Armed and ready!

If you want to have toned arms and a strong upper body and back, here are a few exercises to try!

First, use a set of weights that you are comfortable doing 10-15 reps with. They should be heavy enough that your last couple of reps are difficult.  You can also do all of the below exercises using bands or tubing.

Let’s start with bicep curls.

If you can, do each arm separately so you are really focusing on doing the exercises properly on each arm.  Using tubing, put one end of the tubing under your foot and curl up steadily feeling tension the whole way.  Make sure you are pulling hard and strong as you curl to to the top.

Do 10-15 reps on each arm making sure you are taking your time.

 

From here, use the same weights and do an overhead press to strengthen your shoulders.

You can do this one with both arms at  same time; do 10-15 reps.  With tubing you could  kneel on the centre of it,  and pull both ends up above your head the same way you would with weights. Remember to control the movements, and follow through right to the end until your hands are above your head.

 

Next, use one of the weights and work your triceps (back of your upper arm.)

Hold your arms above your head fairly straight up, and bend your elbows 90 degrees and lower the weight, then raise and repeat.  With tubing hold the tubing behind you as you would with the weight and with the other hand hold onto the rest of the tubing behind your back at waist level.  Pull up on the tubing and keep it taut enough to feel tension going up and down.   Do 10-15 reps for each arm.

 

Lastly, let’s work your back by doing a bent over row exercise.  Here you will use your same 2 weights and bend over sticking your butt out and keeping your back straight.

Keeping the weights close to your body slowly bring the weights (one at a time is better if you can) up until the weight is at your side and your elbow is bent behind you.   With tubing, step on the centre portion and grab hold of the ends (as you would the weight) and pull up on the tense band. Do 10-15 reps.

There you have it, a set of exercises that covered your arms, shoulders, and back!

I like to do each exercise in succession.  Once I’ve done each exercise, I take a short rest then do them again, for a total of 3 sets.

*****When you are using tubing or bands control you movement both ways and keep it taut enough that you can feel resistance. You can increase and decrease the tension by where you hold the tubing or band.

What are you waiting for?  Go try it and let me know what you think!!! 🙂

Organizing keeps me sane

I for one love to keep all spaces in my house organized and neat.  Without this I can’t function.  I need to have order before I can cause chaos! 🙂

I am going to dedicate many blogs over the next while to help motivate you all to start organizing each room in your house.

If your house is in dire need of organizing, don’t panic, instead, put it into perspective and make a prioritized list of what needs to be done.

Walk through your house with a pen and notebook (or make notes on your phone) and list rooms that you want to organize.  You could even use your phone and snap pictures of each room.  After you have the list and/or pictures, sit down and think seriously about which rooms need it the most, and which can wait the longest.

Next, prioritize your list and list the rooms you want to tackle in order of importance.  From here, look at the first room and set yourself an attainable goal/completion date.

That is as good a start as any!   So, now you have officially started the process and are on your way!

The next step takes longer and that’s because it means you have to get down and dirty and deal with your clutter and mess!  Please don’t get overwhelmed!  It can be done, but it will take time.  When you are setting up a completion date, be realistic.  You have to think about how much time per week you are going to spend on the room and go from there.

From here, you just have to start because often times that is the hardest part!

I’ll leave it there for now, and if you can get this done be happy!  We’ll continue more on this later.

Inbox me if you need any direct help or ideas, and please share this blog with friends and family!

Hope you enjoyed your Simply Susan tip of the day!

Keep calm and organize on😆