I often get sent free products from various trainers and companies that want me to check their stuff out and give it an endorsement. Usually I pass, but this has been sitting on my shelf for a few months and I figured it deserved a closer look.
This is the Arm Shaper from Dynaflex Pro.
Coach Rylan
I’m all for having huge home-gym set-ups with thousands of dollars of top-tier training equipment at your disposal. After all, I am a fitness guy, it’s what I do.
Just like I’m sure any tech-geek would love to have a room full of the most expensive and cutting edge supercomputers with the most powerful processors, graphics cards, and Terabytes of memory ready to be exploited.
But do we need it to get the job done?
Without a doubt – NO.
Would it be nice? Sure.
But for the average person who wants to get a great workout in at home, without having to fork out major cash for expensive and expansive equipment, and without dedicating half of the square footage of your home to workout space – there really are only a few essentials that you need.
They’re cheap. They’re compact. And you can easily get a gym-quality workout with these items without stepping out of your front door.
I call them the 4 ‘B’s of fitness equipment.
Can you guess what they are?
UPDATE BELOW:
Nice work everyone! I was really impressed with the answers. It actually made me think that I should have changed it to the 5 Bs’.
Anyway, the answer is Bench, Ball, Bells (as in Dumbbells), and Bands.
Bodyweight is indeed one of the essentials, but I don’t consider it ‘equipment’ per se, so that’s why I leave it out. Brains on the other hand – as strange as it may sound – not really required.
For some programs maybe, but I always strive to take thinking out of the equation with my programs. You don’t need to sit through an exercise physiology lesson – you just need to be shown what to do, and then go do it.
So lets break this down a little…
Ball - a good stability ball has many uses, and it actually can double up as a bench for nearly all bench exercises. It’s also fantastic for core strengthening exercises, and I’ve invented a couple brand new – never before seen – arm sculpting exercises that will make an appearance in the new Go Sleeveless DVD system – and these exercises take advantage of the ball to bring you even more arm sculpting and definition than ever before.
Bench - a good sturdy bench is a fantastic companion, and you can find many great models that fold up and slide right under your bed. A bench offers good stable support for exercises where the movement of a ball is inappropriate. For example, Step-Ups, Bench Dips, and Bench Knee Tucks are exercises that MUST be done with a bench. A Bench also offers a great platform for performing assisted push-ups, Incline Presses, and much more. If you don’t yet have a bench, seriously consider picking one up.
Bands – Bands often get a bad wrap from some trainers because many feel they don’t provide enough resistance to offer much of a challenge to your muscles. I disagree entirely. You can get bands that range in tension from very light, to exceedingly heavy. I personally use a set of bands in my studio called ‘Superbands’ that actually provide up to 100lbs of resistance. You can pull a truck with this thing! That’s a challenge!
Bands are simply the single best option for allowing you to perform a huge repertoire of exercises with something that costs little more than 10 bucks, and can be stuffed in your purse and taken with you anywhere. Hotel workouts, office workouts, exercises on the go – no problem if you’ve got a band. In fact, in the upcoming DVD, I will be adding in bonus office workouts, hotel workouts, and travel workouts that you do in 5 minutes and all you will need is your band and your body.
Bells - A good set of Dumbbells completes my list of 4 essential pieces of equipment. Some exercises you just cant do with body-weight, and many band exercises just aren’t the same as their dumbbell counterparts. But there is very little that you cant do with a set of dumbbells. I always recommend getting a pair of dumbbells from 5-25 pounds in 5 pound increments for beginners – and you should go as high as one set above what you could currently use for a dumbbell chest press exercises. Dumbbells or “Free Weights’ beat out machine exercises every time. They work more muscles, allow more movement, and give you total freedom of range of movement to suit your personal body mechanics.
For less than half the price of just ONE single machine you find in a gym, you could outfit your home workout space with everything listed above, and more, and still have all of your free space available.
Quite simply, there is not an exercise machine in existence that can match what the 4 Bs of Fitness Equipment will provide for you.
Coach Rylan
PS. In case you were wondering – the upcoming Go Sleeveless DVD set will not require any other specialized equipment other than what you read above. And as I mentioned before, there will even be bonus workouts that require NO equipment at all. Workout at home, the office, or on holidays. Workout in 5 minutes. Workout with no equipment. No excuses left. Go.
After a very labor intensive process, my first ‘hard-copy’ book was finally released today, January the 6th, 2010.
When I got into the fitness industry I had no idea that my name would ever end up on the cover of a book. But I have to admit, it is kinda cool to walk into a book store and see my work sitting there on the shelf – I feel like a proud parent.
But more importantly, having this book released allows me the opportunity to reach an even greater audience and help even more women overcome their troubles with problem arms – and that is what this is all about – you the reader.
