NEW Arm Burner
Welp, we ended up at Urgent Care with the Pilot and his twisted ankle.
The good news is that it wasn’t busy at all, the Pilot has a pair of crutches, and Liv was a champ, even though it was past her bedtime. She had her first real dose of a movie- they were playing “Happy Feet” on the TVs and she thought it was hilarious. Kyle saved the day by going to pick up Tom, so I could take Liv home and put her to sleep.
So….
how ’bout an arm burner?
I was going to make a video for you, but post-baby baldness is very real and my headband wasn’t doing me any favors. 😉
Hope you like the printable and form cues, though! I call it the “need a band-aid? arm burner.” People will be constantly offering them to you because you’ll be so CUT UP.
You can forget that I made that joke, unless you thought it was funny.
As always, check with a doc before making any fitness changes, honor your body and your injuries.
Form cues:
Make sure to keep your elbows glued to your body for the bicep curls. You’ll be doing 3 sets- 1 of regular bicep curls, one of static bicep combos (hold one arm at 90* and curl the other 10-12 times and switch), then 10-12 pulsing curls. It’s always a good idea to switch up your biceps exercises, and tiny changes like tempo or pulses can make a huge difference.
For the triceps pushup combo, you’ll start in a plank, lower down to a triceps pushup (elbows stay close to your body), hover, push back up into plank, then into down dog to “rest.” Do this 10-12 times, rest for a second, then 1-2 more sets. If this is too much, try the modification in the bottom row, performed on your knees with child’s pose in lieu of down dog.
You can do this workout circuit-style, or go through doing 2-3 sets of each exercise before moving onto the next. If you choose to do it circuit-style, I’d recommend each type of bicep curl for each round (instead of doing all three each time).
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I think as women, it’s easy to emphasize cardio instead of strength training. Strength training can be intimidating if it’s something you’re just getting into, but here’s the thing: the physical results occur so quickly. I always like to say that cardio will not change the shape of your body, strength training does that. In addition, pumping some iron has SO many benefits for bone health, general wellbeing and maintaining a healthy body composition (remember, lean muscle burns more calories at rest). Strength training is empowering, too- it makes ya feel strong 🙂
This week, try to pump some iron- even if it’s just a set of bicep curls for the first time in a looooong time, booking an intro personal training appointment or venturing into a strength group fitness class for the first time.
Who’s lifting weights this week? What’s your standard arm move? Leave one in the comments, and I’ll reply with a variation and way to switch it up 🙂 If you try the arm burner, please let me know how it goes, or tweet me a pic of your guns @fitnessista
xoxo
Gina
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Today’s workout jam:
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Anything triceps, they are my favorite muscle group to workout.
I love extensions and diamond style pushups on a ball.
The hubby and I took a 6 month break from ChaLEAN Extreme, but added it back into the workout rotation this week, and I am LOVING lifting again! I didn’t realize how much I missed it. I guess my standard arm move would be the good ‘ol bicep curl. 🙂
P.S. Sending the Pilot lots of healing vibes!
Urgent care is soooo much better than the hospital. The people are nicer as well 🙂
Sheesh, not at our urgent care! The one in my old town wasn’t as bad but here, they’re MEAN to you! I actually used to work for them and they’d tell us if a person came up and asked if we knew how much longer it would be, to move their chart down and make them wait longer so they learned a little patience.
?!?!!?
that was the care here, too- the ladies were wonderful and so sweet to liv
I hope the Pilot feels better soon! And tonight is arm lifting night, so I’m super excited to incorporate the arm burner! My standard arm move would probably be the same as Pinky–love anything that works the triceps, like the tricep pushback.
try it rotating your palm towards the floor instead of to the side
I’ll definitely give that a try next time! Thanks!
I love that you stressed how cardio won’t change your body….but strength training will. So true. Can’t wait to do this arm burner tonight! I love all your workouts!
I’m all about the upright rows. Love em!
for upright rows, i like to alternate with front and side raises
Can’t wait to do this arm burner tonight. Thanks! Hope the Pilot’s ankle is back to normal soon.
let me know how it goes!
I am in urgent care with my hubby and his twisted ankle right now 🙁
And I will be burning my arms later 🙂
twins all over the place 🙂
Bench dips
try it with legs straight or lift one leg
try it with one leg raised
My standard arm move is probably the chair dip!
