How to tone up your arms and legs
It’s all very well for celebrities to reveal their limbs, but what about us? Don’t worry: Dalton Wong, personal trainer to the stars, has a plan for you.
At this time of year there is a tendency to feel torn between rejoicing at the first sight of the sun and recoiling at the prospect of baring pale, puffy limbs in public. Not so for celebrities, however, whose physiques seem preternaturally sculpted for public displays of athleticism, be it the girls - Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston et al - in sleeveless summer dresses or the boys - Bradley Cooper, Matthew McConaughey and the other usual suspects - bumming around in their board shorts and flip-flops. And can that really be Game of Thrones’ Charles Dance, emerging from the sea, looking ripped in his seventies?
It is, but don’t be disheartened. If your arms and legs are not yet ready for their annual unveiling, there is time to make amends, says Dalton Wong, director of TwentyTwo Training and trainer to Jennifer Lawrence, Amanda Seyfried and the Game of Thrones cast. “It is absolutely possible to have stronger, leaner limbs by the summer if you start preparing now,” Wong says. “Your arms and legs can be transformed with a bit of regular effort.” Here’s his guide.
What are the rules?
Everyone should start with the cardio work below and three days of resistance training - a mix of arm and leg exercises for a total of 15-20 minutes. Try to rotate through the exercises I’ve recommended so that you try different moves and target different muscles in each session.
If your focus is your legs, do more leg strength exercises, and vice versa for flabby arms. Once you are managing that, you can start to add an extra day of resistance training, but avoid walking lunges on consecutive days as they are very challenging.
Add extra weight for some of the exercises if you wish as you get stronger, but for many people body-weight resistance is enough to achieve a level of limb transformation. The important thing is that you can do each exercise with perfect technique before adding extra resistance; if not, you may be loading joints incorrectly and raising the risk of injury.
I am not a fan of wearing ankle weights to run or walk in as they add unnecessary load that can change your natural style, and arm weights just work the forearm muscles and can exacerbate RSI. Always make sure you take two days off resistance training each week with your cardio base activity of walking being the most you do on these recovery days.
Cardio blast
If your limbs are looking puffy or flabby, there’s no getting away from doing a cardio base to blast fat. Resistance work will help to strengthen the muscles, but only by combining it with aerobic exercise will you really be able to reveal leaner and more toned limbs.
There are three layers to aerobic activity and your aim should be to build up to including all of them every week after four to six weeks, starting with the cardio base in weeks one to two, adding medium cardio in weeks three to four and high-intensity in weeks five to six. Do your cardio base workout on recovery days when you have no other exercise to do. With your medium and high-intensity cardio, it doesn’t really matter if you perform it before or after your resistance exercise - whatever works for you - but for time and motivation it is best to do them consecutively.
Cardio base: Walk for 90-120 minutes twice a week at a moderate pace that is approximately 70 per cent of your maximum walking pace (or about five to six on a perceived exertion scale from one to ten).
Medium cardio: A light jog or very brisk walk (140 steps per minute) for 20 minutes.
High-intensity cardio: A five-minute jog or power walk followed by six to ten fast sprints over 50-60m at all-out effort with a walk back to recover. As you get fitter you can do these uphill. Finish with a five-minute jog as a cooldown.
Tone your legs
The lunge collective
Lunges are fantastic all-round exercises that can improve flexibility and balance, but are particularly good at strengthening and toning the legs. There’s an element of instability that means a lot of underused muscles in the core and legs are engaged to keep you upright, and the real beauty of them is that they can be performed in multiple directions placing emphasis on different muscles with each movement. Repeat each lunge for 45 seconds without stopping on one leg, then change to the other leg and repeat for another 45 seconds. As you get fitter, perform two to three sets of a mix of lunges during a session.
Basic lunge
Get this one right before you progress to more complex lunges. Stand upright, then take a large stride forwards with your right leg, bending both knees as you dip into a lunge with back heel lifted. Engage your core muscles and make sure your torso is straight and your head held upright. Lower your arms as you return to the standing centre position.
Walking lunges
This is the basic lunge with forward motion, stepping forward with alternate legs into a lunge. In one study, researchers from Stockholm had a group of recreational footballers perform walking lunges or jump lunges twice a week in addition to regular training. A control group added no lunges. Results showed that the walking lunge group improved hamstring strength and tone by 35 per cent, significantly more than the jump lunge group (although their sprint speed got better) after six weeks.
Reverse lunge
This targets the glutes and places less stress on the knees while still working all of your leg muscles. Stand upright and take a large step backwards with your left foot. Lower your hips so that your right thigh (front leg) becomes parallel to the floor with your right knee positioned directly over your ankle. Your left knee should be bent at a 90-degree angle and pointing towards the floor with your left heel lifted. Return to standing by pressing your right heel into the floor and bringing your left leg forward to complete one rep. Alternate legs and step back with right leg.
