Grown and Sexy arm training


For years I had frequented a small local coffee shop near the bottom of my street. The café was the type that was frequented by laptop toting young professionals and artsy college students. Each morning they would shuffle to the counter in droves looking like a robotic assembly of slackers. Looking down the line, one could hardly tell them apart. The young men stood lazily, adorned in worn out t-shirts and ill-fitting pants hanging off skeletal hips. The woman, all young and trendy resembled tattooed incarnations of Betty Page. Despite the overwhelmingly bohemian crowd, the café often hired friendly young out of Towner’s, whom if given the opportunity would talk your ear off.


Aside from the proximity, I loved this neighborhood café for its consistent blends of warm brew that jolted me to life. Every morning I would roll in with the rest of the morning crew, sluggishly yearning for a fresh cup of coffee. My routine was intact, first I would gaze over the assorted bean displays, and then dramatically ponder over which I would choose. Finally I would refer in a playful manner to the girl behind the counter, asking which was her favorite. I had done this for years, never deviating from tradition. Each interaction a small reminder of the fact that I “ still had it”. For those who don’t know what that is, It is that certain thing, a jean est sa quoi . It’s the ability to conjure up a playful smile on a woman’s face by inciting words, which are just right. “IT “ forms the glint in her eye when she, and only she knows the hidden meaning behind your conversation. You should know that every man lives for “IT”. Its as if on some deep level, we revel in the fact that we made a woman feel a slice of delight in what would otherwise be a mundane day.


On that fateful Wednesday morning, I walked into the café. Exhausted from a sleepless night of playing unwilling audience to the sounds of my neighbors performing the horizontal tango. I was fervently looking forward to my early morning salvation of java with a side of verbal flirtation. To my delight there was a new girl working behind the counter. Her nametag read “Heidi” and like many young women she reeked of eagerness in even the most menial tasks.

“Hi, how can I help you this morning?”
“Hmm, I cant decide, I want a coffee, something strong but not too bitter”
How about the Sumatran Mandheling ?
That sounds promising, is that your favorite?
Yep, start every day with it.
Will that be all Sir?
Sir? Sir? Had I heard her properly?

Here I was, barely a day over thirty and she had the nerve to refer to me like a veteran of the Great War. I promptly snatched up my drink and paid, there would be no change inserted into the tip cup this day.


For the rest of the morning Heidi’s shrewish voice played over and over in my head like a broken record. Sure, I was aware that my hair was a little bit thinner, and my once cherubic face now bore the lines of a man who had toiled for some days, but these were the signs of maturation for a man. In my mind I was no longer in the ranks of the Zac Effrons and Shia Lebouf’s, I had entered the land of Clooney, Smith and Pitt. I was Hollywood’s new leading man. To have had a seemingly innocent schoolgirl dash my ego to the rocks without a second thought forced me to ask the questions;
 

  • Was I no longer considered cool?
  • Had my increasing age make made me less desirable?
  • Aren’t we supposed to get better with age?

 Desperate for some sort of reassurance I called a female confidant.  We had grown up together and she would tell me the truth.  As soon as she picked up the receiver,I explained the situation to her and eagerly waited for her reply. Her words:
Don’t worry about it, sure you may not be the ideal for some college aged Twinkie, but that’s okay. You are officially grown and sexy!

For those who don’t know grown and sexy is a relatively new construct of the hip-hop vernacular, basically it means to be older yet retain a high level of attractiveness.

[Editors note:]
Definition: 1 grown and sexy:   
Older, mature yet hip; something that is for a more mature group of people;

Grown and sexy huh? I let it mill over in my mind for a minute, unsure whether her words were just a thinly constructed band aid to cover my ego from the stings of realization.

“Yeah” I retorted, “I like that!”

Content with my new and improved self-image I decided that I would wear my maturation as a badge of honor, a symbol of life lived and a newfound appreciation of all that is yet to come. In celebration of those who embrace they’re thirties, take delight in they’re forty’s and prosper in they’re fifties, I have written the Grown and Sexy arm workout.

Like the rest of the workouts adorning the pages of this site, The Grown and Sexy arm workout can be used for a men or woman. 
No gender bias here, its sole purpose is to create a pair of arms so beautiful that they bring the young and inexperienced to their knees.

