How to Get Arms Like Michelle Obama's

Longtime Personal Trainer Shares First Lady's Fitness Secrets in Forthcoming Magazine Stories

(AP)  At last, the secret to first lady Michelle Obama's sculpted arms? Tricep pushdowns and hammer curls.

So says Cornell McClellan, Mrs. Obama's longtime personal trainer, who described the workout routine of his famous client in the October issue of Women's Health magazine. She began working with McClellan in 1997 at his Chicago fitness studio.

"She's truly committed herself to the importance of health and fitness," he says.

McClellan said that at the end of an intense routine of cardio workouts and weight training, Mrs. Obama finishes with the "arm-shaping superset" of tricep pushdowns and hammer curls to tone one of the most commented-upon pair of arms in the world. Mrs. Obama often wears sleeveless outfits.

How to get arms like Mrs. Obama's?

Perform one set of tricep pushdowns using a straight bar attached to the high pulley of a cable station and then, without resting, follow with a set of hammer curls using dumbbells. Immediately repeat the entire process until two or three sets of both exercises have been completed.

The details of Mrs. Obama's fitness routine came as part of a series of interviews by President Barack Obama and Mrs. Obama on health care and their personal fitness and nutrition habits.

Obama was interviewed by Men's Health; he also was featured in the magazine last November. Mrs. Obama gave her first interviews to Women's Health and Children's Health, a new magazine by Rodale Inc., publisher of the men's and women's health magazines.

Obama is again on the cover of Men's Health, while his wife graces the cover of Children's Health. She is joined by some of the Bancroft Elementary School pupils who have been involved with the White House garden.

Obama said he works out six days a week: two cardio days and four weightlifting days split between the upper and lower body. He also discussed his effort to overhaul the U.S. health care system and his late mother's bout with cancer.

"My blood pressure is pretty low, and I tend to be a healthy eater," he said in the interview. "So I probably could get away with cutting (my workouts) back a little bit. The main reason I do it is just to clear my head and relieve me of stress."

Mrs. Obama cited small changes to her family's diet that she says have made a difference. They include eliminating processed foods, cutting back on sugary drinks, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, eating together more as a family and teaching her daughters how to read food labels.

She said she tries to be conscientious about health and fitness because her family is like many others — too busy to think about it every day.

"But health and fitness and how we eat and thinking about it has become part of our lives, because of our kids," she told Children's Health. "We are their primary role models. And if they see me exercising and thinking about what I'm eating, if they see their father, as busy as he is, getting to the gym and playing sports, when they grow up they'll understand that this is a natural part of being an adult."

All three magazines will hit newsstands on Sept. 15.

[sam-kiley]

by mrcranky September 8, 2009 9:11 AM EDT
It boggles the mind that CBS News thinks this is actually news. Please, please PLEASE stop passing this crap onto us in the news section. What would the likes of Mr. Murrow, Mr. Severeid, Mr. Cronkite and all the others think?

de quoi je me mele..vous n'aimez pas ..d'autres aiment..vous pouviez ne pas lire..mais vous l'avez fait..donc cela vous interesse alors pas de chichi..méchanceté "gratuite"

je la trouve trés bien michelle, superbe allure, c'est encore nettement mieux que de passer son temps assis devant lé télé a se gaver de pop corn ce qui est le cas pour certaines femmes, pour venir ensuite se plaindre d'obésité etc..au revoir

[pw08-2009]

Most Important American Issues to Women:

1. Michelle's fashion choices and body
2. Texting and talking on Cell phones
3. People magazine
4. Coffee
5. Putting make-up on in the car
6. Cats
7. Cutting your hair short
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
99. Being a good wife and good mother
100. Being independant
101. Being self-sufficient
102. Following rules (traffic and otherwise)
103. Reading and understanding the real news events that shape the country

[rckmom47]

If this is how you feel women rate in this country maybe you should live elsewhere...like in a muslim country!!!

