Get toned arms without going to the gym? Find out how to take advantage of simple daily activities to achieve this

Loose skin that hangs a little from the arms ("flabby arms") is an extremely common phenomenon among both men and women, and which becomes more visible over the years when the tissues of our body lose their elasticity. Those who do specific exercises every day (sports of various kinds, for example), certainly do not easily run into this type of problem, but most people do end up having to deal with it sooner or later.

However, it is not like that nothing can be done to counteract this phenomenon - nor that the only way to tone the arms is to do hard, gruelling daily training sessions. Of course, you will have to make focused exercises, but they can also be simple activities of everyday life.

• The laundry: carrying around baskets of clothes to load in the washing machine and then to put in the dryer or to be placed on the drying rack, as well as ironing, are all activities that involve the muscles of the arms, and can therefore be useful to tone that part of the body.
• Carrying objects that are a bit heavy, such as shopping bags: when you shop, if you don't have to buy a large quantity of products or if they are not too heavy, leave the trolley aside and carry them in your arms inside their bags. It is important to try to load each of the bags in a similar way, so as not to lean too much on one side or the other and to walk with an incorrect posture that could, on the contrary, cause problems.

Two water bottles of equal size, or fairly bulky tubs and/or detergent bottles can also help with this type of exercise.

• When you are sitting on the sofa or when you do not have to use your hands to do anything else, put them in a position similar to that of saying a prayer, with the elbows out and the palms together in front of the chest. Press your hands lightly against each other, and hold this position for several 5-minute cycles. It seems like a very easy exercise, but after a minute you begin to feel the fatigue of keeping your hands in this pose.
• Dusting, washing a flat table or even the floor (but by crouching down on the ground and doing it by hand): these are all exercises in which to move the arms, and if you do it keeping your back straight, without overdoing it, they help to tone your arms.
• Kneading dough by hand, or beating eggs by hand: in these cases, instead of resorting to food processors, doing everything by hand every now and then is a way to engage and exercise the muscles of the arms!
• There are also many simple gymnastic exercises to try doing every day for 10 or 14 days: this is a period of time in which, if you are really constant and diligent, you can really notice appreciable results. One type is simply raising the arms to the sides of the body and shoulder height, moving them back and forth. Another involves lying on your stomach with your weight on your forearms (like reading on a bed on your stomach!) And alternately stretching one arm in front of you and then the other. You can see these and other useful exercises in this video.

In short, with a bit of good will and drive, even our daily activities can help us keep us a little fitter!