ELIMINATING EXCUSES | fitness

It’s Friday! Hopefully, the weather is beautiful where ever you are. For those June babies born on June 1st, I wish you a happy birthday! For those born on June 2nd or 3rd, I wish you an early happy birthday! Party like a rock star (without the excessive alcohol, drugs and other unsafe behaviors)!

We have to start the weekend proper by continuing with our Friday workout. Today, I have another winner for you, compliments of Arnold Schwarzenneger. We are going to work the deltoids with an exercise called the arnold press. This exercise take the shoulder press to the next level of intensity by increasing the range of motion and by forcing you to expend more effort controlling the weight as you rotate your wrists. You’ll need a chair and some dumbells. If you don’t have dumbells, find a convenient substitute (canned goods, gallon of water, melons, etc.). Sit in you chair with your back straight. Pick up your weights and bend your arms infront of you so that your palms are facing toward you and you are looking at weights (your forearms should be perpindicular/orthogonal to the floor). Life the weights upward and begin to rotate your wrists as you move the weight upward; rotate your wrists 180 degrees. Stop short of locking the elbows out; keep them bent. As you bring the weights back down, rotate your wrists 180 degrees again as you return your arms to the starting position. I’ll thank Arnold on your behalf; DO SOMETHIN’!

Let’s hit the shoulders today! This time we are going to work the sides of our deltoids with this exercise. I prefer to do this exercise sitting so that I focus on only my shoulders doing the work. When standing, I might be tempted to use my legs to help swing the weights up when I get tired. Also, sitting helps those who may have a history of lower back pain (like me). So, get your chair and get your weights. Hold your weights in each hand with your arms extended along the side of your body. Raise yours your arm outward until your arms are parallel to the floor. Control the weights on the way down so that your shoulders continue to do the work; don’t rely on gravity. Now, your excuse to not exercise is gone. DO SOMETHIN’!

Time to hit the shoulders aka the deltoids, and let’s focus on the front of the deltoids. You’ll need some form of a weight for this exercise. I use two 1 gallon (3.8L) jugs of water. The density of water is 1kg/L so I have 3.8kg/8.4lb weights in each hand; as Ronnie Coleman would say: LIGHT WEIGHT! Start with your arms at your side with your weights in your hands. Keep the elbows slightly bent for the duration of the exercise. Slowly lift your arms forward until they are parallel to the ground. You don’t want to swing your arms because the momentum of your weights will minimize the actual work done by your muscles. Ok, HIT IT!