tone your arms, the right way

Carrying my baby around is weight training in its own. When an infant becomes absolutely impossible to console, the last resort is to pick them up and rock them till their eyes get heavy and allow peace to prevail.
However, unfortunately unlike the T-Rex, mothers need strong arms for such an ordeal.

So, as promised here we are to share the head-to-toe development. 
After the last post of strengthening your back using pilates, we continue our pilates edition to focus on the arms this week.

Beginners: Arm Raises

Begin by sitting cross-legged on your mat and your back straight. Stretch your arms on either side, with palms facing up and fingers not touching the ground.
Inhale to pull your gut inside and elongate your back. Exhale through your mouth.
Begin the exercise by inhaling and at the same time raising your arms straight over your head, till they are lined at either side of your ear.
Remember to keep your shoulders relaxed.
Hold the position and count to 5.
Exhale as you bring your arms down to the original position.
Repeat 6 times.

Intermediate: The Bug

The exercise not only tones the triceps, but also targets the key glute areas of the butt, thighs and abs.

Stand straight with feet hip width apart. 

Align your arms by the sides with hands in loose fists. 

Bend your knees a little and drop your body to a 90-degree angle, so your upper body is parallel to the floor. Let your arms hang loose.

Engage your shoulders as you squeeze the back of your shoulders to pull up your elbows. As you move your arms upwards engage your triceps as well. 

Release your arms to bring back your arms to original position.

Repeat 15 to 20 times.

Advanced: Triceps Dips

The triceps dips are similar to the bench dips described in our earlier post. 
However, instead of resting your hands on a bench, you can use a small stool or simply rest your hands on the floor.
You can bend your knees initially to help develop your upper body strength. As your muscles develop you can extend your legs straight.

Try these for sleek, sexier arms instead of relying on the usual baby equipment, which otherwise yield not so pleasant results.

Monday Moves: Hate the 'love handles'

Yes.
They may sound cute but they are lethal. Once that piece of chocolate cake, you so indulged yourself in owing to the love for the dessert itself, is completely ingested, these love handles will appear as villains avenging the death of chocolate.  

get away from me you evil!

Love handles are in love with your body - especially around the waist, where they accumulate as a layer of fat so hard to get rid of. 

So come on, let's jointly wage a war against them. Let's hate the love handles!

Side-bends

These are so easy that you can do these while heating up your food in the microwave.

Stand straight with your hands on your hips or at the sides, and legs a little apart. 

With your back straight and your tummy tucked in, lower your torso a few inches towards the left, and then back again. repeating the motion on the right side. This is one rep.

Continue to do 10 reps in total, or if you're adventurous, till your food heats up.

Torso twists

This time you can wait for the kettle to boil. Till the tea is ready ..

Stand straight with legs seperated. Gently twist the torso to the right and hold for 3 seconds. Repeat the motion to the left then. During all times, try to restrict the motion from the hips. Continue to 10 reps.

Bicycle crunch

Laying down on the floor, bring your hands behind your head and raise your hips above the ground to a 90-degree angle. Pull your left leg inwards towards your chest. At the same time twist yor right elbow to meet the knee of the leg. Repeat with the opposite leg and elbow. 

Work up to 10 reps.

Planks

Lose weight around the waist while also toning your arms. Check out the last exercise in the post.

Side plank hip dips

A variation of the plank, start in a plank position and slowly lift your body to a side, resting the body's weight on your right forearm. 

When comforatable in the position, drop your hips to the floor as you inhale. Exhale as your bring them back to the original position,

Do up to 10 reps, increasing 5 each week. 

Since they are a tough son of a glute to get rid of, the exercises will demand attention and consistency to see significant results. But once that waist is back in sight, you will love your curves and hate the love handles!

Monday Moves: playground fun

When I was young, my routine visits to the playground comprised of us children exhausting ourselves endlessly on the swings, while our parents sat peacefully on the benches munching on a home-made snack. 
I mean they definitely deserved it. After all baby-sitting in itself is such a daunting task that it demands the extra calories' fuel.

I really need to eat .. *nom nom* .. or else I'll vanish in thin air!

But now that when I am a parent myself, instead of gaining calories, I choose to lose them by following these simple exercises that can easily be done at the playground, while your kid's busy. 

Standing Push-Ups

Stand at arm's length from either a bench or a slide, with feet shoulder width apart. Place your hands at the top of the bench, or at a bar on the slide ladder, that is no higher than your chest. Lift up your body in the air, so that the weight is resting solely on your toes. Keeping your body straight, and abdominal muscles tucked in, bend your elbows until your body almost touches the bar. Push back. This will be one cycle.