[pw08-2009]

YAAAAAAAAYYYYYeeeeee,

I'll bet this was the first and maybe the only story that the majority of American women flocked to and probably only by accident because they meant to go to TMZ.com. Then, I'll bet they got on their cell phones and talked for hours about it with friends, then I'll bet they went shopping, while talking on their phones...bought a People magazine then texted their friend that they just called.

I'm sorry but, most women are becoming boring hollow shells.

[spiritwalk]

Any story that will help distract the public from the real problems that the country faces is OK with me.

Much better to have everyone talking about her arms than the slight of hand being played with health care.

As long as we get to look at a hot babe we can forget that American babies suffer one of the worst prenatal death rates in the industrialized world.

Much better to have the public fed this pablum than actually have to address the real issue of hunger.

Say God bless Michelle 10 times, wave the flag and it will all go away.

[rckmom47]

You describe her as a 'hot babe'...are you kidding me??? No one I know wants to look like this horse face!!!

[incog-nito]

In other news, the Fox News network has just aired a new segment, called "How to get your tummy like Limbaugh's".

[pickaguitar1]

Michelle's looking good!

[mrcranky]

It boggles the mind that CBS News thinks this is actually news. Please, please PLEASE stop passing this crap onto us in the news section. What would the likes of Mr. Murrow, Mr. Severeid, Mr. Cronkite and all the others think?

[bigmo47]

It's not in the news section, It's in the HEALTH Section.

[spiritwalk]

Actually they do not have a NEWS SECTION. It is the health section of the CBS News.

Stop trying to be an Obama sycophant for a moment and try to grasp the concept of what a NEWS OUTLET is.

[bigmo47]

spiritwalk, pick up any newspaper, as a matter of fact just go back to the homepage and scroll down and you will see many "sections" in this news outlet U.S., World, Entertainment, Sports, etc... This one is categorized as "Health". So the fact that someone lost at the U.S. open should not be in the sports section of this news outlet because its not really news??? Please try to grasp simple concepts, and don't be so critical of the president. If the GOP would allow universal coverage, perhaps you could have gotten rahab for your ankle instead of paying for insurance that failed you when you needed it.

[spiritwalk]

Try as you want to twist it bigmo, there is no NEWS SECTION, it all all news and the HEALTH SECTION means the section about news as related to health.

And take a reality check. With majorities in both houses the Dems are not being thwarted by the GOP. This is being thwarted by the corporate HMO and insurance carriers who want to keep the system privatized.

These comapnies have worked over the last few weeks to keeping you polical party whackos fighting with each other with a campaign of disinformation and inflammatory statements while they have worked to put themselves in a win-win situation where no matter what comes out of Congress it will guarantee a profit driven health care business that will have no limit for profit and no liability for loss. They will do to the health sector what AIG did to the banking sector and the bailout bill will be in the trillions next time and not just billions.

But, you won't know what is happening until it is over because you can't even figure out what section to look in for the information, never mind being able to understand it when you read it. But you will still have the GOP to blame for your ignorance.

[mrcranky]

Please, please, PLEASE stop pushing this crap onto us as news.

[bigmo47]

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE read the title before clicking the link.

[tenbobnote]

The only reason I clicked the title was to comment on the ridiculous title.

[AOCGUY]

Apparently many of you cared enough about this article to open it up and I assume read it. The title alone should have alerted you that this was a puff piece yet you still opened it up and chose to comment.

[spiritwalk]

Mrs. Obama, please tell your husband that I would like to have arms like your, but my personal trainer will not take food stamps.

Please ask him to get us jobs and health care so we can all look as buffed as you do.

[bigmo47]

Well maybe you should have gone to law school like she did and then you could have gotten one in 1997, LIKE SHE DID!!!

Since you don't have a job, you should have plenty of time to work out. People who need personal trainers generally need specifically tailored regimens due to their hectic schedules. Since you don't work, you have all day to do push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, etc... and time to go running 2-3 times a day. You should be in excellent health.

