My friend Nathalie invited me to a 4pm training session with her friend Tim Keleher (thesportingclub.co.uk), and I couldn’t turn down the offer. I guess I really didn’t know what I was getting into, but how can you pass up a free personal training session? Apparently he had found this new great arm routine, which he learned of in Sweden…I think by great, he meant torturous, but anyway, it’s always good to mix it up. You’re body gets used to certain workouts and you need to spice it up!

We started out with negative dips and negative pull-ups. When did I last do a pull-up? My best guess is 4 years ago. After doing about 4 regular dips, from starting position, with arms straight, I had to lower my body down while Tim was counting from 3-10 seconds (different count for each of the 3 sets), then weighted chest dips with a belt around my waist (3 sets). The weighted dip is an excellent movement because it allows for the training of the chest and triceps together in a way that uses a greater mass of muscle from more muscle groups. Next were the pull-ups…so hard. Tim had to lift my legs a bit so I could pull myself up and then while he counted down from 6-12 seconds (3+ sets of different counts), I had to lower by body to the count. This was incredibly fatiguing but that is why it was exercise #1.

We moved on to push-ups and bicep curls on an angled bench. I thought that at least the push-ups would be easy for me, but NO – my body was already tired. I started out with push-ups (5-10 reps), then bicep curls on the bench with an 8-lb weight (12-15 reps) and finally bicep curls with a 20-pound bar (10-12 reps). I actually had to switch to a 5-lb weight for the bicep curls and a 10-lb body bar because I was shaking like crazy! We did 3 sets of each and it was tough to say the least. Next was tricep work: skull crushers (3 sets of 12) and tricep rope pushdowns (3 sets of 12-15: 1 set standing and 2 sets on the knees).

Dips

1. Stand at the dip station and grip each handle, with palms facing the body.
2. With arms nearly straight, lift legs off the floor or platform and lean forward slightly without dropping your head.
3. Slowly lower your body until your upper arms are parallel to the floor.
4. Push yourself back up until your arms are almost straight.
5. Repeat, lowering and raising yourself until exhaustion.

Skull Crushers

1. Lie on the floor or a bench and hold a light-medium barbell with the hands close together, about shoulder-width apart.
2. Extend the arms straight up over the chest, palms face out and thumbs wrapped around so that they’re next to the fingers.
3. Bend the elbows and lower the weight down to a few inches above the forehead or until the elbows at about 90-degree angles.
4. Squeeze the triceps to straight the arms without locking the joints.

Rope Pushdown

1. Attach a rope to the top portion of a cable machine.
2. Grab the rope with your palms facing towards each other and position the rope at about chest level.
3. Slowly lower the rope downward, making sure to keep your elbows in while extending your arms and have a slight bend in your arms when you reach the bottom of the movement.
4. While keeping your elbows in slowly let the rope come back up to the starting position.

This concluded the workout (roughly an hour and a half). While my blood sugar was high, I inhaled a smoothie with strawberry, banana and soy milk. Every responsible source in bodybuilding and athletics recommend that you eat preferably within 45 minutes (maybe up to 60) after a workout. Known as the “golden hour,” this is when the muscles absorb the most nutrients and when glycogen, an energy reserve in your muscles, is replaced most efficiently.

This workout was on Saturday and today (Monday), I can barely straighten my arms, lift my purse or basically do anything other than type with my fingers. I recommend this workout to anyone who wants to see major results and feel the pain. Yay! Thanks, Tim and Nathalie.