Quick Standing Arms Workout

Hi. I am Lara Hanlon here to lead you through a quick arm exercise. I'm wearing a pair of ball up bangles on my wrists. You do this holding soup cans, weights, nothing at all. Regardless, our goal is to keep our arms lifted and feel that burn, but focused on our posture. Maybe you do this while you're taking a walk around town. Maybe you do it standing in your living room at home. We're gonna start with a really stable posture.

Feet parallel, soft bend in the knees. Little tuck of the tail. Aware of our knee joints, our hip joints, our low back. So we're engaged in our core, reaching those arms right out to the sides, deep breath, and big hug exhale to open. Starting nice and simple here with our huggetry arms from the reformer work. Our goal is to keep those elbows lifted, shoulder blades sliding down the back, deep breath into hug, exhaling to open, connecting the core with the movement here. Maybe put on your favorite playlist.

You move through this exercise with me. Inhaling to hug, exhaling to open, connecting the breath to the movement, staying aware of our posture for 4, and 3. Last two. We're gonna keep that hug movement, but flip those palms up to the ceiling, flip them right back down. Think of your pinky fingers kissing in front of your chest and your thumbs kissing. Maybe making this a little bit bigger, starting to bring those hands closer to in front of your pelvis, closer to in front of your face. Like, you're drawing a circle right on a mirror in front of you with your fingertips and close.

Inhaling and exhaling, keeping that soft bend in the knees, keeping that belly button drawing back to the spine, chin lifted off the chest, releasing any tension in the mind, the body, the neck, especially here, working into the arms, working into the back for a 4 and close. Thank you. Fingers touch. Thumbs tap. 2. And close one more time. Reach it up. Reach it all the way up and out and then lower those arms right in line with your hips, scoop and lift.

Resist to lower. Inhale reach. Exhale lower. Again, taking that chest expansion exercise from our reformer apparatus work here, lowering right in line with the hips, palms facing up, fingertips reaching long, shoulder blade sliding down the back for 4. Resist to lower. 3. Working both directions too.

One more. We add our circle forward around and down. Keeping a soft bend in the elbows the whole time here. So it's not an extension and a bending of those elbows. They're in a space hold. Like, you're serving too much a tease straight towards yourself. Maybe it's Friday.

Maybe it's martinis, whatever you're in the mood for here. You don't want them to spill for 3 around and down at 2, then we'll reverse. One more this direction. Take it around. Palm still facing the ceiling. Resist back towards your hips. Deep breath in and out.

Option to always maybe add a little bending of those knees in addition to your arms when I teach this in bar classes. I like to have a first position or a second position. We're keeping it simple today, focusing on that upper body. Resest. The last three. Keep breathing too.

One more time. Lower this time. Reach those arms out We add in a bicep curl. Again, our elbows are staying lifted for this exercise. Our goal is to have those shoulder blades pulling down, that chin lifting off the chest, beautiful open neck and throat, always aware of our posture, Soft, bending the knees. Low belly is connected. If you're feeling too much tension in your shoulders, maybe you take your bicep curl from here instead today.

Listen to your body. A little more challenging on both the top and the bottom of those arms when they're lifted here. Inhale, exhale. Working both directions, we pull and resist, bend, and extend for 2. We're taking a little quicker one arm at a time, right arm bends, left arm bends alternating right and left working with square shoulders.

I hope mine are square. Often, they're not. You know, we're all none of us are perfect. We're all a little crooked in places. I find that sometimes my neck is a little crooked doing things like this focusing on my own alignment, maybe working one arm if it's a little weaker than the other, doing a few more repetitions there, trying to square off that body for 4. And 3.

Last two. We're gonna go right back to that simple bicep curl. Both arms bend and extend. Inhale. Exhale. Again, try not to drop those arms. If you're holding weights, maybe you take those weights out of the equation, and you just work with this beautiful long body weight and extension of your fingertips. We start to open a little bit wider here.

Think of like a w or a v, still bending and extending fingertips, maybe gently tapping those shoulders. Shoulders pulled down away from the ears. 4 or 4. Keep that soft bend in the knees. 2.

