Exercises to target calves?

I have been losing weight steadily (88# so far) and have been quite satisfied with the way my body has been toning up so far. However, my calves are still disproportionately large, making it difficult to get a good fit in pants. Is there a particular exercise or type of exercising that would specifically target this area and trim them down? Also, any exercise to help the "bat wing" arm syndrome would be greatly appreciated! Rhonna

Hi Rhonna - They are large probably because of the muscles that had to carry all the extra weight prior to you losing it. Over time they should start to even out when they start carrying less weight regularly. If you keep up with regular cardio you should be fine. That will help reduce the fat all over your body. For the bat wing arms - Is it mostly loose skin or is it still a lot of fat? Loose skin you can't do a tone with. Either it adjusts back on your own or you can investigate surgery. If it is fat, cardio is the best way to reduce the fat and then some resistance training will help tone. You will want to focus on tricep exercises but a good full body workout in general is important. Some tricep exercises include, dips (can use a chair or couch for this), dumbell kick backs (can use no weight or cans from the kitchen if just starting out for the first time), tricep pressdowns and close grip bench press are good exericses to do in the gym. My husband, Dana, in a personal trainer/gym manager and triathlete. You are welcome to email him for some specifc exercises that he uses with his clients - [email protected] He can also probably send you pictures of the exercises and give specific instructions on how to do them. Best of luck and grats on your success to date!!! Stacy

Here ya go - http://exercise.about.com/cs/weightlifting/l/blsampletricep.htm This should help as well.

Rhonna! Hi! Welcome and congrats! Girl you look awesome on your profile!! I did look at your arms but I couldn't see your calves...gotta show them gams!! What I will say just from sharing the calf thing is that I have very large calf muscles. Always have, always will. I LOVE them because they are just sexy as all get out when I wear heals... so they aren't always a bad thing. Earl (my hubby) is so totally jealous becasue he constantly has to work his to just have some... But...I know your plight on the clothing thing. I have to special order boots or go to a "large" person store because they are larger. I had to have my high school flag corp go go boots specially fitted (man how embarrassing). It makes life tough. My question however is this...is it muscle or fat or is there any issues with lymphedema involved? Sometimes obeseity intereferes with the return of lymph in the body and causes excessive fluid build up in the lower extrememities. Usually this is a pretty severe case, and I really didn't think that was the issue. I honestly wouldn't work your calves at all. Period. Walking and cardio will take down the fat. If you actually target work those muscles they will get bigger. Walking and cardio will be sufficient to hit them so that they are being worked. Unfortunately fat rolls off down hill so the lower body is usually the last to see fat go, so be patient. I only work my calves once a week if that. And I am TRYING to maintain a decent amount of muslce down there now (go figure hey I like the way they look now and my main squeeze is jealous...who could ask for more? ) Your arms...For women this is a problem area because we don't really work this area. Looks like you still have some loose "fat" to work off. You will most likely have a decent amount of loose skin. Exercising will tone up some but not all. I would honestly give yourself at least a year out before looking to have any plastic surgery. We are white women who are past 21 years so the elasticity in our skin just ain't what it used to be...sorry, sucks I know..but I have it too. Hey, it's better than being where we were before huh? Tricep work is the best for working that "batwing" area. But, working the arm and delt area overall will be a big benefit to you. Check out this site, it shows how to do various different target exercises! http://bodyforlife.com/index.asp? Congrats again on the loss! And keep us posted on your progress! Val