Totally love strength training ever since I started incorporating it into my workouts several months ago. It’s a great feeling to feel strong! I’m a fan of any arm moves that work the upper back as well. For some reason, working on my back muscles makes me feel so legit! haha
My boyfriend (aka my own military man, aka best workout partner ever, aka kicks my booty) and I did an arm circuit the other day that was killer:
Standing dumbbell curls
Reclined alternating dumbbell curls
Two-arm side lateral raises
Overhead extensions (dumbbell)
Pushups
Jumprope
Each exercise for one minute straight. 3 minute break after each circuit to get water/catch breath/curse 🙂
Arms were on fie-ya, in a good way!
that sounds AWESOME
I’m excited to try this today!
Should you/can you rely on a heart rate monitor for strength workouts and circuit workouts, too? I think that the calories burned feature is so motivational, but I read somewhere that doing strength exercises works the heart differently than cardio does, so you shouldn’t really pay attention to the heart rate and calories burned.
i think it helps to get an idea of how you’re doing, but for strength, i think perceived exertion is a better way to gauge
Can’t wait to try the arm burner! My favorite arm exercise is preacher curls. I think they really isolates your biceps. I’d love to learn a way to change it up! 🙂
Hi Gina, I love all your workout posts! I think the pictures are sometimes a little too small though…for us visual learners, it makes it hard to see what we’re supposed to do. I know you can’t always cater to everyone at the same time, but just wanted to let you know. I really do appreciate your blog overall, and I hope your hubby feels better soon 🙂
k, i’ll make them bigger next time 🙂
Previously, I was able to click on the picture to make it bigger. I couldn’t do that with this one. It didn’t pop out. That would help. Thanks!
Ditto! It would be so great to have them a bit bigger or pop-out-able. So excited to try this one. 🙂
I looooove strength training and only got into it about a year ago. I used to be a cardio queen, but have seen big changes, especially in my arms and abs, since I started lifting weights. I think my favorite move is an upright row, love to target the shoulders and back!
post-baby baldness is NO joke. I actually scrolled back up to your first picture to see what kind of favor that headband was doing for you – my bald spot is in the exact same place, accept I have one on the other side. double win haha. I’m hoping my hair dresser can work some magic today!
Im not good with the technical names of things, but I like to hold dumbells and extend my arms all the way up to shoulder level straight in front of me and back down. then I will do the same thing but extend out my arms like wings, again up to shoulder level. I like when i see the results of my shoulder exercises, my arms get CUT UP pretty quick LOL
Please tell me your hair has stopped falling out like crazy? I’m 4 months PP and I swear I will be bald by next week! I was hoping the end was in sight 😉
yeah it stopped falling out a couple of months ago, it looks funny as it’s growing back though
I am the oddball — I LOVE strength training and have to force myself to do full cardio workouts. If I could, I would do strength circuits with cardio blast everyday and never do full cardio workouts.
Today I’m doing your Summer Shape Up #4 workout, so I’ll get some great strength training in. I think I might try the Arm Burner on Thursday along with the Hump Day Booty Burn from a few weeks ago for a full body workout.
And my favorite arm workout is any type of row. I love they way they make me feel!
Definitely preacher curls. Nothing gets me as pumped up! (Insert Ah-nuld voice here) 🙂
just back from completing a lower body strength circuit… bulgarian split squats, stiff-legged deadlifts, weighted hip thrusts, lunges with front/lateral arm raises (3x, 12 reps each leg)… sweaty and out of breath by the end! felt great! i <3 strength training 🙂
looking forward to this arm burner tomorrow! thanks! hope the pilot feels better soon, too!
Hahahaha I appreciate the cut up joke. I am anxious to look through your previous posted workouts as I am just beginning in my journey and would like to create a plan. I know I’ll be participating Tabata Thursdays at a much different level. 🙂
I love weights and now that I’m into Insanity I do miss it– so I will be adding this every few days to help those guns! Even though there’s push-ups in the videos, that’s about it for the arms!
LOL. That was a good joke. For real. I stopped reading and went straight to the comments so I wouldn’t forget to tell ya. hahah. And damn- I want your guns!
Will following the second summe shape up (2010) fully get me a strength training changed body shape ?? I thought this past one was very cardio focused
I was a huge cardio queen until almost a year ago, and now I’m definitely a convert! Love strength training and what it’s done for my body and my confidence.
For arms, I like tricep pushdowns and dips, as well as bicep barbell and cable curls. All effective!
I’m just going to go ahead and throw this out there since no one else has:
Girl, your arms are RIDICULOUS.
Goooo, Gina:)
As for standard arm move, I don’t really have one. My sister and I have been doing the workouts from the book New Rules of Lifting for Women and we LOVE them. They focus more on functional exercises instead of isolated muscle exercises and man, they give results:) It is a great fit for me because it makes me feel like I’m really exercising for health and strength as opposed to “so ____ part of my body can look better.” I really enjoy push ups (I do the more narrow-elbows back instead of the wide-elbows to the side ones) on an incline, only because they really challenge me and make me feel proud of myself for finishing afterward:)
Hands down (pardon the pun!) my favorite arm move is 21s – 7 full bicep curls, 7 half bicep curls (lower half) and then 7 half biceps curls (upper half). Gives me shaky arms!
