Killer Arms In 10 Minutes

By Glenn Mueller
Glee ContributorUpdated: Saturday, May 20, 2006

Does the very thought of wearing a short-sleeved shirt in public make you cringe? Well, there’s no need to get up in arms about it. eDiets Chief Fitness Pro Raphael Calzadilla has a killer workout that will help you wave goodbye to that extra flab forever. And best of all, these exercises only take about 10 minutes to complete. Incorporate this workout into your fitness regimen, and you’ll be “armed and dangerous” in no time.

“People are always asking me how they can get great-looking arms,” Raphael says. “In order to get killer arms, you need a good nutrition program combined with a slight caloric deficit, cardiovascular exercise and weight training.”

According to Raphael, a healthy eating program will send just the right amount of protein, carbohydrates and monounsaturated fats into your body to help your arms look leaner. Cardiovascular exercise will accelerate the fat-burning process, and the weight training will stimulate and develop your muscles. When the fat comes off, you’ll be left with a lean and tight body and beautifully sculpted arms.

In order to get you on your way to those beautifully sculpted arms, Raphael has designed a killer workout that only takes about 10 minutes. He recommends completing this workout about twice a week and reminds people that any muscle group responds best to being done first in the workout or having its own day. To produce maximum results, Raphael has put together something known as an “antagonist workout.”
“Antagonist training refers to working opposing muscle groups in the same workout,” Raphael explains. “There are many methods to manipulate a workout, but I’ve had great success performing a biceps exercise immediately followed by a triceps exercise. This is my all-time favorite way to work arms, and I’ve had my best success with clients using this method.”

The key to the effectiveness of the 10-minute killer workout is the time between sets. According to Raphael, your arms should respond quite well with only a 45 to 60-second rest between sets.
“People tend to wait a lot longer than they realize or they repeat a set too soon,” Raphael says. “There has to be some time allotted for recovery, but not so much that you begin to get stale. This allows you to do more work in less time and pumps blood volume into the arm.”

The 10-Minute Workout:
Dumbbell Double Biceps Curl(12 reps)
Sit on a bench or chair with both feet in front of your body and your back straight. Hold your arms at your sides with the palms facing forward and place a dumbbell in each hand. Contracting the biceps muscles, raise the weights toward your shoulders, stopping just short of the weights touching the shoulders. Slowly return to the starting position. Exhale while lifting the weights and inhale while returning to the starting position.

“Your upper arms should remain stationary throughout this exercise,” Raphael says.

Dumbbell Behind-the-Head Triceps Extension(12 reps)
Stand with a dumbbell in your right hand and your left hand on your hip. Press the weight over your head until your right arm is almost straight, with a slight bend in the elbow at the top position. Do not allow the weight to touch your head or neck area. Slowly bend your elbow, lowering the weight until your arm forms a 90-degree angle behind your head and stopping before the weight touches your back. Contracting the triceps muscles, slowly return to the starting position. Exhale while returning to the starting position and inhale while lowering the weight. After completing the set on the right side, repeat on the left side.

“You can also perform this exercise while seated on a bench,” Raphael says. “It isn’t necessary to use large dumbbells because the technique is more important than the weight.”

After performing the biceps curl and triceps extension, wait no more then 45 seconds and then repeat the cycle (two complete cycles).

Machine Biceps Curl (12 reps)
Follow the proper instructions for using this machine. Contracting the biceps muscles, lift the handles toward your ears, stopping as soon as they get close to the ears. Use caution to be sure that the handles don't hit your face. Slowly return to the starting position, stopping just short of the weight stack touching but keeping a slight bend in the elbows. Exhale while lifting the weight and inhale while returning to the starting position.

“Try to maintain a neutral spine throughout the entire range of motion,” Raphael says. “Do not round the upper back or let the chest cave in.”

Cable Triceps Push Down (12 reps)
Stand and face the cable machine (about 18-24 inches away) with your feet shoulder-width apart. Grip a straight bar from the upper cable attachment with your palms facing down. Place your upper arm against your body with both elbows at a 90-degree angle. Relax your shoulders and maintain a neutral spine. Contracting the triceps muscles, lower the bar toward your hips, stopping just short of your elbows becoming fully extended. Slowly return to the starting position, stopping just short of the weight stack touching. Exhale while moving the bar down and inhale while returning to the starting position. “Your upper arms should remain stationary throughout the exercise,” Raphael says. “For variety, choose different handles, like the ropes or an angled bar.”

After performing the biceps curl and the triceps push down, wait no more then 45 seconds and then repeat the cycle (two complete cycles).

If you haven’t been doing any arm exercises, Raphael says you may want to take up to a minute between cycles. And, if you consider yourself an advanced exerciser, he recommends trying to complete three sets of one of the cycles. By using this killer workout, Raphael says you will see a major difference in your arms.

today i broke my 2.4km record. well, sorta..

had been running at 17 plus, 18 plus for the past few years.. this year, i got a 16.08! big improvement. and all thanks to the gals who were running with me yea? thanks gals! namely june, wanru, shandy, jialing.. was kinda sprinting for the last round.. at the start of the last round, i sprinted. den i slowed down and caught my breath.. den shandy and jialing were telling me to run faster and i was thinking, "later la.. will be sprinting at the end end part.. be patient.." budden i couldnt find my voice since i was breathless.. so at the last 100m, i sprinted like nobody's business.. haha, nobody can catch up with me! haha.. so i can only be a sprinter but not a runner.. long distances are scary.. haha.. and i like competition, compete who can sprint faster.. haha.. den shandy and june were kinda "scolding" me for sprinting faster than them and den wad could i say? it was a compliment! haha.. too bad HE wasnt there to see me run like a fat roadrunner.. okae, maybe i wont want HIM to see my dishevelled self..

