A 7 Minute Interval class:

LAURA’S FABULOUS SELFIE of her ARMS 🙂

I don’t know how much you know about a woman’s arms and what happens to them as aging begins…and I don’t mean OLD…I mean older…like the tail end of twenty going into the thirties. If left to their own devices those arms begin to take on a life of their own…and it is not fabulous! First you get what my grandmother referred to as a “hammock”…That is when the muscle and the skin of the triceps starts to soften little by little until it is lax. Then, every time you move your arms, even a little bit, it jiggles and wobbles…And, when you lift you arm up the back of the arm starts swinging freely in a loose flap of flesh like a …well, like a hammock. Then, little by little, the rest of the arm does the same. It also starts taking on this cottage cheese type of surface appearance…again, not fabulous…Now it is long sleeves, even in August!
I know you are all wondering if there is a solution to the “arm” fiasco…The answer is yes. The first thing you need to try to do is not let your weight yo-yo. When you gain too much weight the skin stretches…and unfortunately it does’t shrink (with weight loss) quite as much as it stretched with the weight gain. Maintaining an even weight (10 pounds either direction) is really helpful. But even if you do this you must work the muscles in your arms on a regular basis. I used to work my arms in the gym using 15 -20 pound dumbells. That is a lot of weight for a woman and I developed some massively large muscled arms…They didn’t sag at all…in fact, the muscle was so developed, they didn’t even bend very much. They looked best when I wore a tack top. If I wore anything that covered the arms I looked like a polar bear. Also, a lot of arm development tends to thicken the neck as well…I am sure you get the picture. Yikes on the neck thing!…right?
It wasn’t until I started doing a lot of yoga that I realized a bulky muscle gets in the way of flexibility. The problem is that just regular flow yoga isn’t quite enough to maintain a toned arm when you start getting older. This is where Ali comes in! Ali’s “Interval Integration ” and “Challenge” classes are brilliant. You not only maintain or develop flexibility, gain strength, improve balance and focus…You also get these beautiful lean, toned arms…Her “second chataranga” , combined with isometric intervals are the perfect combination. I hate to tell my age…but for the sake of everyone’s arms I’ll tell…I am nearly 60…and my arms are fabulous. I took some pictures (My infamous crappy selfies) to show you what they look like. So if you are still young, Ali’s Yoga classes will spare you having to experience the “hammock”…and if you are not so young, Ali’s Yoga will help transform the arms you want to hide into “some tank top wearing arms” worth shouting about. I love to brush my teeth in front of the bathroom mirror just to watch my arms flex up so lean and toned in all of their magnificent glory!
I will list some of the classes you can do that are focused on the arms…but, any of Ali’s classes you choose have plenty of arm work in them. She’s fun, she’s beautiful, she’s exciting, but most importantly, she is amazingly effective! So, lets whip out those arms and see what we can do!
With my heart, my soul, and my bitchin’ arms, xoxox, Laura

P.S. Ali here: Now if you have to lose a lot to weight don’t despair. Focus on proper nutrition and Interval Yoga and you will get the skin to tighten. I have found that raw foods high in minerals and vitamins DO help in collagen repair. High in nutrition raw foods are invaluable for any type of saggy, dimply and not-so fabulous skin issues. <3

Love