Attempt doing 12 to 15 push-ups.

Criss-Cross

Sit on a swing and hold on to the chains on either sides. Extend your legs straight in front with feet joint and toes pointed. Lean back into the chair at about 45-degrees. Open your legs slightly to form a V. While contracting your leg muscles, cross your left calf over the right, whilst trying to keep the swing still. The tension targets the abdominal muscles. Return to the V position. This makes one set. Start by doing 10 sets and then counting up to 15.

Bench Dip

As the title suggests, the exercise involves a bench and aims to tone the arms and focuses on the triceps.

Slide down the bench when sitting down to grp the end with your hands on either side of your shoulders. Extend your legs infront of you, with knees bent. Keeping your back close to the bench, bend your elbows and lower your body so it just only touches the ground, then pull up quickly.  

Do up to 5 sets. Take a break of 10 seconds and then repeat. Every week increase the sets by 5 or till you feel your arms might fall off.

Make the most of the time you get during these trips; make it the parents' playground and play along with your child to get a personalized workout of your own.

Monday Moves: the 'commercial' sets

Once in a while I like to treat myself to saucy soaps on television. As the episode progresses, I can't help but ogle at the figure-perfect ladies strutting about in sleeveless dresses and showing off their toned arms. 
In the midst of determination and pent-up frustration to look as stunning as these women, I went all gymnast to adopt the most strenuous of routines, only to be left worn out at the end!

this .. is .. tough!

I then came up with a 'during-commercials-exercise-sets-for-toning-arms', to not only enjoy my soaps but also target the muscles I wanted to.
Each exercise takes no more than five minutes; long enough to last a commercial break and not force you to give up on the extra exercise

360-degrees arms

This exercise targets your biceps, triceps and shoulders.

• Extend your arms perpendicular to your body. Flex your shoulders and pull up your neck and breath through your chest. Push your feet flat on the ground.
• Move your arms forward, stretching them as further as you can. You will feel a strain in your shoulder plates during the rotations. 
• Count up to 20 circles.Then reverse the direction count up to 20 rotations again.

Bicep Curls (without weights)

You can choose to do this exercise either sitting down or standing up. Traditionally the exercise uses weights but since you're only killing time till the show resumes, we've tailored it accordingly.

• Pull your elbows close to the body, with your arms resting on the sides. 
• Open the palm of your right hand to face forward, and with your left, encircle the wrist of the right arm.
• Clench your right hand into a fist and pull it up towards your bicep, with the left arm resisting the motion. Provide the resistance in the opposite direction as you push down the hand to its original position.
• Count up to 10 repititons, then change arms. 

Behind Back Arms Clasp

The exercise focuses upon the muscles in the shoulder and triceps. You can easily do this while sitting down or standing up.

• Keep your back straight to extend your right arm straight over your head in the air, while keeping the left along your body.
• Fold your left arm behind your back by bending your elbow, while keeping the right in the same position.
• Lower your right arm behind your back to stretch your fingers. Move the left arm to upwards to clasp the right hand. Please note that only the lower arm will move to force clasping. Beginners will struggle  to clasp the hands as the body will resist. 
• Count up to ten once the hands clasp.
• Repeat with the other arm, doing 5 repetitions on either side. 

If you want to extend the exercise, you can also opt for these tougher positions.

Traditional (Killer) Push-Ups

Push-ups focus on not only developing upper arm strength, but also strengthens the core.

• Place your hands on the floor, shoulder-width apart. Rest your knees on the floor, and focus upon putting pressure on your thighs throughout the exercise. Align your hips and back.
• Maintaining the alignment, bend your elbows to lower your body to within an inch from the floor. Pull yourself up.
• Count up to 10 repetitions

Planks

If you see someone performing planks, it may seem quite easy compared to other routines. But boy oh boy! It took the breath out of me and proved to be most fruitful.

• Align your body like in a push-up, but with your legs extended back, and feet together with toes resting on the floor. 
• Place your forearms on the ground. Your can either place your palms on the ground or clasp your hands, but position your wrists under your shoulders. 
• Pull in your abdominal muscles to keep your back straight. 
• Support your body by putting pressure on your arms, as you count to 30. 
• As you develop upper body strength, count up to 60, to build to a minute.

Now that is time well spent I'd say matey!