One of our Women to Watch in 2012 is US Open Tennis Champion Sam Stosur. Although she didn’t make it past the first round at Melbourne Park last week, her physique definitely caught our eye.

While not every female wants to bulk up as much as Stosur, we can admire the work she’s done to don some of the most toned arms on Centre Court. If you want just a little bit of what Sam has got, here are some tips to be well armed while the sun’s out.

What’s the best way to tone up your arms?

The major muscle groups in the arm are the biceps and triceps in the upper arm, the deltoid - the muscle around the upper front part of our shoulder where our arm ‘meets’ our chest, the brachialis - the muscle that crosses the inside of our elbow, and the muscles of the forearm, the extensor and flexor muscles.

There are two elements to getting your arms into shape. Firstly, toning the muscle and getting rid of any excess fat which covers the muscle. The term ‘toned’ means the muscle is in a state of contraction or stimulation, looks fuller or bigger, and maintains our muscle’s posture. The best way to achieve this is through resistance training (weights) or other physical activities that require the muscle to work under a load.

The best exercises to do are those which isolate the muscles in the arm. When combined with cardio training, which will help strip away body fat, these arm muscles will be seen more clearly. Forget the myth that this will bulk you up, it won’t! This will create lean healthy muscle tone, in as little as six training sessions over two or three weeks.

What exercises should you do?

Start working the triceps with exercises like cable push downs, various types of tricep extensions, tricep kickbacks, close grip bench press and dips, which will also help with working the deltoid. The tricep is the bigger muscle, compared to the bicep, so focus on this to get better muscle definition in the upper arm.

Seated curls, standing curls and preacher curls will all work well for the bicep, as they work different parts of the biceps along the entire length of the muscle.

For the deltoid, try side, front and bent over raises. Use any sort of wrist curls and grip training to help strengthen the flexors and extensors.

Ask one of our friendly personal trainers if you need help with any of these exercises. Fernwood’s boxing classes, Body Pump and Body Combat classes also combine elements of strength and cardio training which help tone muscle and burn off fat, so put them in the mix with weight training to start to really get your arms into shape.

What can you do outside the gym?

Weight training isn’t for everyone, especially in summer when we often crave being outside in the sun and water if possible. Sports provide a fun way to exercise and many require good arm development, so why not look at adding some variety in your program by putting in some sort of sport.

Exercise outside the gym doesn’t have to be a formal organised activity. You could just grab some boxing gloves and hit the bag for 15 minutes or go for a swim. Sports that are great for arm toning include rugby, Australian Rules football, boxing, tennis, swimming, rock climbing, gymnastics, rowing, yachting, Olympic and power weight lifting, mountain biking and any sort of martial arts.


Photo: Getty Images