Training Thursday: Amazing arms, shapely shoulders

You might not look like Arnie after this workout,
but you sure will feel like him!

I did this routine yesterday afternoon, and let me tell you, I am feeling it this morning! This workout calls for a rep range of 8-10. This means that you absolutely can not physically perform an 11th rep. Your muscles will be burning. If you feel uncomfortable pushing yourself this hard, invite a friend along to do the workout and to spot you as well. You will be performing supersets, meaning two back-to-back exercises with a 1-2 minute rest between sets, for a total of 4 sets each.

To warm up, I performed a series of shoulder rolls and dynamic stretches using a dowel rod, followed by a fairly light set of 10 standing shoulder presses, 10 bicep curls, and 10 tricep kickbacks, just to prepare my body for the upcoming movements. Just to be extra cautious, make the first set of each exercise a bit lighter than the remaining 3.

Superset 1

• Seated shoulder press
• Incline bench dumbbell bicep curl - Set an incline bench to just slightly less then upright. Sit tall against the bench and let your arms (dumbbells in hand) hang at either side. From here perform a basic supine-grip bicep curl. Do not let your back arch too much, and keep the back of your head against the bench as well.

Superset 2

• Barbell military press
• Barbell 21's - Perform 7 bicep curls from straight arms to a 90 degree at the elbow, immediately followed by 7 bicep curls from 90 degrees at the elbow to full flexion, followed immediately by 7 full range of motion bicep curls.

Superset 3

• Lateral and front raise - Perform one standing lateral (side) raise, then perform one standing front raise. This is one rep. Continue for 8-10 more.
• Tricep dips - If you don't find 8-10 of these challenging, either add extra resistance by placing a plate on your lap, or increase your rep range until failure.

Straight set - Finish your workout off with 4 sets of tricep kickbacks.

Good luck, and as always, don't forget to stretch!!!