BLUE HARE MAGAZINE




Bat wings (flabby arms) and the women who hate them


Bat with wings out clinging to tree

There are too many unflattering names for that loose skin or fatty flap that hangs from the underside of the upper arms:  bat wings, arm flaps, bingo wings (British slang for the arm fat that jiggles as overweight or elderly women wave their winning bingo tickets in the air), to name a few.

If you wave and your underarm skin continues to jiggle after you have stopped, you know what we are talking about. So, what causes them and what can you do about them–realistically?

Flabby under arm

Bat wings are nothing more than fat and skin and mostly affect women.  Women have more fat throughout their bodies than men because we need to have a certain amount of fat to conceive and nourish a child.  So why do you have bat wings when your best female friend doesn’t?

Your mother or other female relatives had bat wings

Yes, unfortunately, bat wings, like other distributions of fat in your body, are genetic.  Look at old pictures of your mother or other female relatives and there’s a good chance you’ll spot the bat wings.

You are overweight

If you are overweight, and since bat wings are fat, you will be more likely to have them than your slim best friend.  However, this is not always the case.  Many otherwise slim women maintain that bat wings are a huge problem area for them as well.

You lack muscle tone in your arms

If you walk or run regularly, your calf muscles are likely to be well toned (calves are one of the easiest to tone areas since most of us use our calf muscles every day).

However, the underside of the upper arm is a hard place to pinpoint for exercise and it is generally not an area that gets regular exercise in the course of everyday activities.

Gravity has taken over

If you are a woman over 60, your skin is likely to be showing some sag here and there.  If the area that is sagging is fleshy, you will notice it.  Skin doesn’t really sag noticeably at your elbow because there is hardly any fat there. But there is fat in your upper arms.

As we grow older the cells of the human body naturally start breaking down. They aren’t as strong, resistant to disease or as healthy as they were in our younger years. As the muscle tissue begins to breakdown, areas of the body start to sag. And it’s not just the area on the underside of our arms that starts to sag. Other areas, such as our face, kneecaps, leg calves and neck also start sagging, because gravity causes the skin to stretch.

How do I lose my bat wings?

There are a number of ways to combat bat wings.

Exercising your arms can help 

There are many minor muscles in your arms but the major muscles of your upper arms (those that truly give it shape) are biceps, on the front of the upper arm; triceps, on the back of the upper arm; and the deltoid, or shoulder muscle, which gives your arm its range of motion.

When your muscles develop, they take up excess skin, stretching and smoothing it.  Think of a balloon. As you fill it with air, the balloon becomes bigger and tauter. The same principle applies to your muscles. As your muscles grow, they take up additional room in your empty, sagging skin.

Debra Atkinson, B.S., M.S., is a fitness expert and author who focuses on exercise and wellness for older people.  She’s produced a video that demonstrates six different exercises geared to improving the upper arm situation:  Six Weeks to Sleeveless with 6 Exercises at 50, 60 and Beyond”.  Her video offers realistic exercises for women our age. She also suggests modifications so you can work up to them.

Example: Incline push-ups

Incline push ups to minimize bat wings

  • Stand a few steps back from a counter, arms shoulder width apart and hands on the surface in front of you, so your body is on an incline.
  • Holding your body in a straight line, bend the elbows, lower your chest to the counter and push back.
  • As you get stronger, move farther away from the counter and place your hands farther apart.
  • When that’s easy, try single-arm counter push-ups.

The beauty of counter push-ups is that you can do them anytime you are in your kitchen: on the phone, waiting for water to boil, and so on.

Consider surgery

If you are not getting results with diet and exercise or if sagging skin on your upper arm is excessive, you may want to consider surgery.  The surgery to remove fat and droopy flesh from your upper arm is called an arm lift, or brachioplasty.  It involves trimming away excess, hanging skin and removing stubborn deposits of fat. The skin is then pulled taut, so it conforms to the new contours of your arm.  

The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) statistics from 2015 show demand for the surgical batwing solution rose 929.7% in the last two decades— nearly 26,000 upper arm lifts were performed in 2015, compared to 2,516 in 1997.  There is no question that surgery works, and it may be your best bet. Of course, there are a number of attendant risks to surgery and any surgery gets riskier as you age.  Only a qualified medical professional can help you determine your options.  

Wear sleeves

If exercise doesn’t tone your arms to your satisfaction and medical procedures are not a solution for you, sleeves will be your best friend.

While sleeves may not be the most satisfactory answer to your bat wings (not many bathing suits feature sleeves), you can embrace the sleeve trend in conjunction with your exercise routine until your arms get taut and toned.

 *     *     *

This article was originally published on March 4, 2021. It was reviewed and updated on March 22, 2024.

You may also like




No Comments Yet

Leave a Reply