How to Get Rid of Arm Pit Rolls
Armpit rolls are unsightly rolls of fat that can be seen through fitted shirts or -- even worse -- when they spill out of your tank top. Eliminating fat under your arms isn't impossible, but you do have to change your diet and exercise habits. Time spent in a fitness class does burn some calories and will help decrease your overall body fat, but it doesn't do much to tone the area under your armpit. Furthermore, if you take the same exercise classes, you aren't burning as many calories as if you perform different types of aerobic exercises.
Woman on a lateral workout machine (Image: mocker_bat/iStock/Getty Images)Step 1
Cut back on your total caloric intake by 250 to 500 calories per day. This will burn ½ to 1 pound of body fat per week -- including the fat under your arms.
Step 2
Schedule aerobic interval training one to two days a week. Go all-out on an elliptical or a treadmill for 30 seconds, then fall back to your regular pace for 2 minutes. If you perform this type of workout for 25 minutes, you'll burn a tremendous number of calories while engaging the muscles under your arms as you pump them forward and backward.
Step 3
Add one long aerobic session of 60 to 90 minutes to your weekly routine. This will increase your concentration of fat-burning enzymes and cell structures and will burn a significant amount of calories during every workout. This also facilitates a greater rate of calorie burn to reduce the fat rolls under your arm pits.
Step 4
Include lateral pull-downs in your resistance-training routine. These exercises tone the latissimus dorsi muscle under your arms. Hold the straight bar on a pull-down machine, with your arms wider than your shoulders. Pull the bar down to the top of your chest.
Step 5
Do one-arm dumbbell rows to further tighten your arm pit area. Rest your left knee and left hand on a flat exercise bench; hold your back flat. Grip the dumbbell in your right hand so it hangs below your right shoulder. Pull the dumbbell up to your shoulder, toning your lat muscle. Switch and repeat.
Step 6
Include dumbbell pullovers in your routine. Lie flat on an exercise bench, keeping your arms nearly straight. Begin by holding a dumbbell over your chest with both hands, then draw it backward behind your head. Bring the dumbbell back over your chest and repeat, toning your lats and the serratus anterior muscles under your arms.
Things You'll Need
Pull down machine
Dumbbell
Flat exercise bench
Tip
In addition to working with weights, use bodyweight exercises, like those found in yoga to work on the muscles underneath your stubborn arm pit rolls. Poses like Downward Dog, Dolphin Plank, Plank, Side Plank, Upward Plank and Crane target the arm pit area. Start by holding each pose for 10 to 30 seconds, and then work your way up to holding a pose for one minute.
Warning
Check with your health-care provider before beginning an exercise program for the first time or if you have been away from fitness programs for a while, or if you have any chronic health issues.