[spiritwalk]

I would have gone to law school, but I decided I would like to be an honest person.

As for going out to run 2-3 times a day I cannot do that. I broke my ankle two years ago and my insurance did not cover rehabilitational therapy, so I do not have the ability to run any longer.

But I have not lost my sense of humor or my ability to recognize irony, so I am at least a lot more healthy mentally and emotionally than you are.

But I am garteful that I was able to give you the chance to exercise your sens of superiority and help you release all that hidden aggression. You must feel so much better now that you got a chance to run your bigmo.

[bigmo47]

Yeah, I'm sure you had law schools beating dowwn you door. I don't know anyone who's moral compass so shaky that choosing a career would make them dishonest. You could have been an attorney for nonprofit orgs, or a church, or maybe even a prosecutor. Honesty is what you could have offered to the legal community.

[hower4]

I wonder what Michelle Obama's arms would look like if she had the misfortune to pick up an unexploded American cluster bomb? Thousands of people, usually children, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere know only too well.

This article says everything we need to know about how shallow Americans are.

[AOCGUY]

This article does nothing of the sort. Too bad Americans don't take better care of themselves. I gather that as long as their are people suffering in the world you won't do anything to improve your self.

[hower4]

I'm not in a position of power, but I certainly think the president's wife should care more about helping suffering people around the world than improving the appearance of her arms!

[bigmo47]

The President, Generals in war zones, Diplomats, Red Cross volunteers, Peace Corps volunteers, and the like all find time to work out and keep themselves healthy. A 45 minute workout in the morning is not stopping any of them from doing their jobs. She has done work on education, homeless, and children's initiatives (I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones That I've personally read about). No matter what President Obama or anyone in hs family does, it is constantly addressed negatively by many people.

I have never seen so many complaints, when she goes to help the poor, people talk about her shoes. When she accompanies her husband to meet head of states (a practice that has been done throughout American history) people talk about taxpayers financing a vacation. It seems that some peole just began paying attention to what the first family does and the services that are provided to them during this administration. So many comments about him jetting around in his fancy plane, and Cadillac; like Air Force one is someting new. I've never heard anyone complain about Presidential perks so much in my enitre life. As a matter of fact I can't think of any complaints before President Obama took office.

[tenbobnote]

The blame is not on Michelle Obama but of the media being incapable of bringing up the point,"Michelle Obama really hasn't done anything to help those in need" instead they suck her and Obamas D.

[nextgenman09]

Michelle is certainly a lot hotter than Sarah Palin could ever be.....

[jbeckett5]

Why all the griping about one thing Mr. Obama has done that is unarguably helpful? Some people need to get off their keyboards and onto an exercise machine.

[ROBACA]

Please.......do we the American people who are in this deep recession really care? I am so tired of everyone making like everything this family does is so glorious and great. They are normal people, nothing spectacular.

[johnthecableguy]

Hold the presses! Michelle Obama has arms! Thank goodness I checked the headlines before going to bed, to think I might not have known about this until tomorrow....

[iknowmorethanoprah]

The word is "triceps."

"Tricep" is not a word.

Sigh. and it's a wire story???

I have the same arms she has. It's about looks, not "health." I've been doing weights for years. But it's about vanity, not fitness or health. You can be strong and look flabby; you can be toned and have poor health.

And you can write a wire story and get a non-word through ALL THE EDITORS????

[dmb35]

Who gives a rat's ass about her arms? Where's the sory on resignation of Van Jones? CBS will do anything to avoid negative press for Obama.

[breadline1]

the world is coming to an end and cbs thinks the first ladies arms are top news ? I hope you all realize how important cbs thinks things like global warming, world war, polution extinction and us are !

[woeisme1]

I have to rarely agree with the right on this one. I mean really. The very first poster was right. This is tabloid fodder.

And to label it "Top News"! Please

[rightbehind]

Proud to have her as first lady!