Curtsy lunges
Targets the thigh and glute muscles. Stand with your feet together, then perform a curtsy lunge with both arms raised. To do this, step your right leg behind your left, maintaining an upright posture and bending your knee in one fluid motion. Lower arms and return to centre.
Lateral lunges
Stand with your feet approximately hip-width apart, then lunge to the right side with your right foot, raising both arms as you do so. Lower your arms and return to centre. Repeat on one side before changing to the other.
Step-ups
This simple exercise is a great leg workout because it uses the quadriceps and hamstring muscles in the back of the thighs, the glutes and the core muscles to keep you stable as you step. It also improves hip extension, which tends to deteriorate with a lot of sitting and can lead to injury. Indeed, a 2020 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that step-ups are even better at working the gluteus maximus and medius muscles than regular squats. You can make them harder by holding dumbbells and raising the step height, but start small using the bottom step on a flight of stairs before progressing to a park bench or a sturdy dining chair. Fast step-ups are good for fat-burning, but for leg strength and tone they should be slower and more controlled, with good technique. Stand upright in front of your step or platform. Place your right foot on top of the platform and step up, pushing down into the heel of your right foot to raise yourself. Follow with your left foot, then step down in reverse. Complete 45 seconds on one foot before changing sides.
Bonus leg moves
If you have time, add one or both of these to your resistance workout for maximum leg strengthening.
Deadlifts: You will need dumbbells or a kettlebell for this. Hold the weight(s) in your hands and stand up straight, rolling shoulders back and completely flattening your back. Hinge forward from the waist, keeping legs straight, to lower the weights to the floor. Pause at the bottom and avoid bouncing but move into the next repetition. Repeat eight to ten times.
Hamstring curls: You will need a Swiss ball for these, a great exercise for the backs of the legs. Lie on your back with heels resting on the top of the ball and arms by your sides. Dig your heels in to raise your hips off the ground until your body weight is resting on your shoulders. In this position, aim to roll the ball towards your bottom with your heels as you bend your legs. Push the ball away by straightening the legs. Repeat 10-12 times.
Tone your arms
The press-up collective
There is no other exercise that challenges the body in the same way as a press-up. It engages the pectoralis major muscles in your chest, the anterior deltoids in your shoulder and the triceps in your arms to create the push part of the move, and the rectus abdominis, obliques and erector spinae muscles of your core as well as your glutes and the quadriceps at the front of your thighs, which play a stabilising role. Another study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found the traditional press-up to be as effective as a bench press for building chest and arm strength. By altering your hand position to form a narrow or wider base, you can achieve greater activation of different muscles in the arms. Try to do as many controlled press-ups as you can in 45 seconds, adding extra sets as you get stronger.
Half press-up
Start with this modified version, which targets the backs of the arms and chest but allows you to get used to a full range of movement in a controlled way. Lie face down on the floor with palms of the hands beneath your shoulders and legs extended. Keep knees on the ground and maintain a stable upper body, then raise yourself up by pushing into the heels of your palms and straightening your arms. Lower your torso to the ground until your elbows form a 45-degree angle, then push back up again.
Basic press-up
Lie face down on the floor with palms of the hands beneath your shoulders and legs extended, with balls of the feet touching the ground and body straight. Raise yourself up by pushing into the heels of your palms, keeping your torso straight and straightening your arms. Lower your torso to the ground until your elbows form a 45-degree angle, then push back up again.
Diamond press-up
This targets the triceps in the backs of your arms. Perform a basic press-up but with your hands positioned at 45 degrees so that your index fingers and thumbs are touching to form a diamond shape. As you lower, keep your elbows tight to the body and aim to keep that triangle directly beneath your chest at all times.
The rows
Wide-arm press-up
Targets shoulder and upper arm muscles. Do a basic press-up but with your hands positioned wider than your shoulders, fingers facing slightly out.
Single-arm dumbbell row
Great for shoulders and arms. Kneel with left leg on a bench with flat back (ie parallel to the bench) and hold a dumbbell in your right hand. Allow the weight to hang down straight from your shoulder. Lift the weight upward until it’s level with your back, squeezing your shoulder blades as you lift. Lower the weight back to the start position and repeat for 45 seconds. Repeat on the other side.
Upright row
Good for the biceps at the front of the arms. Hold a weight in each hand and stand upright, weights held against the front of your thigh, palms in. Lift the weights to chest height by bending your elbows until upper arms are level with your shoulders. Lower back down. Repeat for 45 seconds.
Bonus arm move
Bicep curl to press: This is an all-rounder for the biceps, triceps and shoulders. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand with arms hanging down at arm’s length. Curl the weights up to your shoulders keeping your elbows tight to your body. Rotate palms outward so they face forward and press the dumbbells overhead until your arms are straight. Reverse movements back to the start position. Repeat 8-12 times.
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