Review and giveaway: Totally Toned Arms! (giveaway closed)

Thanks to my involvement at the Product Review Place, I recently received a copy of a new book, Totally Toned Arms: Get Michelle Obama arms in 21 days.  I think that we all can agree that Mrs. Obama has some pretty terrific arms, so I knew this was a book that I wanted to read!

Honestly, I opened the book expecting to see some pictures of arm exercises and a schedule of which exercises to do when.  I could not have been more surprised at what I actually did find inside! This book is a hidden gem!   It starts out with a discussion of the different types of problem arms- big arms, sagging arms and soft arms.  The discussion about sagging arms really spoke to me, I've lost weight successfully in the past but haven't done as much weight lifting as I needed to, so I ended up with very saggy arms. Thanks to this book, I can avoid that happening again in the future!

For the arm exercises themselves, this book has a wonderful section with detailed instructions on how to do them properly. There are also nice pictures to show you exactly what you need to be doing. The thing I really love about this section of the book is that the author has included variations on many of the exercises, one for home workouts and one for gym workouts. Fabulous!

There's also a great discussion about the proper way to do cardiovascular exercise. I could practically feel the author staring at me when he talked about the way that most of us typically do cardio- just spending 20-30 minutes on a treadmill or other machine, not working out as hard as we can, usually overly distracted with the TV or our iPods. So true!  He has a great alternative to that ineffective exercise, a high-intensity/low-intensity plan.

After the arm exercise instructions and the discussion of cardio exercise, there's also a wonderful section on nutrition including "10 nutritional commandments" and lists of what to et and not eat. I really love the grocery list- I never know what to buy so that I have healthy snacks on hand to get me through the afternoon.  The tips in here were very helpful!

The actual 21-day plan for toned arms is at the end of the book, and it incorporates all of the information discussed earlier in the book. Each day of the 21-day plan has easy-to-follow instructions on cardiovascular exercise and then tells you exactly what arm exercises to do and how many reps. The arm exercise part includes a mini picture or two of the exercise so that you can easily remember what you're supposed to be doing. After the 21-day workout there's a great section detailing a plan for maintenance.

This is a serious fitness book, and if you're thinking about getting in shape this winter, it's one you need to run out and get immediately!

I'm giving away 5 copies of this book! US/Canadian mailing addresses only. 

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Giveaway will close at 9 PM PST on January 31, 2010. I'll choose a winner with random.org and will email that person who will have 48 hours to respond. Good luck!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book to review for myself, but not compensated for this post and all opinions here are mine and mine alone!