With the Oscars just around the corner, it is time to put your body through the paces to get it red carpet ready. My last post focused on how to get lean, toned legs and today we bring the focus above the waist to the upper body. The downside to working just upper body is that it is a lot tougher to keep the heart rate up, which means fewer calories burned. So, I made sure to add some full body movements and include some legs, core and cardio into this set to make sure your heart rate stays high while you work on some seriously sexy arms.
If you want to double up your arm workout, warmup with the rowing machine. Do an easy 500m row to start then do 5 intervals, pushing hard for 30 seconds and resting for 15. Also, try adding in the battle rope or boxing in between circuits. For example, go through the below circuit one time then spend 2 or 3 minutes with a battle rope or punching bag before beginning your next circuit.
Straight Arm Row with a Rotation
This is one of my favourite, and go to, upper body exercises. Not only does it target your back and arms but it also will strengthen your core and help improve your posture. Place a 5 to 10 lb dumbbell on the floor and come into a push-up position over it, with the weight centered directly beneath your breast bone. Maintaining a level pelvis, grab the weight in your right hand and begin to lift it towards your waist while rotating through the ribs and pelvis. Keep the weight close to you as if you are shooting a bow and arrow while continuing to rotate and reach your arm straight. Once you reach the top, bend your elbow and rotate back towards the floor, keeping the weight close to your body. Continue this for 60 seconds, alternating arms each time. If you have wrist issues then do this same exercise but in an elevated elbow plank.
Single Leg Bear Crawl Push-up
Start standing on one leg, bending forward from your waist and placing both hands onto the floor. Continue to walk forward on your hands until you are in a push-up position, which is when you will do 1 push-up and walk back up tall staying on that same leg. Start with 10, switching the standing leg each time. As you become stronger work up to doing 10 all on one side before switching and doing 10 all on the other.
Triangle Overhead Triceps Extension
This is one of my favourite triceps exercises as it also targets your core. Sit on the edge of a bench with your knees bent to 90 degrees while holding a dumbbell in both hands over your head. Keeping your arms straight lower the weight to the left side, raise it back up and then down to the right and up (like you are drawing a triangle). At the top of the triangle do 2 triceps extensions. Repeat this 10 times, working up to 20 as you become stronger. Work on keeping your hips anchored to the bench. They should not move during this exercise.
Weight burpee with a Shoulder Press
As if burpees weren’t hard enough already we need to add in weights! Begin standing with a dumbbell in each hand, arm by your side. Bend forward from your hips, placing the dumbbell on the floor and jump your feet back (you can do a push-up here if you are keen). Jump your feet back towards your hands and then using your legs stand up tall, bringing the weights to your shoulders as you do. Complete 1-5 shoulder presses at the top before repeating the burpee. Start with 5 sets and work your way up to 10, increasing the number of shoulder presses you do each time as you become stronger.
V-Sit with a Bicep Curl
This is a great exercise to strengthen your abdominals while working your core at the same time. Sit tall on your sit bones, one dumbbell in each hand with your heels placed on the floor or legs up (only lift your legs if you can do so without rocking to the back of your sit bones). Extend your arms so they are straight and lifted off the floor and complete 10 to 20 bicep curls.
Finish the circuit with a 1 minute front plank just to make sure you are completely fatigued. And just like the leg circuit, you can go through this 1 to 5 times or include these exercises into the regime you are already doing.
