Skinny Ms. Fitness

Today, I'm just sharing something that I love.

I found this on Pinterest a while ago, a link for an 7 Day Challenge for Summer Arms.

I really liked the idea of doing 7 days of hard workout to achieve some serious muscle change. I can do 7 days.

So, I went to the website and what I really love about the website is that all of the exercises come with a youtube type video so that you can see them doing it and hear an explanation. You can't mess it up. Then, I printed out the detail sheet and I made notes next to a few of the exercises I wasn't sure what they were, so that I could glance down to it between workouts.

My biggest problem with weight exercises and floor exercises is that there are just so many things you can do. I don't know which exercises are best and how many, etc. This gives me a set amount and tells you which to do. I just print out the list and do it. It's easy. It even shows me how to do the exercise. And then after the 7 days, you just pick any two exercises to do each week. This keeps the tone that you achieved.

AND it's for women, so no 50 pound weights for mass, it's geared for toning. You know how hard it is to find direction for toning and not mass gaining? It's hard, just take my word for it. The fireman works out for size and I get advice all the time from him for exercises, but sometimes he has a hard time bringing the directions down to a toning goal. He'll want me to move up in weight instead of doing more reps, for instance. And more reps is key in toning, at a certain point. You can add weight for a while, then just go for reps once you've achieved nice definition.

Anyway, one of my other issues is that your muscles become complacent eventually with the same exercises day after day, so switching up exercises is great for your workout. Well, I'm not creative enough to work out different routines, it's just seems like too much work. Whereas the fireman gets all excited about it and likes trying new things.

So, this website has all sorts of new exercises that it throws out at you. There's a 7 day ab challenge and thighs and gluts. Tons of different workouts thrown in. They are always coming out with a new routine. I plan to work through a lot of them. Then, later on, I can switch them up and do weeks of different exercises when I feel that an exercise is getting too easy. No thought process involved. I love it!

I'm going to build a binder to keep the workouts together for future reference.

For me, this is perfect, and I don't think the exercises are all that hard, for example, the first day for the arm challenge is this:

Monday
Perform 3 circuits of the following routine.
Tricep Push ups – 12 reps
Rest 20 seconds
Bicep curls – 12 reps
Rest 20 seconds
Tricep Kickbacks – 12 reps each arm
Rest 1 minute
So, if you need to use a 5 pound weight, do it. I am at a 12 pound weight, but think I may go up to 15 pounds, and stay there.

Here was me after my week.

I know, the picture's crappy, but you get the idea. I took these for me to see the difference. I was seriously happy with it! I kept with it and I think my arms look a little better even now. And of course, the leaner you are, the better the muscle definition is going to be, but whenever you're working out, you're still burning fat. So, eventually you'll see more definition with the same muscle as you burn more fat and lean out.

And I actually enjoy the burn after an arm workout. When my arms feel trashed, it kind of is addicting after a while. I thought the fireman was crazy when he said things like that, but it's true. And you get this nice soreness the next day from a good workout, DOMS *delayed onset of muscle soreness*. My hubby would be so proud! I'll have to show one of his workouts someday. He gets into it. :)

I don't know, the soreness and feel of the muscles burning just make me feel capable. Like I have muscles! I am a tough chickie!

I didn't get a good photo of my triceps, and they're a little better now anyway, but I really like this muscle in this photo. The one on top of my bicep area. The fireman calls it cannonballs. I added an exercise from my hubby to these exercises that works that muscle. To make it a little more defined.

He calls it pouring pitchers. With your weights, you hold your arms, elbows at your sides, hands out front, like you're holding 2 pitchers of beer, arms are parallel with the floor. Then, you bring your arms up, elbows in line with your body and *pour* the beer out, arms stay parallel with the floor, the elbows simply move out and up, keeping a 90 degree angle between forearms and upper arms. This uses that round muscle, and they're kind of tough, but feel great when you're done.

Anyway, there are a lot of good recipe ideas on the website, even though most of them are a little high in carbs by my standards. But if you're working out, you are burning more calories than the average person anyway.

This is something I've really been trying to use. I really enjoy my daily treadmill walk/runs and since I can't do that since my foot surgery. I can do some arm exercises and some of the ab and thigh exercises. I'm trying really hard not to put on weight because I've been sitting so much more. Moving on the crutches does require some additional core/ab strength, just cause you're standing one footed and hopping a bit, moving around for things, and walking on crutches takes a lot of energy and I probably am getting some cardio from it, but I still am being careful. I've come too far to lose what I've gained.

Best of luck to you guys, if you're interested and want to try it out. It was a perfect solution for me and something I find fun and easy to work into my life.