Thank you to everyone who has already picked up their copy (lots of my fellow Canadians must have gotten up nice and early to get their copy because Amazon.ca was already back-ordered this morning), and to those that haven’t yet, I don’t often ask for much – but if you can afford the 10 bucks for a copy – your support means a great deal to me – so thank you in advance.
The fitness book market is very competitive – and the more support this book receives – the more likley I will be able to publish another in the future.
Thanks again to each one of you - I did this for you, so I hope you enjoy it and put it to good use.
Coach Rylan
PS. Why does YouTube always chose a frame that makes me look like a bloody Orangutan?
I know I am bossy.
I tell you what to do all the time.
Realistically, that is just the nature of my line of work.
As a Coach, I am responsible for helping you achieve your goals, and that responsibility comes part in parcel with me telling you what to do and how to do it.
But too often in this work, us coaches don’t stop and listen to what YOU, the client and customer, really wants.
So this is my turn to switch things around and listen to what you have to say.
What do YOU want?
What do you need to help you reach your goals?
Do you want daily emails to encourage you and motivate you?
Do you want me to email you once a month or less?
Do you want step-by-step exercise videos that you can watch on your computer or at home?
Do you want photos that you can print out and take with you?
Do you want a done-for-you eating plan and exercise regime that you don’t have to think about at all, just pick up an go?
Let me know, and then tell me how much it’s worth to you.
For example, maybe this is what you want:
How much would you pay for all of that?
It’s up to you.
Maybe losing 30 pounds, getting a new body, and not having to think about one single thing while you do it is worth $1000 to you.
Maybe it’s only worth $100.
Be reasonable, and tell me what it’s really worth to you. If I think I can do it for that price, then I will. Obviously I can’t devote all my time to a program that you want for free, I have to make a living too. But I will seriously consider any reasonable offers.
The point is, I want to provide products and services that you really want, instead of me trying to guess what you want and then putting my price tag on it.
I will be starting my next big Go Sleeveless revision soon, so I want to hear what you have to say.
Tell me in the comments below. I will read every single one and take all of your opinions into account. This new updated program could very well see the light of day in a few weeks.
Coach Rylan
The first ever ‘Ask Coach Rylan’ Segment.
I’ve just updated the post I made on Kate Gosselin’s Workout Routine with a video walk-through on how to perform each exercise in the program.
I’ve also put together a quick demo video on proper use of resistance bands in your home gym, and how to attach them to your door when needing high level, mid level, or low level attachment points for band/cable exercises.
Also, if you want to be notified whenever I add a new video, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube page by visiting it here (my youtube name is AdonisBHK01).
By the way, I always appreciate your positive feedback on my videos as well as receiving high ratings, so please feel free to rate and comment on my videos. Thanks to all.
Coach Rylan
This is something I have been keeping under my hat for quite a while.
Before I was to let the cat out of the bag I wanted to make sure that everything was moving ahead smoothly, which it is, so now it’s time to unveil what I’ve been working so hard on the past few weeks.
I have just signed a book deal with Grand Central Publishing and Hachette Book Group in New York City to write an all-new, women’s only fitness book.
The topic of the book is going to be, of course, on how to sculpt toned and sexy arms.
Some might ask why I would want to write another book when I’ve already written Go Sleeveless and numerous other E-Books.
Truth be told, there are thousands upon thousands of women who I can’t reach because they don’t have access to a computer, don’t know how to download and read e-books, or just aren’t comfortable purchasing anything over the internet. I have also received stacks of requests from readers who have expressed interest in a hard-copy book as they prefer that to E-Book format.
But instead of just re-release Go Sleeveless in hard-copy format, I’ve decided that this would be a great opportunity to create an entirely new program that would have something to offer readers who are already familiar with the Go Sleeveless System, as well as readers new to my work. The upcoming book will include new exercises, new workouts, and all the latest information to help you get toned and sexy arms.
I will keep you posted on details of when and where you will be able to get this book as we get closer to the publish date, but for now, it looks like you can expect it sometime in early 2010 from all major book retailers.
Coach Rylan
Is it possible to reverse sagging skin naturally? Is it possible to get rid of all that flapping skin and wrinkles without supplements and surgery? What happens if you’ve already lost all the body fat you can lose and you still have sagging arms? Then what?
I get questions like this emailed to me on a constant basis, and it doesn’t surprise me.
The plastic surgery and cosmetic industry love to perpetuate the myth that sagging and wrinkled skin is irreversible naturally; that the only way to get rid of it is to slice it off, tuck it, and slather it in moisturizing lotions and expensive creams.
They’ll tell you that skin sags with age, and it wrinkles. They’ll also tell you that you are just one of the unlucky ones who has bad genetics that makes your skin droop.
