Yoga is great for toning the body, including the arms. Flabby arms happen due to excessive weight, age and other factors. Don’t let flabby arms keep you from wearing armless styles. Yoga offers similar benefits to using weights to tone and strengthen the arms and shoulders.
There are yoga DVD workouts that are specifically designed to tone the arms, shoulders and upper body. You can use one of these practices in between your regular yoga practice for an added focus on the arms. However, if you have a fairly well rounded, general practice, you will get the benefits.
The poses that tone the biceps, triceps and shoulders include standing poses, arm balances and poses which require you to balance and support the weight of the body with the arms. There are yoga poses in all levels of practice that benefit the arms.
If toning your arms is one of your goals, be sure to include poses that work to strengthen and tone the arm muscles in your practice. Some asanas that will help you reach that goal include downward facing dog, upward facing dog, eagle pose, plank pose, side plank pose, dolphin pose and all arm balances.
As you continue to practice yoga on a regular basis, you will notice the arms becoming more toned and stronger. To increase the benefits, continue with asanas that benefit the arms and add more challenging work. Try advanced level classes and more challenging arm balances to reap the full rewards of yoga for toning the arms.
You want to continue progressing and challenge yourself, but don’t try to go past your current level of ability. Remember that this can change from day to day, so honor your body and don’t push. Be aware of certain health conditions, particularly with arm balances. If you have any condition that affects the arms, hands or wrists, such as arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome, some arm balances may be contraindicated.