Episode Details

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💃 Bingo Arms (Triceps) — Why Women Get Them… and Men Usually Don’t

Hello hello. Today we’re talking about ladies’ triceps — you know… the moment you wave and something waves back. 🙄

And what makes it extra annoying is this:

You can be training hard.
You can be strong.
You can be lean-ish.
You can be doing “all the right things.”

And still… the back of the arm starts looking a bit loose.

Then you look at your husband / boyfriend / random man in Costco and his arms are like:

✨ tight as a drum ✨

Rude.

So what’s going on?

Is it just aging?

Not exactly — because I see this in women in their late 20s too. Aging is part of it, but it’s not the whole story.

The real answer is layered. And once you understand it, it becomes way more solvable.

🧬 It’s Usually 3 Things (Not 1): Fat + Muscle + Skin

When women say “loose triceps,” they’re usually describing a combo of:

1) Less muscle thickness underneath
2) More (or unchanged) subcutaneous fat
3) Less skin elasticity / collagen support

So it’s rarely “just loose skin.”

It’s a structure issue.

And structure can be improved.

🍑 First: Women Store Fat Differently

Women tend to carry more subcutaneous fat in places like:

hips, thighs, lower abdomen… and back of the arms.

That’s not bad. That’s biology.

A big player here is a fat-storage enzyme called lipoprotein lipase (LPL) — it influences where fat likes to settle. Hormones shift its activity around the body, which is why fat patterning changes across life.

And here’s another huge detail most people don’t know:

Some women store more fat inside the muscle (intramuscular triglycerides).
Others store it mostly under the skin (subcutaneous fat — the pinchable kind).

If you’re lucky enough to store more inside the muscle, you can look “firmer” even at a higher body fat.

If you’re more subcutaneous (hello, my fellow “pinchable” girls 🙋🏻‍♀️), arms tend to show it more.

Now men?

They tend to hold more fat viscerally (deeper in the abdomen), not as much in the back of the arms — which means their arms can look tighter even when they’re not particularly lean.

Again: rude.

🧓 Then Midlife Joins the Party

Midlife adds a few extra ingredients:

✨ Estrogen decline
✨ Collagen production drops
✨ Skin recoil decreases
✨ Muscle protein synthesis becomes less efficient unless you’re intentional
✨ Testosterone (yes, women need it) declines too

So if muscle drops a little, fat stays the same (or creeps up a bit), and skin recoil isn’t what it used to be…

The triceps become the little truth-tellers of your physiology. 😅

They’re basically waving like:
“Hi. Just letting you know your training and nutrition strategy needs updating.”

💪 The Part Most Women Don’t Want to Hear (But Need To)

The triceps are a large muscle.
Most women do not train them with enough mechanical tension.

And I’m sorry, but:

Light kickbacks + tiny dumbbells + 20 reps forever
is not a strategy.

As we get older, we need:

✅ progressive overload
✅ real stimulus
✅ pressing strength (when appropriate)
✅ focused triceps work — especially overhead patterns

Men maintain triceps thickness more easily because they press heavier, carry more upper-body mass, and hit triceps hard through compound lifts without even trying.

Women often avoid heavy pressing because:

• they fear bulky arms

• they worry about shoulders

• they focus almost exclusively on lower body

• t