Let’s clear this up once and for all….
First, genetics is not involved. I’ve read numerous identical twin studies where they’ve looked at the difference in skin condition, and found there to be incredible differences in elasticity, complexion, wrinkles etc. Some of the photos I’ve seen, the twins look decades apart in age, and the only thing that can account for that is differences in the ‘environment’ both internal and external.
The biggest problem is the way weight loss is achieved. For many folks, they lose weight through caloric restriction, lots of cardio, and low-weight high-reps strength training (biggest loser style). This is hard on the body, lowers the metabolism, creates nutritional deficiencies, and reduces muscle mass.
Here is a big point: If you don’t build any lean muscle, and instead focus on just losing fat, the problem of flapping skin is going to get MUCH WORSE! You must focus on serious strength training and developing firm and toned muscles underneath the flab, so when the flab is gone, the skin has something firm to adhere to.
Another major issues is hydration and nutrition. Hydrated cells are plump and firm; you must get enough water, and you must stop dehydrating yourself with excessive sun exposure, tanning beds, caffeine, and alcohol.
As for nutrition, if you are eating lots of junk food and aren’t getting enough fruits and veggies, you are causing cellular damage through excess oxidative stress. This damages the cells, and can actually destroy their ability to hold water properly. Many Dr.’s say that as you age the skin cells lose their ability to hold onto water and this is why wrinkles form. This is only partly correct. This is not from age; this is from repeated exposure to oxidative stress. It just happens that if you’ve lived a life where you haven’t taken care of yourself as well as you should have, you have had more opportunities to damage the cells. However, this can be combated with a healthy diet high in antioxidants, but sadly, most people are seriously lacking on this end and prefer to use cosmetic procedures or creams and lotions to band-aid the problem.
Another important point is that many people assume that aging is going to bring sagging skin and wrinkles. But here’s the trouble with this logic…all of the skin cells in your body are replaced every 7 years or so. If you are 50 years old, your skin cells might only be about 5, so how can it be that your skin seems to sag and wrinkle with age?
The problem is the environment these cells are being ‘re-grown’ in. While our bodies are very resilient, if you expose them to punishment long enough, there is bound to be trouble.
Here’s an analogy…
If you planted a garden in toxic and contaminated soil, never watered it or weeded it, and trampled all over it, how do you think it would grow? If it grew at all, it would probably look pretty sickly and deformed. The same goes for your skin cells. Give them a perfect environment to develop in, and you will have beautiful, radiant, and firm skin for many years.
Okay, so if you have sagging and wrinkled skin, what do you do about it? First, you have to start eating a diet designed to detoxify your cells naturally and gently (I’ve designed the Daily Detox Diet, exactly for this reason). You also need to start drinking a lot more water, and decrease any substances that are diuretic in nature (caffeine, alcohol, etc).
Next, make sure you start a targeted strength training program designed to build and tone the underlying muscle while you burn away the fat on top (Any of the workout programs in Go Sleeveless will take care of this). Also, forget the long marathon cardio sessions. Start doing high intensity interval training cardio that will help bring out even better muscle definition, and boost your metabolism (again, the Go Sleeveless cardio workouts are already designed to solve this problem).
It’s really not a complex process, but if you lose weight without following these basic steps, you could end up with a lot of excess sagging skin that can be troublesome to correct. However, even if that’s the case, put this plan into action and you can reverse the damage. Depending on how much sagging skin you have to correct, obviously the time it will take to completely reverse it will vary. However, I can guarantee if you follow the principles in Go Sleeveless, you are going to make incredible progress in 6 weeks and you are going to see a great reduction in your sagging and wrinkled skin.
Coach Rylan
PS. Don’t forget my E-Book ‘Body Firming Secrets That Plastic Surgeon’s Don’t Want You To Know”, included in the Elite Package at www.GoSleeveless.com that is packed full of cheap and free secrets for how you can start naturally reversing sagging and wrinkled skin – like my special foam roller technique.
Workout Challenge To Get Arms Like Michelle Obama's
This week’s homework is in the form of a challenge that I am calling my Michelle Obama’s Arms Challenge.
Since I wrote an article a while back on how to get toned and sculpted arms so you can Go Sleeveless like Michelle Obama, I have been getting swamped by the press and questions from readers and clients alike. That article actually landed me an interview with CNN, and later went on to be published by ABC news and BET.com as well (among others).
In that article I released a quick home workout that will help you get arms like Michelle Obama’s, and it was an incredible hit.
Therefore, for this week’s homework, I thought I would resurrect that workout and turn it into a challenge. I’ve tweaked it a little, and changed a couple small details to make it a little more…uh, fun 
.
