How to Get Rid of Bat Wings After 40: Nutrition and Triceps

Nikkiey: Have you ever looked in the mirror and noticed those stubborn bat wings that just won't go away? You've tried endless cardio, diets that don't stick, arm workouts that never deliver. The truth is, none of them are going to get rid of arm fat, and I'm going to show you exactly why in this video. I'm Nikkiey, and I've coached over 21,000 women through WarriorBabe to transform their bodies after 40. In this video, I'm going to break down the real reason why you still have bat wings and give you the exact nutrition and training formula to lose them for good.

But listen, if you click away, you're going to keep wasting months doing the same things that haven't worked. So let's get into how to remove them.

Now, I'm going to start with something most fitness creators won't tell you about your underarm fat, and it's that your arm workouts are not the problem. Instead, it is literally all about your nutrition. Your bat wings are actually a combination of three things: excess body fat stored in your upper arm area, loss of muscle mass in your triceps, and decreased skin elasticity from aging and hormonal changes.

These three things you cannot just fix with arm exercises alone. This is why women waste months doing movements like arm circles with two-pound weights and see zero results. The biggest mistake that I see women making when they come to me trying to lose bat wings is that they focus only on arm exercises and completely ignore their nutrition. They'll tell me they're doing arm workouts multiple times a week. They're doing tricep kickbacks, light weights, high reps, but they're not tracking their protein.

They're under-eating, or they're not in a proper fat loss phase, being in a calorie deficit. So the muscle never gets revealed because it's still sitting under a layer of body fat.

What I was doing wrong early on, before I understood this, was thinking more exercises meant more results. I would train arms harder. I would add more volume. I would add more reps. I would do burnout sets. But until nutrition was dialed in and I understood how body fat levels actually impact definition, the results weren't where they could have been. Once I connected nutrition plus muscle building, everything changed.

What it looks like when a woman is doing everything right with her arms but ignoring her nutrition is that she feels stronger, but she doesn't see that visual change happening. And she might even feel frustrated because she's working so hard with her exercises. But if body fat isn't coming down and protein intake isn't supporting the muscle, definition won't show. And that muscle is there. It's just covered by the body fat.

So after 40, your hormones are working against you. What happens when women don't hit these protein targets? What I normally see is estrogen levels drop, which signals your body to store more fat in the arms. You start to lose 3% to 8% of your muscle mass if you're not training, you're not exercising. Your metabolism then slows down. Muscle protein synthesis decreases, making it harder to build and maintain muscle. And your skin elasticity decreases. So what's really going to get you the easiest and quickest results is eating the proper macronutrients.

So here's the macro split that we focus on with our WarriorBabes when they're first starting out: 35% protein, 28% carbs, and 38% fats. Why this macro split is different from what most women are told to eat is because most advice still pushes low calories, low fat, and inconsistent protein. That approach might have worked in your 20s or your 30s, but after 40, the body needs more support. This split prioritizes protein for muscle preservation, balanced fats for your hormones, and carbs for energy and recovery.

It's built for the hormonal environment women are actually in. Now, with my background and experience in coaching thousands of women, what's happening inside the body hormonally is your estrogen is declining, your muscle loss is accelerating, and your metabolism is slowing. You focus on having higher protein that supports muscle protein synthesis, adequate fat that supports your hormone production, and balanced carbs that help stabilize your energy and reduce stress on your body. This structure is going to support the body instead of fighting against it.

For most women, visible arm definition starts showing around 22-25% body fat or lower. If you're sitting at 30-35% body fat, no amount of tricep exercises will give you defined arms. The muscle is there, yes, it's just buried under a layer of fat. That's why nutrition comes first. In my opinion, nutrition is king, exercise is queen. But knowing your macros alone isn't going to give you the arms that you want. You need to build the muscle underneath, and that brings us to the next step: your training.

Once you're losing body fat through the proper macros, strength training becomes your secret weapon. Because it's what is actually going to build the muscle that in return creates the definition that you want and gives your skin something to hold on to instead of hanging loose.

But here's the problem. Most women over 40 have been told the wrong things about training for so long that they genuinely believe they don't need it. Or they think, "I don't want to lift heavy because I'll get bulky." You won't. Women over 40 have declining testosterone, which makes it harder to build and maintain muscle, not easier. Lifting heavy builds lean, defined muscle instead of large, bulky muscle.

Or, "Skin elasticity is genetic. There's nothing I can do." Partially true, but building muscle underneath loose skin dramatically improves its appearance. You can't change your genetics, but you can change your body composition so it appears tighter.

So if you want defined arms, and not just to turn your bat wings into loose skin, then tricep training is a non-negotiable. As a pro bodybuilder, I learned early that tricep exercises are exactly what build that horseshoe shape you're actually looking for.

