Friday Arm Workout plus What I Ate Today

Today is shoulder day! I thought I would throw in some bicep work since I have had time to rest since my last bicep workout when I lifted back/biceps on Tuesday. I like to give myself at least 2 days in between body parts when I can to allow full recovery or each muscle group.

Today’s workout was partially inspired by “My Trainer Carmen’s” circuit workout I found on her Instagram page. I had already hit triceps the other day so I took that out and added some lifts of my own. So here is how my workout went down.

Today’s Workout

• Warm up: dynamic stretches and warm up exercises (running and high knees on the trampoline) followed by jumping jacks, butt kicks etc…
• Then I warmed up my shoulders with light dumbbell weight shoulder press.
• 10 lb dumbells x 20 reps
• I followed that with heavier weights (20 lb dumbbells).
• I did 3 sets of 10 with the 20s.
• Then I got into my “Carmen inspired” circuit.

(I started off at a slow pace on the treadmill before working into sprints.)

• Here is the circuit I did:

1. 30 seconds sprint on treadmill
2. Wide curls with 10 lb dumbbells (20 reps)
3. Curl press then slow release to the side with 10 lb dumbbells (15 reps) (These are a curl into a press, then I slowly brought the weights down to the side with my arms straight to give my shoulders an added workout)
4. Standing upright dumbbell rows with 10 lb dumbbells (20 reps)
5. Drop side laterals with 5 lb dumbbells (15 reps) (These are just side lateral raises but you keep your arms up and drop one side at a time-keeping the other side up)
6. Standing rear delt fly then upright front raises with 10 lb dumbbells (12 reps) (These are just 1 bent over raise followed by an upright front raise counting as 1 rep)

(I repeated this circuit 3 times.)

• I then burnt out my biceps with resistance band curls 3×20
• Then I cooled down with 5 min on the elliptical.
• Lastly, I did a slow static stretch routine.

Here is what I ate today.

For breakfast I drank some warm lemon water. Then I had the usual groats with berries, 1 TBS mix of chia seeds, ground flax seed, and hemp seeds, cinnamon, and fresh grated ginger, with a walnut crushed on top. I also ate some eggs with spinach (cooked in coconut oil) over zucchini and a little homemade tomato sauce.

After my workout I ate 2 of my protein brownies (the ones I recently made by subbing groat flour for the oats and used fresh ground cacoa powder that I ground up in my coffee grinder.) I also had a 1/2 can of tuna (that has no soy and no refined salt) with sweat peas, 1/4 cup cooked brown rice, organic mustard, and a couple fermented pickles. I know this is a REALLY weird combo but I love it. SO good!

I also munched on a few carrots and strawberries while preparing my kiddos lunch. My son offered me a “strawberry ring” when he proposed to me today so how could I resist? 😉

A few hours later I was hungry so I ate 2 more protein brownies, a little bit of plain greek yogurt mixed with 1/2 scoop of raw whey protein, a little liquid stevia and vanilla extract (no high fructose corn syrup added), and a TBS of homemade almond butter.

Tonight for dinner I will eat 2 turkey meatballs on zucchini with homemade tomato sauce. It’s spaghetti night for the hubby who has a softball tournament so that’s my alternative. I have zucchini coming out of my ears so I always have a batch of “zucchini pasta” on hand.

If I get hungry at night I might munch on some eggs for protein and some carrots (my go to late night snack).

So that’s it. A great workout and clean eating today! It’s my husband’s birthday on Monday so I know we will be eating out this weekend and I’d like to relax and enjoy some bbq ribs from Famous Dave’s. Mmmm I can taste them already… almost.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of the exercises or where I get any of the food I eat.

AND, if you are looking for more exercise ideas check out bodybuilding.com’s exercise guide.

Thanks everyone and Happy Friday!!

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