Up in Arms

What do Michelle Obama, Angela Basset and Jada Pinkett Smith share? If you said incredible arms and shoulders you’d be right (true, they also have intelligence, beauty, loving husbands and adorable children in common… but none of those are the point of our article). These ladies prove that you can have muscular, well-developed, GORGEOUS arms and not look like a man.

Now let’s look what you need to do to achieve this:

Beautiful Bicep Curls:

Stand about shoulder width apart, knees soft, abs in. Forearms facing up, dumbbells held gently in palms. Lift weights curling your forearms towards your shoulders. Squeeze the muscle at the top. Keep your elbows by your sides; exhale coming up, inhale going down. Keep the movement fluid (4 counts going up- 4 counts coming down)… don’t swing your arms. Do 3 sets of 12 (rest in between each set- briefly… don’t go takin’ a nap).

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Outta-sight Upright Rows:

Standing shoulder width apart, forearms facing your body. Dumbbells in each hand (over hand grip), resting on each thigh. Slowly slide weights up your body, stopping just below your shoulders (4 counts up- hold 2-down in 4). Elbows should be “winged” above shoulders as high as comfortable. Remember to keep the movements slow and controlled- keep your abs in, back straight, knees soft. Do 3 sets of 8 (rest in between… no more than 30 seconds… we’re watching you).

Terrific Tricep Extensions:

Standing shoulder width apart (do you see a pattern), elbows close to the body, dumbbells in hand- palms towards your thighs. Lift your arms over head, lower weights behind your head and lift (4 counts down-4 counts up). Keep elbows next to your ears, and head tall. As with the previous exercises, back straight, abs in, knees soft. If the weights become to heavy, place one dumbbell on the floor in front of you and continue holding one weight in both hands. Do 3 sets of 8 (resting in between to curse us for recommending these exercises in the first place).

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Please note: The day after, you’re not gonna like us… by the second day you will truly be HATING us; but after a few weeks of these when you say goodbye to the double-wave, and are rockin’ sleeveless shirts with the best of them we’ll be your BEST FRIENDS!