reps per side.

Push-ups, 4 sets of 15 reps.

Bodyweight squats, 3 sets of 10 reps.

Jumping Jacks, 20 reps non-stop, one set only.

Crunches, 3 sets until fatigue This particular exercise must always be done last. Otherwise you may hurt yourself.

Also, HI-INTENSITY raises your metabolism for a longer time than LO-INTENSITY. Research has proven that high-intensity exercise (weight-training, sprinting and the like) can raise your metabolism for up to 2 days, compared with low-intensity (long-distance jogging, marathons etc) which burns more fat during the workout itself than high-intensity, but only raises your metabolims for 2 hours. It is in the "recovery" period that you actually burn more calories in the long run, and because hi-intense works the muscle more than lo-intense, the recovery period is longer. That's why after a good leg workout your legs with BURN the next morning. Trust me, I know. XP Aches, but it's a good ache. Because I know I'll look better the next day.

Summary: Hi-intensity burns calories. Low-intensity burns fat. Low-intensity loses the weight. High-intensity keeps it off. Basically, do low-intensity, longer time training in the beginning, then when you approach your ideal weight, put more effort into high-intensity, shorter time training.

PS I'm not a bodybuilder, BTW. Just someone who likes to keep her body toned enough to wear skinny jeans and baby-Ts with pride.

Don't discourage!

i'm not trying to discourage him, i'm being realistic. arm curls aren't a very useful exercise on their own. i'd be willing to say that arm workouts in general are the least important, and least useful exercises you can do. that's to say that some people don't need them to reach their goals (bodybuilders need to even out their bodies, some sports require arm strength), but thy rank pretty low on the priority list for most sports. swimmers don't need them, rowers don't need them much (i didn't do a single arm curl last winter training session, i work my arms enough with other exercises that use them as secondary muscles), runners, wrestlers (other muscles play a much more important role in wrestling than arms), etc. mainly because the muscles in your arms are small and weak, so people rarely focus on them unless they're trying to work on their "beach muscles" to impress people.

Oh yeah, got plenty of guys come out to me asking to build their arms, and get confused/angry when I take them to do squats instead.

I'm happy to say that those who DO follow my advice got what they wanted and those who don't...well, I gave them a second chance. With double the intensity

OMG!! !

Soooooooooooo much stuff!

Sorry... I can't turn sports into a full time job...

I'l stick to what my friend said for the next half year. Then, let's see...

i'd say don't bother with the arm curls and just do cardio if you're not going to do a full body workout. if you let us know what equipment you have available to you i'm sure we could come up with something that would suit you though.

If you're happy with arm curls, stick with arm curls

I agree that you should focus on building your entire body, not just your biceps. if you want to build your upper body, I suggest you continue to do bicep curls but add more inclusive exercises; especially pull-ups and dips, (and squats if you want to work the lower). Those three exercises are the staple of any serious body builder's workout. You should also work on triceps. most people forget those (even though the dip will hit your triceps to an extent).

IF YOU DONT HAVE TIME: drop the arm curls and just do pull ups and dips. that will take about the same time as the curls and you'll be happier with the results.

Don't forget push-ups, very important! The best, most simple and effective body exercise, not to mention free. It works chest, triceps and shoulders in one. Combine those with curls and you should see some results within about three to four months.

Like most people said, don't expect much from arm curls with a machine. Not trying to be discouraging, but that simply will not produce many results. Not even modest ones.

Basing your exercise program around a single isolation exercise is generally rare. I just mentioned bodyweight circuit training in this thread: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt83737.html

This can be done in under 20 minutes and produces a systemic training effect, rather than one localized in elbow flexor muscles. It will burn more calories than curling, your heart will be able to function better, and you will train many large muscle groups to be more fatigue resistant. You also don't need to sink hundreds of dollars in equipment.

You will not gain a lot of strength with curls.

What are your goals?