den after that, we took a lot of effort to finally pick up the courage to give sheryl a bell.. a HUMONGOUS ding dong bell.. and she was slightly surprised and mostly disappointed.. cos it was like, ten gals raised money just to buy that cheapskate bell.. haha, of course not true la!! we had prepared a big surprise for her! got a doraemon that's kinda big, costing $39++ and a $29++ chocolate cake.. den we hid it with the cooperation of mdm ong who kindly helped us keep the cake in their fridge and oso kept the doraemon in the staffroom.. den she was oso kinda excited and amused by our surprise mission.. the mission was a success!! yiting, you werent there.. sad.. sheryl looked VERY touched leh! as in VERY VERY VERY touched.. i think she almost cry la! cos she was kinda sad all the way that we seemed to pay so lil attention to her big day.. wahhh... the whole time before we carried out the mission i was so excited la! heart thumping like siao.. den the previous night suddenly i feeling excited.. haha.. den i tell jialing that i am excited and she laughed at me.. haha..

dont worry those-who-didnt-witness-the-celebration, i have posted the pics on the dotphoto account! so efficient rite? haha..

oh yar, during ct i was kinda sad at one part when mdm ong was talking about college day.. she was asking us who couldnt make it for the event and den june, shandy and me were kinda blur and took quite a while to respond and say that we couldnt make it.. bcos it's true la! i got church, shandy got tuition and june got dunno-wad-thing on.. and push exclaimed,"DON'T LIE LA."

WAHHHHHHHHH....... make me upset for that whole half an hour. how can i be accused of something that im not guilty of?! budden i kept my silence. sian la, argue with guys will only make my blood boil. den i keep looking at him. den he look back at me. den i turn away. den i look at him, he look at me, den i turn away. den i look at him, he look back at me and den i turn away. haha..

den okae, by the time it's physics time i oredi totally not upset le.. den suddenly puch appear at our table.. scary la! den he suddenly start toking to jialing a lot.. hahahahaha.. i think if i sit beside him, i wont even dare to tok.. his eyes look penetrating.. scary, but kinda on the beautiful side.. and then the three of us [jialing, push and me] got extremely pathetic erasers and the sight of our pathetically-small erasers was hilarious la..

and sheryl is upset that chantong didnt write her a birthday message.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

i am tired. yawn.

hmm.. how long havent i blogged?

well, work has bogged me down a lot. A LOT.

now im studying econs.. how fun eh? [sarcastic tone]

hey!

suddenly i feel like saying, "i have fallen in love with digital photography!"

why?
1. i dun have to wash the films out just to have a look at wad i have taken. so i dun need to waste money.
2. i dun even have to BUY film. so i save MORE money.
3. even the camera's free: my bro gave it to me.
4. even the memory disk is free: my sis bought it for me.
5. it's just so convenient for me!
6. i think there's no more reason..

and tmw im gonna take lots of photo! sunday, i shall take bouncy's pic! muahahaha~

today my aim was to buy a maths guide for my As.

today, i went to eat char siew rice with roast pork, went to buy tissue boxes, bought another two boxes of plasters [for my blisters], went to jp and ended up buying one tank top with two blouses to go with it, ate more roast pork [got so sian of it by that time], went with my bro and mother to watch Mission Impossible: III and didnt manage to buy the maths book i had in mind. and i had a pencil case as a free gift from watching the show. it's filled with pictures of cows. cute. reminds me of sheryl cos she was singing "mame moo..." continuously in the last physics lesson we had..

so i dunno whether i should call this day as fruitless or fruitful.

and while i was at jp, they had this "mrs singapore" thingy.. nothing much. the contestants' make-up was way too thick. i bet they have bad skin underneath all those powder, just like me. haha, evil me. forgive me. and those mascara, oh. eeyuck.

so exciting, tmw im gonna be out the whole day AGAIN. how the hell am i gonna do my hmk!?

this picture made me cry.

yup, i told many gals that im gonna blog today. and im blogging it tonight cos i didnt have the chance to do so in the day! haha..

yup, today got the 5 stations for napfa! no need to run that hated 2.4km.. den so happy lor!
sit-and-reach: 55cm [hm.. so-so la.. got A for this segment.. which is ALWAYS.. so im not especially excited..]
standing broad jump: 162cm [woohoo!!! first time i went BEYOND 160cm! my usual achievements were 150, 149, 148, 151cm.. somehow, i literally flew.. hahahaha]
inclined pull-up: 18 [surprising.. in the past, i just stopped at around 11 cos i just wanted a pass for this station and my arms couldnt really go on.. this time, i went through the first 15 kinda effortlessly! literally breezed through.. only at the 17th and 18th i experienced difficulty..]
shuttle run: 11.99 [disappointingly.. but oso kinda glad.. i think i passed this station.]
sit-ups: 30 [ah! i dunno whether i even passed.. but i know that my stomach muscles were kinda cramping at the last few..]

all these means that i have almost, i say again, ALMOST created a miracle.

and hey shandy, how's your back? feeling better?