This workout requires no special equipment, but that doesn’t make it easy. It will seriously melt some fat off those arms and tone them up on no time. Okay, so here’s whats up:
Michelle Obama’s Arm Challenge Workout
A) 2 minutes of jogging in place or jumping jacks
B) Superset #1
15 No-Jump Burpees (substitute with squat + overhead press if you cannot do Burpees)
15 Step-Ups
15 Deep Plie Squats
C) 2 minutes of jogging in place or jumping jacks
D) Rest 60 seconds
E) 2 minutes of jogging in place or jumping jacks
F) Superset #2
16 x 6 second holds – Alternating Plank
15 Narrow Grip Incline Pushups
15 Chair Dips
G) 2 minutes of jogging in place or jumping jacks
H) Rest 60 Seconds
Set a time limit for 30 minutes, and see how many sets (A through H) you can get through. If you aren’t yet strong enough to complete the reps I’ve listed, that’s okay, just do as many as you can. If you can get 10, great. If you can get the full 15 even better. If you can do more, FANTASTIC!
Keep a pencil and paper handy, write out the workout, and during each rest interval write down the reps you get so you remember how many you did.
Then, REPORT BACK TO ME!
In the comments section below, tell me how many total sets you managed to get through in 30 minutes (again, one full set is A through H), and how many reps you managed on your FIRST and LAST set. If you are working hard, your reps should start to drop pretty dramatically. However, don’t let yourself slack off, push yourself to try and get as many reps as possible for every set you do.
Anyone who makes it through four full sets in 30 minutes is going to get a big pat on the back from me.
Okay ladies, show me what you’ve got!
Coach Rylan
Go Sleeveless and Michelle Obama are in the news again. This is all stemming from an article I published on a workout to get Michelle Obama’s arms a while back.
Here is a more recent article that I was interviewed for by the Bay Area Newsgroup (California)
Jessica Yadegaran
Bay Area Newsgroup
Move over, Madonna. Michelle Obama’s got guns.
Since she walked into the White House, Obama has selected fashion-forward clothing that flatters her buff arms. She’s on the current cover of Vogue sans sleeves. She wore sleeveless Narciso Rodriguez to the president’s joint session of Congress last month. And she was on a March cover of People magazine in a pink lace dress also lacking sleeves.
Obama has been a fashion icon since she hit the campaign trail two years ago. But the first lady’s toned triceps have received more attention of late. Two weeks ago, she even defended her right to bare arms — a few naysayers have criticized her for showing the skin — on “Good Morning America.” But, most of the attention has been positive. Just in time for spring, Obama is motivating women to get in shape.
“Obama’s arms are popular because she’s not too skinny and she’s not overly muscled,” says Rylan Duggan, a British Columbia Registered Kinesiologist who blogs about defining flab by arms at gosleevelessblog.com. “She’s lean and toned yet still feminine.”
Clients who normally ask for Madonna or Kelly Ripa arms have added Obama to the list, Duggan says. He believes women want to emulate her because she is a busy woman rather than a twenty-something starlet. “She’s the family woman. She’s showing people you can have a great body and be a busy mom. The women I work with are so proud of her for being able to do that. I think it’s fantastic.”
The only thing we know about Obama’s fitness regimen is that she works out with a personal trainer for 90 minutes three days a week. But what does she do to build those biceps? Duggan’s analysis: “I can assure you that she’s not afraid of lifting heavy weights,” he says, adding that many women avoid heavier weights for fear of bulking up.
Duggan, a certified strength and conditioning specialist, is also confident that Obama’s trainer has her on interval training, or bursts of high-intensity cardiovascular exercises followed by minutes of lower-intensity activity. “It’s the most efficient way to work out because you save time, burn more fat and boost metabolism.”
Finally, he says, Obama’s getting buff by working her whole body. Hard. You can do hundreds of bicep curls a week, but if you’re not engaging your entire body, you won’t eliminate those bat wings, Duggan says. “Spot reduction is a myth,” he adds. “The only way to burn body fat is to lose it from your whole body.”
In fact, exercises that use multiple muscle groups, like squats, are Duggan’s favorite for toning the upper body.
The reason, again, that I choose the squat as one of the best arm exercises is because it burns so much body fat. Remember, you have to attack flabby arms from a whole-body perspective.
It seems counterintuitive, but really, it’s the only way to get real success.
If you haven’t yet read my free e-book on the 3 Golden Rules of Eliminating Flabby and Saggy Arms, then please head over to Go Sleeveless and grab your free copy now. It will clear up a lot of confusion for you and help you get on the road to toned and sculpted arms today.
PS. If there is enough interest, I might actually film the workout I recommended in my past article. If this is something you want, just leave me a comment. If I get enough responses I will take an afternoon and film the workout and make it available to all my readers for free.
Your Natural Plastic Surgeon,
Rylan Duggan
RK, BHK, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