The horseshoe shape is a defined outline of the tricep muscle on the back of the arm. And that's what actually tightens and fills out the area where your bat wings show. When that muscle develops, it creates structure under the skin so the arm looks firmer and more defined instead of soft. Most women focus on biceps because that's what they can see in the mirror. But triceps are actually what gives the arm its shape. If the triceps aren't strong and developed, the back of the arm stays soft.

Tricep training is what changes the whole silhouette of the body. Triceps make up about two-thirds of the upper arm, while biceps are a much smaller portion. So if you want visible change, triceps have to be the priority. A well-developed tricep on a woman over 40 looks firm, lifted, and defined. It doesn't look bulky. It just creates shape so the arm looks strong and tight instead of soft. So this is how I structure my own training and how we've helped our WarriorBabe clients structure theirs too.

Take a look at Alyssa, a busy professional of 45 who followed this exact approach. She didn't starve herself. She didn't do endless arm workouts. She tracked her macros using the formula that I've shared with you, combined it with the right strength training, and actually fueled her body. She went from being undernourished and exhausted to putting on 15 pounds of pure muscle, going from having no arms or shoulders to some pretty freaking sweet guns and delts. And those were her words, not mine. She's now stronger at 45 than she's ever been in her entire life.

That's the power of giving your body what it actually needs. But your exact numbers depend on your body, your weight, your activity level, your metabolism, and your goals. So if you want to find your exact numbers in under two minutes, I've got a free macro quiz linked below. It'll tell you exactly what to eat based on your body and your goals.

Now, let me show you the exact exercises which have worked for thousands of women. Before I walk you through each exercise, here's how this is structured. We're splitting this into two categories, one being compound movements and the other being isolation exercises. And I'm going to show you exactly how to do every single one of them.

Exercise number one, push-ups. I chose this movement because push-ups directly activate the triceps while also engaging your shoulders and your chest. It's so effective for your bat wings because it's one of the best compound movements for building strength in the back of your arms. When I coach this, I focus primarily on hand placement, being slightly underneath the shoulders, your elbows staying closer to the body, and controlling the movement. The biggest mistake that I see is elbows flaring out, which takes tension away from the triceps.

If someone can't do a full push-up yet, then the best modification is starting on your knees or using an incline, like a bench or a wall. You still build strength while learning proper form.

Then we've got exercise number two, a close grip bench press. Close grip bench press is a must-have in my opinion because it builds overall upper body strength and heavily activates the triceps. It creates that foundation for arm definition. Now, as a beginner, you should start with a weight that you can control for 10 to 12 reps while maintaining your form.

An intermediate lifter should challenge themselves more while still staying controlled. The biggest mistake that I correct here is using momentum instead of muscle. I want slow, controlled reps so that the triceps stay under proper tension.

Exercise number three, overhead tricep extension. This is my go-to because it targets the long head of the tricep, which plays a big role in that lifted arm appearance. I focus on controlled movement, full range of motion, and weights that allow 10 to 15 solid reps.

The biggest mistake that I see here is people going way too heavy and letting the elbows move all over the place, which removes tension from the triceps.

Exercise number four, tricep kickbacks. I coach keeping the upper arm still and focusing on squeezing the tricep at full extension. Most women, when doing this exercise, swing the weight and lose control, which reduces overall effectiveness.

Exercise number five, tricep dips. You can modify dips using a bench if you don't have a tricep assist machine, or you can also assist with your legs for support. I recommend you can put a plate on your lap, maybe about a 25-pound plate, and focus on controlled reps over any type of ego lifting and pushing through too hard.

Exercise number six, hammer curls. Biceps still do matter here because balanced arm development makes the whole arm look more toned and proportional. So with this exercise, I focus on slow reps, controlled movement, and usually around 10 to 12 reps per set.

Arms should be trained anywhere from two to three times per week as part of a full body or upper body split. They don't need a separate day to see results. I recommend three to four sets per exercise, usually in the 8 to 15 rep range, depending on the movement. Rest periods can be anywhere from 45 to 75 seconds so that you can still recover but also keep the intensity high.

One big tip from my pro bodybuilding days is that consistency beats intensity here. Showing up week after week, training progressively, and fueling properly is what actually transforms your arms, not random hard workouts or focused arm days.

So that's your complete arm workout, but remember, this workout only works if your nutrition is dialed in. Nutrition comes first, training comes second. And when you combine both, that's when your bat wings will disappear and the definition shows up. This is the same system that I've used for over 21,000 women, from women in their 40s dealing with perimenopause to women in their 60s and 70s building strength for the first time.

So if you're ready to finally get rid of your bat wings and feel confident in sleeveless tops again through real science-backed nutrition and training, make sure to take the free two-minute macro quiz in the description below. It'll give you your personalized macro breakdown so you know exactly what to eat to start losing body fat while preserving that lean muscle mass. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.