Last one. Pull those elbows into your waist. Reach it out. We bent and extend palm stay facing the ceiling. Think of squeezing your elbows tighter towards your waistline. Your shoulder blades tighter. Like, you're pinching that pencil behind you. Palms stay lifted. We're still balancing those drinks.

Fur 4 and reach for 3. Last two Last one, we add a flip of the palms, pull it in, pinky fingers up, pull, and reach. Adding this rotation works the back of those triceps a little bit more, bending in reaching out. I keep bringing it back to the breath, connecting that imaginary corset a little tighter around your waist. If you start to feel any pain in your knees and your back, reset into that position, inhale, exhale for a 4.

Length in a little longer through those fingertips, through the crown of the head too. We hold our arms out on one little pulses up and up. You should start to feel your arms working, especially your delts. Yeah. That's right here. We wanna feel those engaged.

The more we pull our shoulder blades down away from the ears, open up through the neck and the chest. Keep that core connected, that corset tighter on the waist. We work the right parts of our arms of our body so we don't get too tight into our shoulders or our traps. Right? Wanna stay relaxed through the neck for a 4. Keep breathing. 3. Last two. Hold those arms up.

Palms press together behind us. We stretch and reach forward. Think of clapping behind your back and then reaching palms face the ceiling, squeeze between the shoulder blades, Yeah. Maybe adding a little deeper bend like I'm doing of those knees. Press behind. Reach it forward.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out 4 more just like this. We press and lengthen for 3. Standing a little taller at the top too and reach. We hold it back on one little clasp behind. Squeeze between your shoulder blades again.

If this position bothers your back, maybe you do this standing. Maybe you're in a chair. You're seated. You're working those arms behind you at your desk. We're thinking of opening up through the chest squeezing between the shoulder blades for a 4.

Collap a little closer. 3. Get a little higher. 2. We stay back palm slip up, pulse it up, and up. Can you squeeze between your shoulder blades? Reach your fingertips or your fist if you're holding weights here further towards the back of the room. Crown it ahead further away and position.

We have a beautiful long spine, lengthen through the arms, lifted in the low belly, engaged in the back of those arms. Puls a little higher than your back. Don't let them drop again for 4. We're here for 3. Last two.

Palms flip to face the waist. Bend it in an extent. Bend reach through the fingertips. Pinky fingers a little higher to the ceiling. Trying not to make it too much of a swinging motion, especially if you have a heavier weight here.

Think of a bicep curl and a tricep extension. We're working both directions. Last 4. And 3. 2.

One more like this. Bend it in. Reach it down. Squeeze it up. And reach, squeeze those shoulder blades right together behind you, pull, and resist squeezing into the back, trying to get those elbows higher than the ribs. Form are here. 3.

Long line of that spine too. Hold it up on one little pulse's elbows lift and lift up and up. Keep that pulse lengthen through the neck for 4. And 3. Last two. Arms extend down.

We're back to our hug. Fold it over here. I think of like a fly. Can you squeeze between your shoulder blades? Open up through the chest. Lengthen through the arms and back, engaging into the lats, inhale, resist to exhale open and close. If you're not already lifted, we slowly take it back to vertical right where we started.

Little tuck of the tail, soften through those knees, proud through the chest and shoulders, inhaling and exhaling, switching the breath here, reverse of what we started with as we close our arms, we exhale, closing the lungs, closing the ribs, breathing in, breathing out, open, and close. 4, 4, and 3. Last 2. Last one. Open those arms out. Flip your palms up, roll your shoulders back, finish strong here, little circle. Keep those palms reaching up.

Shoulders pulling down. Take that tension out of the neck. Heart stays lifted for 4. For 3. Last two.

Last one. Palms slip down. You reversed your circle. Keep those arms lifted. That's your goal. Inhale. And exhale. Keep breathing for 4.

And 3. Last two. Last one, circle forward. Reverse your palm so they face your chest. Reach it forward.

And back. If you're facing yourself in the mirror, stay open and proud beautiful lift. Inhale. And exhale. Thumbs to the ceiling too. And one, close those arms all the way in front of you. Press your palms all the way together, take a deep breath in, pull your shoulders down, bring those hands through heart center, and let your arms relax. It should feel a nice, easy burn of those arms depending on what weight, if any, you chose. I hope you enjoyed.