Are you one of the many women embarrassed by batwings? If you don’t already know, batwings is a term used to describe excess skin that forms under the arms either from age or perhaps excessive weight loss. And you’ll be happy to know that there are some arm exercises for women that can help significantly with this problem.

Before we start, don’t expect miracles. If you have lost a lot of weight and have excessive loose skin, no exercise will get rid of it all. But what you will be doing is increasing your muscle size, meaning you’ll have less loose hanging skin. But just as important is the fact that you’ll see an improvement in your strength also. And if you add one simple accessory, you’ll lessen your belly fat as well.

The simple addition is a Pilates ball. You’ve probably seen them. They are just large blow up balls. Have you ever wondered what they are used for? The idea is simple. Working out on a ball forces you to stabilize yourself, and by doing so, you’re using just about every muscle you can think of. The workout becomes harder, but the extra effort is worth is.

The stabilization ball is optional, but you will need a couple of inexpensive free weights. These dumbbells should be between 3 and 5 pounds depending on your strength. Hold one dumbbell in each hand.

Get yourself balanced while sitting on the stool or ball while holding one weight in each hand. Once you feel comfortable, complete these steps:

At the start you want your upper arms to be parallel to the floor with a dumbbell in each hand, while your lower arms are perpendicular to the floor. You may feel some stretching in your back as well.

Now, like a football referee signaling a touchdown, you want to lift your upper arms straight up to the ceiling. At this point make sure the palms of your hands with the weights in them are facing each other. If you are doing this on a stabilization ball, your stomach muscles will also begin to tighten as you work to remain balanced.

From this position you will slowly lower the weights down below your head in the back so that your elbows are pointing up. Make sure you do this slowly for two reasons. First you don’t want the weights to just drop back or you won’t be using your muscles. You’ll simply be letting gravity do the work. Second, by moving slowly you reduce the risk of injury.

Now go the other way, lifting the dumbbells back over your head, and again making sure to do this slowly. Repeat this simple motion 10 to 12 times, take a small rest, then do it all again. Then do it a third time if you can so you’ll end up doing 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps. You should feel a small burning sensation in your biceps and triceps. This is good and tells you you’re doing doing the exercise properly and working out your muscles.

This should not seem too easy. If it is, then you should increase the weight of the dumbbells by a pound or even two pounds.

It’s really a pretty simple exercise and it won’t be long before those flabby patches of skin decrease as your muscle increases. If you need to start out slower, don’t use the stabilization ball, you can always add it later. The same thing applies to the dumbbells. You can always start out with less weight, then gradually increase over time while also increasing both the reps and sets. Just understand that with less weight and without the ball the exercise will be easier but the results will come more slowly.

Whether you’re looking for reduce batwings or simply look better by increasing strength and tone, these arm exercises for women can get you where you want to be.

To read additional information about exercises for women visit abdominal-and-thigh-exercises.com. You’ll see the top exercise equipment and discover a great inner thigh exercise as well.