Exercises for summer-ready shoulders and arms

The days are getting longer, the sun is shining: before long we'll be pulling swimming suits and summer wardrobes out of the closet. But there's still time to fine tune our workouts and show off an even more proportional figure.

To reach this goal, this month we'll concentrate on toning the shoulders and arms, which are sometimes neglected by workout programmes, but which are essential for a body that's well-trained overall.
Here are two simple exercises with the Wellness Ball that you can easily do every day.

For strong, toned arms
The basic exercise for training the upper limbs is to bend your arms. Doing it with the Wellness Ball is variation that makes the exercise even more complete, because it introduces:
- instability at the fulcrum of the exercise, which requires greater effort to maintain balance;
- a greater distance from the ground of the lower limbs.

Procedure
1. Rest your ankles on the Ball and place your hands on the ground even with your shoulders, with your body facing downward. Keep your legs and torso in alignment with your arms held straight.
2. Bend your arms, lowering your chest toward the ground, inhaling as you go.
3. Straighten your arms and return to the starting position, exhaling as you go.

You must control your motion as you bend your arms in order to reap the benefits from both directions of motion, both the extension (active) phase and the return phase.
If you're a beginner, repeat the bend 8-12 times for at least 2-3 sets.
If you're already quite strong, you can repeat 10-15 times for at least 4-5 sets.

To keep your shoulders healthy
Here's a simple exercise that activates the shoulder joint safely and effectively.

Procedure
1. On your feet, hold the Wellness Ball with your arms. Position your hands in front of you at the same level as your shoulders with your thumbs pointing upward and your palms wide open keeping your elbows slightly bent.
2. From this position, rotate the Ball clockwise and counterclockwise without moving your hands.
3. Work up to the point that you can hold one hand above the other perpendicular to the ground and then change direction.

Do at least 15 rotations per side for at least 2-3 sets.