Each person that takes on this program will be evidence to the fact that we can get better with age. Be forewarned though, this is a tough workout. If you stick with it, the eventual payoff will be a set of arms that would leave DaVinci in toga wearing awe. The goal is simple, we are going to build a body that bares signal to the world, regardless of your age, you can still look great.
The Phase 1 protocol is easy, perform a typical chest/back –legs-shoulders /arms split as you normally would, but to reduce the likelihood for over training drop the volume significantly. A recommendation of two sets of three exercises per muscle group should suffice, to maintain previous levels of muscularity. In terms of actual training frequency for the arms you will aim to train them twice in a seven-day period. As you will see the program is very high volume so the use of supplemental recovery methods will be needed, for optimal results,with that said, lets begin.

Shoulders
A1: Push press x 6   (3,2,X,0)  rest 60 seconds
A2: Lateral raise x 12   (2,0,2,0) rest 30 seconds
A3: Db half press (mid ROM to lock out) x AMRAP
A4: wall angel x 20
Complete 3 sets move on to:

Biceps
B1: Cheating Barbell curl x 6   (3,2,X,0) rest 60 seconds
B2: Hammer biceps curl x 12   (3,0,2,0) rest 30 seconds
B3: Low pulley lean away curl x 15 no rest
B4: Barbell isometric holds at varied degrees 10 seconds per angle

Note: for the low pulley lean away curls, grasp the cable handles and turn away from the machine. walk forward until the arms are in a stretched position behind the trunk, from there proceed to curl the arms.

Note: for the Barbell isometric holds, perform a full barbell curl with the EZ curl bar, lower your arms 3/4 of the way down and hold for a count of 10, then lower to a half curl and hold for a 10 count, finish by lowering the weight so that the arms are almost straight but there is still tension on the biceps and hold for 10.

Complete 3 sets then move on to:

Triceps
C1: Close grip decline press x 6   (3,2,X,1) rest 60 seconds
C2: V-bar dip x 12  3,0,2,0 rest 30 seconds
C3: Triceps rope extension x 15 (3,0,2,2)
C4: 1/2 push up hold x ALAP
Complete 3 sets

Perform this protocol for 3 weeks tops. Then progress to phase 2

                                                                        Phase 2

Shoulders
A1: Military press x 5 X 5  (3,2,X, 0) rest 90 seconds
A2: Cuban press 3 X 10  (2,0,2,0) rest 60 seconds

Biceps/Triceps
B1: Barbell Scott curl 5 X 5  (3,2,X, 0) rest 90 seconds
B2: Close grip bench press 5 X 5   (3,0,2,0) rest 90 seconds
C1: Close grip bicep barbell curl   3 X 7   (3,2,X, 1) rest 90 seconds
C2: Seated French press 3 X 7  (3,0,2,0) rest 90 seconds

The first thing you may notice about the phase 2 training is the drop in repetitions required per movement, the lower rep bracket and increased intensity is recommended for one reason, To stimulate gains in strength and functional hypertrophy.
Essentially what we have done is increased the structural size of the muscle fiber (imagine a bag full of fibers) and now we are increasing the size of the actual fibers themselves.

Once we have completed this heavy load, high intensity portion of our program we will precede to our third and final phase of training, the unloading phase. In this final phase we will return to a moderate volume of work for the arms and rest of the body.  It will be during this unloading, low volume phase where you notice the tremendous difference in the size and strength of your arms. Basically what we have done is taken the arms through various shock methods, while reducing the stress on the rest of the body, which in turn forces them to grow.

                                                                         Phase 3:

Shoulders
A1: Dumbbells shoulder press 3 X 12  (3,1,2, 1) rest 60 seconds
B1: L-lateral raise 3 X 12  (2,0,2,0) rest 60 seconds

Biceps
C1: Dumbbells biceps curl 3 X 12 (3,2,X, 0) rest 60 seconds
D1: Reverse grip barbell curl 3 x 12 (3,0,2,0) rest 60 seconds

Triceps
E1: Supine Dumbbells triceps extension 3 X 12   (3,0,2,0) rest 60 seconds
F1: Unilateral cable triceps extension 3 X 12  (3,0,2,2) rest 60 seconds

Upon completing Phase 3 you are officially done. Go ahead flex those lady pythons. The newfound shape and tightness of your Amazonian arms will serve as a testament to the beauty of age. A new perspective without envy for the young, for what they effortlessly display in youth and beauty, we have sharpened by discipline and experience.
Stand tall; walk proud for now you are Grown and Sexy.
[Editors Note: The author is not as sensitive as the story would have you believe.]