ARM TONING WORKOUT // Biceps, Triceps & Shoulders

Arm Toning Workout // Bicep, Triceps & Shoulders is an excellent upper body strength workout from Heather Robertson. There are 4 circuits, each containing 4 exercises: one bicep exercise, one tricep exercise and one shoulder exercise. In addition, the 4th exercise is a cardio exercise. So you are getting strength + some cardio in this workout. Additionally, you even get a bit of lower body and chest work. There are two different compound exercises that work both the upper and lower body and is also an exercise that includes push ups. So a nice little workout! I have a back workout planned for later this week so this workout took care of all of my other upper body muscle groups. Since it is so short (37 minutes), I used two finishers from Heather: Tone Arms // Tabata with Weights and Standing Abs Workout // with Weights. Not counting my back muscles, I felt like I got a pretty thorough upper body strength workout this morning.

Arm Toning Workout // Bicep, Triceps & Shoulders is 37:24 minutes; 2 minute warm up and 2 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather is using 5, 10 and 15 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used. The exercises are all done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of recovery. There is a timer in the lower right hand corner of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Heather previews the next exercise.

Circuit 1:

1. Front & side raise (alternate straight arm front raise with straight arm side raise) (8# DBs)
2. Squat & curl (stand with legs wide holding DBs in front of you, lower into squat and hold, do one double arm hammer curl then stand) (15# DBs)
3. Tricep press (overhead tricep extension/French press) (one 25# DB)
4. Weighted jacks (jumping jack legs with overhead press arms) (5# DBs)
5. Repeat #1-5

Circuit 2:

1. Skull crusher (lay on back, feet raised and knees bent at 90 degrees, arms raised to ceiling, bend elbows so DBs frame head then return to start) (10# DBs)
2. In + out curls (alternate wide bicep curls with traditional bicep curls) (15# DBs)
3. Push press (hold DBs at shoulders, squat and at top of squat do an overhead press) (15# DBs)
4. Inchworm (stand at end of mat, hinge forward and walk hands out to plank, do one push up, walk hands back to feet, stand and raise arms overhead while jumping)
5. Repeat #1-4

30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Hammer curls (alternating bicep curls, when curling DB, palm faces body, curl DB in front of body) (15# DBs)
2. Walking plank (alternate forearm/elbow plank with straight arm plank)
3. Tricep kickback (alternate arms) (12# DBs)
4. Shadow box (alternating front punches with light DBs) (5# DBs)
5. Repeat #1-4

Circuit 4:

1. Press combo (one overhead press with arms in goal post + one overhead press with DBs in front of you, palms facing your face) (15# DBs)
2. Renegade kickback (alternating tricep kickbacks while in plank) (12# DBs)
3. Negative curls (traditional bicep curls–lift normal speed and lower DBs very slow) (15# DBs)
4. Burpee & clap (plank burpee (no push up), when you jump at top of burpee (when standing) clap hands overhead)
5. Repeat #1-4

For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.