I’m trying to get my arm strength up, I’ve been lifting all sorts of weights, but I’m going for my first personal training session today so hopefully that will help me really focus on what I need to do to get my arms in shape.
Thanks for the great arm burner workout! I’ve got arms on the menu today so I might add some of that into my routine.
I love anything TRX. I’m addicted and it looks so simple but burns so bad!
I desperately need good arm workouts. They are the main body part I want to work on. I’ll have to give this a try.
Thanks for the arm burner and ideas on how to mix up the ole bicep curl! I really like the written out form cues because then I can print it out and take with me or read it on a break at work where it’s more difficult to watch a video. 🙂
I’m not sure if you’ve done a post on this before, but I’m trying to find the right balance between weight lifting and cardio. I know it’s different for everyone based on where their at and what their goals are, but do you have any tips on how to find this balance? Lately I’ve been in love with strength training, but feel like I might be neglecting cardio to much to achieve the lean/toned feel I’m going for. How do you find this balance? I’ve heard that in order to burn the layer of “excess” on top of the muscle you need to do cardio and eat right, can you get the same results with more weights then cardio though? Of course realizing there is no secret potion. 🙂
Thanks Gina, your blog is a highlight of my day!
I have this same problem sometimes too! I don’t want to spend 2 hours in the gym, but I feel like that’s the only way to get sufficient weight training and cardio!
i’ve been so bored with my arm routine at the gym lately – can’t wait to try this!
Love any and all things shoulders! I feel like if they look good, then the rest of my arms will look alright! (It sounds like I’m an octopus with multiple arms! Haha!)
I also love dips on the dip machine (?) because it works your triceps and your chest! Helps to firm up the girls! 🙂
Love your site and those pics of Liv are too cute!
I can’t get over how adorable she is!!
I used to be a cardio only kinda gal, but now that I’ve start doing strength training, I can personally attest to what you say above. The results you get by lifting weights is undeniable – I love the look of scuplted shoulders & back! I will definitely be using this workout!!
My fave body part to workout is my triceps (they are probably my weakest too) – I love skullcrushers!!
i needed the reminder about weight lifting. after college (almost 10 years ago!) i started personal training…eventually left the field but was a committed weight lifter for years. then after children, i committed to working out at home. but i find myself often getting in my cardio but maybe not a good lifting workout. i do circuits, like the ones you post, or Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. but i wonder if i’m getting the same benefits? i do want to change my body. I want toned muscles so badly! i just need to figure out how i can do that with the equipment i have at home.
just did 30 minutes cardio and now i’m off to try the arm burner.
my fave weight lifting movement is shoulder press. i feel like my shoulders are one of my stronger areas.
thanks for the workout! I’ve been struggling with the motivation to strength train lately so hearing this was just what I needed to get back on track.
PS I thought the joke was funny 🙂
I love MJ! Great pick for a workout jam 😉
Also those arm exercises are great. I often rest in child’s pose between push-ups, but since I’m training to be able to to “regular” ones.. I will try the downward dog version! Love it!
Sorry to hear about the Pilot! I know ankles are a pain when they are sprained. I always do the reverse grip, bicep curl.
i’m really into the squat to overhead press move right now, I love feeling the burn in the legs, abs and shoulders.
This looks like an awesome Arm Burner! I love doing Arm workouts because I used to never focus on my upper body and have seen such a difference since I’ve started focusing on it the last two years.
Pull ups/chin ups and dips are my go-to arm workouts:):):):)
I hope the Pilot recovers quickly!!
I love your emphasis on strength training on your blog! I used to be a cardio queen, but reading blogs like yours helped me to change that. 🙂
My favourite arm move is a shoulder press!
Love the jam of the day! And this blog! Your writing style is really relatable and you are a very inspiring mom on the go! Thanks for all the words of wisdom!
i love doing dead-rows or some sort of “fly” move..being chest or back, I always get a great arm burn too while working the bigger muscles!
LOVE upright rows! Did 3 sets of 12 while at the gym today with a 30 sec plank in between each set and was shaking at the end of it! Side note: I’ve always been an avid reader of your blog and can’t tell you how much I love it!
Thanks so much for this! I’m in the mood to mix things up in the arm department! I’m having trouble seeing the positions/reading your intstructions, though. I think someone else mentioned this. Any way to make bigger?
Thanks!!