Ultimate Arms

Scott Schwab

I wanted to share a workout that is sure to get your arms toned and ripped for whatever. I am a firm believer in the power of manual labor and plyometrics. I used to build log homes and have never found an exercise that was equivalent to the pealing of logs, carrying of logs, and building the actual walls. This was until I started to think about what you could do in a gym to reproduce what I was doing in building the homes. It is very intense and if you are not seasoned with lifting reduce the reps and sets of the workout. The first workout is a push-up. However you will take two small medicine balls of equal size and push up with those under your hands. You will want to do 10 reps and 4 sets. To improve the difficulty put your feet up on a bench, or for an expert workout put your feet up on an exercise ball. The key to this workout is balance and strength. It is difficult to keep your arms steady while doing push-ups on medicine balls. It becomes increasingly difficult as you keep your feet up and extremely difficult as you balance your feet and your upper body. Plan on a couple of falls when you are starting, its to be expected. The second workout I will call the super man. Put your legs up on a wall and be as vertical as possible. You will go from one end of the wall moving your hands and feet in unison to the other end of a wall and back. It is best to have a distance of 10-15 feet. You will do this 4 sets. It is also fun to stop on each side of the wall and try and do a push up in that vertical position against the wall. The third workout is to do normal bench press. Position your hands on the bar in different locations as to provide a complete arm and chest workout. Find the distance from the middle that when you you push up you are feeling it in your triceps. Do 10 reps and 4 sets at 75% of your max lift. The final lift is a doozie. You will put your feet up on a surface higher than a bench. Maybe a window well or a box that is used for box jumping. You will be in the push up position and raise one leg off of the surface and try and hold it up. It is difficult to balance but make sure you keep your left leg up for 10 reps and switch and keep your right leg up. Again 4 reps will be good, if you can finish it. Make sure you are burning out your muscles. I would suggest a creatine as well so that those torn muscles can heal. Finish off with a good abs workout and you should be good to go. Good luck and let me know how it goes.