Arm Toner overview, review

Yes, I'm still here. And yes, we're still exercising.

We managed to put in an 8.25 mile day outside on the tandem a little over week ago, then we got in a ca. 15 mile day a few days later so, with the nicer weather, we're getting fired up to do some serious outdoor riding. Hoping to get in at least one 100 mile day this year, but that's quite a ways off (mid-summer, maybe?).

And we're still doing our upper-body strength training. We just did our Arm Toner routine a couple of days ago (on Fri.), as scheduled. Which reminds me that I still need to provide an overview and review--which is the main topic of this current entry. Without further ado, then, on to the overview/review.

First let me just reiterate how glad I am that we found this Arm Toner routine. It really is very much what I'd been looking for for some time, i.e., and upper-body strengthening/toning routine that would be fairly short and less intense than the P90X routines we were doing about a year ago.

I'm a firm believer in taking it easy--"holding back," if you will--at certain points during the fitness year. This routine has provided us with the means for doing just that.

As I've observed earlier, the Arm Toner routine is one of five routines that make up the Power Half Hour fitness series. I haven't looked at any of the other routines and do not intend to--this one provides the only things I want from that regimen. And I don't know whether there are any dietary guidelines associated with the Power Half Hour regimen, as there are with P90X. Since we've had our diet pretty much under control for some time now, I'm not interested in learning or writing about any of those aspects of this regimen. No, my sole interest is in the particular segment that we're using--Arm Toner.

So, what is the Arm Toner routine? Put simply it's a fast-paced series of exercise sets for the upper body that are interspersed with a number of short stretching sessions. The exercise sets involve some calisthenics and some use of dumbbells (latex bands can be substituted for dumbbells). So, equipment-wise, there are minimal requirements, making it possible to do the routine in just about any location.

The whole routine is only a half hour long, though an off-the-clock, one-minute cool-down gets tacked onto the end--making it actually 31 minutes total. The video shows Tony Horton leading two participants in executing the routine. The exercise sets and stretch periods are of very brief duration, the longest being only one minute and the shortest being only sixteen seconds. There are seven stretch periods interspersed among sets of seventeen different exercises--some of which exercises get repeated (i.e., two sets are done).

Thus the important difference between this routine and others put out by the same company that I've used and reviewed here that is that there's almost no counting of repetitions; rather, almost all exercises are done according to the clock, i.e., for a brief specified interval. I find this approach of not counting repetitions but rather performing each exercise for a set time, refreshing and very effective for helping me reduce intensity.

Timing-wise the layout of this routine is a little confusing. The average duration of a set is only about 30 seconds, though some are quite a bit longer (fifty seconds) while others are quite a bit shorter (sixteen seconds). But if you're following along with the DVD you don't really notice that and just switch to the next set when instructed to do so. Below is a table that lists all the exercise sets and stretch periods along with their durations:

push-ups	20 seconds
lawn mower right	20 seconds
lawn mower left	20 seconds
push-ups	20 seconds
lawn mower right	22 seconds
lawn mower left	25 seconds
stretch	20 seconds
incline push-ups	25 seconds
hyperextensions	26 seconds
incline push-ups	30 seconds
stretch	30 seconds
diamond push-ups	16 seconds
back flys	25 seconds
stretch	30 seconds
heavy pants	22 seconds
stretch	23 seconds
military press	42 seconds
basic curls	31 seconds
military press	30 seconds
basic curls	26 seconds
stretch	30 seconds
swimmer's press	32 seconds
open-arm curls	33 seconds
swimmer's press	35 seconds
open-arm curls	33 seconds
stretch	35 seconds
21's (curls)	50 seconds
stretch	30 seconds
shoulder flys	30 seconds
1-arm tricep kick-back (right)	34 seconds
1-arm tricep kick-backs (left)	32 seconds
shoulder flys	32 seconds
1-arm tricep kick-back (right)	30 seconds
1-arm tricep kick-back (left)	32 seconds
stretch	26 seconds
upright rows	33 seconds
chair dips	32 seconds
upright rows	31 seconds
chair dips	37 seconds
stretch	40 seconds
triple whammy	62 seconds

I need to add that there is a 2:09 warm-up session at the beginning which is figured into the thirty-minute total for this routine. The ca. one-minute warm-down at the end--which I mentioned above--is not figured into the thirty minutes. See some snippets from this routine in the youtube video I've embedded below.

Also relevant in the way of general remarks are the names of certain of the exercises--names whose actual referent might not be readily apparent. "Hyperextension" may not, for example, be readily understandable as what is sometimes called the "superman": this is where you lay on the floor on your stomach and then raise your arms and legs off the floor and hold them there for a number of seconds. Yet more obscure will probably be the "triple whammy," which is a combination of three exercises also found separately in this routine: bicep curl, leading into swimmer's press which then transitions into tricep kickbacks (using both arms).

One of the first things the more mathematically-minded might note when looking over this table is that the times I've listed do not add up to thirty minutes. That's because several seconds always tick by between every set when no exercise is taking place: these seconds are taken up with Tony's bantering and/or equipment adjustment (two of the participants in the DVD are using adjustable dumbbells).

To summarize, I just want to reiterate how satisfied I am with this routine. It complements very well our exercise regimen in a number of ways: it focuses on upper-body strengthening/toning; it's short; it provides a decent aerobic workout; sets are done according to the clock rather than by counting repetitions; and for these reasons it provides a great alternative workout to use during periods when we want to lower the intensity level of our workouts. For these reasons, I highly recommend it--but do be aware that, if your fitness regimen differs significantly from mine, you may not find it so suitable. I should also mention in this routine's favor the cost factor: I paid just a few dollars on Amazon (shipping included) for my copy of Arm Toner.

On other notes, we begin another week off from fitness this week. It's the last week of lent, so we need to turn our focus to spiritual things. We will try to do a bit more walking this week, but we'll be off the bikes and not doing strength training for a few days.

Future plans: we will probably reinstitute our modified P90X phase soon--though we'll be making some further modifications. I'll write more about that later, but the basic idea is to switch from Arm Toner back to modified P90X, but to do the modified P90X only once a week instead of twice a week. Anyway, more on that soon.