HONOR TO CHOOSE

March 14, 2011 "Any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in the next."

-- Max Lucado

Workout of the Week: 10-Minute Triceps

The triceps. This muscle group, critical for every upper body pushing movement, represents some 2/3 of the mass in your upper arm. Men who want bigger arms sometimes mistakenly overtrain their biceps but it's the out-of-sight, out-of-mind triceps that need the attention. For women, the back of the arm can be a "trouble" area -- a place where more bodyfat is stored and muscle tone can be tougher to hold on to. This short workout will help both genders provide this area with a mini-makeover worth its weight in tanktops.

You must train the triceps from three different angles to make sure that all three triceps heads are targeted. To keep the workout challenging, the pace is kept high, as you move from exercise to exercise with no rest.

The first exercise is the two-hand overhead extension which targets the long head. You will move immediately into a two-hand kickback, keeping both elbows high to target the middle head of the triceps. Finish the mini-circuit with close-grip push-ups to completely exhaust the back of the arms, this final move emphasizng the outer "horseshoe" portion of the triceps. Rest a couple of minutes and repeat. (Note: if you don't have dumbbells, you can use elastic bands or even soup cans.)

Overhead triceps extension - 12-15 repetitions Two-arm kickback - 12-15 repetitions Close-grip push-up - To failure (if necessary, do modified push-ups from the knees)

Triceps Trivia: Even when referring to one arm, always refer to the muscle as triceps. In fact, "tricep" is not a word.