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How Can I Get Rid of "Armpit Fat" in a Strapless Dress?
Posted on Mar 10th 2010 1:00PM by Joe DowdellFiled Under: Fitness, Your Personal Trainer: Joe Dowdell
I'm the Maid of Honor in my best friend's wedding and the dresses she picked out are strapless. I feel uncomfortable in strapless dresses because they give me a bulge by my armpit. I have been weight training and doing cardio religiously for years now, but have never been able to get rid of this "armpit fat." How can I tone that up? -- Stephanie, Parma, OHYour problem is not uncommon with many women. First, let me just discuss the exercise portion of the equation and then we can go into what could be the underlying problem. Let's start with the resistance training aspect of your program. For your objective of decreasing body fat and maintaining/increasing lean muscle mass, metabolic resistance training circuits are probably your best solution. A sample metabolic workout would be as follows:
Perform the following workout three times per week on non-consecutive days for four weeks. In addition, the exercises should be performed in a circuit (i.e. one exercise after another until all exercises are completed in the circuit; then you will rest for two minutes and repeat the circuit two or three more times).
1) Split Squat: 3 sets, 8-10 reps/side; 15 seconds rest
2) Flat Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets, 8-10 reps; 15 seconds rest
3) Dumbell Straight Leg Deadlift: 3 sets, 8-10 reps; 15 seconds rest
4) One Arm Dumbbell Rows: 3 sets, 8-10 reps/side; 15 seconds rest
5) Jumping Jacks: 3 sets, 30 seconds; 15 seconds rest
6) Swiss Ball Rollout: 3 sets, 10-12 reps; 120 seconds rest
On the days in between your strength training workouts, you can perform interval training (up to three times per week) on the stationary bike -- or if you have access to running outside that would be even better. Warm up for three to five minutes of either light cycling, if using the bike, or brisk walking/light jogging if you're running outside. After the warm up, perform your first 60-second work interval (at an RPE of 7.5-8.5) and then use a 120-second recovery interval (at an RPE of 3.5-4.5). Repeat this process five more times for week 1.
Each week, you will add an additional interval to your workout so that by week 4, you will be performing eight intervals per workout. After the last interval is completed in each workout, take three to five minutes to cool down (same process as the warm up).
As for the underlying issues that may be affecting your ability to lose that armpit body fat, imbalances in our hormones can cause us to lay down body fat in certain areas -- belly fat, for example, is largely due to disturbances in cortisol and insulin levels. Flab on the back of the triceps and that bubble above your strapless dress can indicate low testosterone. Testosterone is one of the main "lean hormones" for both men and women -- and it's often overlooked in women.
Females already have much lower testosterone levels than men, but many women can be low even for their sex due to stress and a few very common mistakes: Inadequate protein intake, not lifting heavy enough weights, not training intensely enough (i.e. doing longer distance, moderate intensity cardio vs. burst/sprint type cardio), not getting enough sleep and increasing their estrogen exposure through hormone-laden meat and dairy, plastic water bottles, medications like birth control pills and even cosmetic ingredients such as parabens (common preservatives).
Not sure what weights to use when working out? Find out whether you should pick up light or heavy dumbbells.
For more information on how to implement and overall lifestyle strategy to effectively lose body fat, feel free to check out my upcoming book, along with Brooke Kalanick, naturopathic doctor and fat loss specialist, entitled Ultimate You.
