Thursday, May 20, 2010

Round 3 / Day 83: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Just Arms

No Turbulence Training for me today. My legs are beat, and I felt the need to rest 'em for a while. So this morning, I decided to try the "Just Arms" workout from Tony Horton's One-on-One series.


 It's just as advertised: Nothing but exercises for the arms. The session consists of 47 minutes of bicep, forearm and triceps exercises, broken up into three supersets and a bonus round.
  

None of the bicep or triceps moves are new to P90X grads, but for the first time in any of the workout videos I've seen from Tony Horton, he throws in a bunch of wrist and forearm exercises. (Good thing, too -- my forearms are puny.)

Without further ado, here's a list of the sleeve-busters Tony leads us through:

Superset One:
  • Seated Bicep Curls
  • Seated Forearm Curls
  • Lying Triceps Extensions
Repeat the superset.
 


 Superset Two:
  • Seated Incline Curls
  • Reverse Forearm Curls
  • Triceps Kickbacks
Repeat the superset.
 


Superset Three:
  • Twenty-Ones (just like in P90X Back & Biceps)
  • Three-Way Forearm Curls (rotations, standard curls and reverse curls)
  • Side Tri Rises
 Repeat the superset.
    


Bonus Round:
  • Crazy 8's (just like Static Arm Curls from P90X Shoulders & Arms, but you do 8 bicep curls before switching to the other arm, and each arm goes twice, for a total of 32 curls while the other arm is held at a 90-degree angle)
  • Back Forearm Curls
  • Hammer Curls
  • Tricep Throws
  • Crazy 8's (again)
And that's it.
  



Overall, this isn't a bad workout. It's standard, straightforward isolation weight training, pumping up your arms while still allowing the rest of your body to rest and recover.
   
But in the end, I felt a little unsatisfied in a way that I don't when I'm doing interval training or compound bodyweight exercises. Perhaps it's because I'm not looking to be a bodybuilder; working just one series of muscles in isolation doesn't hold much appeal for me.
     

But it's also because I feel totally inadequate watching Tony and coming to the realization that I can't lift nearly as heavy as he can. And he's in his 50s.