As Victoria Beckham reveals her jaw-dropping physique in a campaign for VB beauty – we ask, so how does she get those ultra-toned arms?
Victoria Beckham has long been the poster woman for the so-called ‘power-arm’ and regularly shows off the results of her gruelling work out sessions.
And the mother of four, 49, looked in her best form yet as she revealed her new campaign with Victoria Beckham Beauty this week.
Victoria posed in a black lace bra with a veil over her face, while showing off her muscular look with a crossed-arms pose.
Her husband David Beckham was understandably left swooning over the snap, as he proudly reshared the image on his Instagram page.
Victoria often posts work out videos on her social media platforms, which sometimes include her hunky husband, 48, at their west London home.
Fitness fan: Victoria Beckham has long been the poster woman for the so-called ‘power-arm’ and regularly shows off the results of her gruelling work out sessions
Victoria clearly trains hard to achieve her sculpted look, with the help of her current personal trainer and British Judo champion, Bobby Rich.
But with fans agog at Victoria’s incredible physique, MailOnline asked a professional personal trainer Victoria achieves her ultra-toned arms?
Alexander Legezynski, founder of West London Personal Training, says achieving arms just like Victoria’s, comes down building lean muscle mass whilst keeping her body fat levels low.
He said: ‘Victoria’s achieved a distinctly toned upper body by building lean muscle mass whilst keeping her body fat levels low. Her efforts in the gym have built muscle, and her consistency with her diet has kept body fat levels low enough that it’s very visible.
‘Resistance training is the absolute key to achieving a result like Victoria’s. The sculpted appearance of her shoulders and arms is the result of lean muscle mass. She will have been through a programme of ‘progressive overload’ to reach this stage.
‘Progressive overload involved pushing her muscles to failure. This creates microscopic tears, which repair and rebuild during rest. Next time, there’s a little more strength, so you go further before your muscles fail. Repeating this process over and over is what leads to visible changes.
‘There are several ways you can push a muscle to failure – all of them fall under the umbrella of ‘resistance training’. Victoria’s coach has specifically referenced weightlifting – the same result can also be achieved with resistance from a band or your own body weight. As long as the muscles are being challenged, they will grow.
‘Whilst Victoria has particularly well-developed deltoids, triceps and biceps, you can see that she’s applied this process throughout her upper body.
Working hard: Victoria often posts work out videos on her social media platforms, which sometimes include her hunky husband, 48, at their west London home (stock image)
Gruelling: Victoria clearly trains hard to achieve her sculpted look, with the help of her current personal trainer and British Judo champion, Bobby Rich (stock image)
Impressed: Her husband David Beckham was understandably left swooning over the snap, as he proudly reshared the image on his Instagram page
‘Much of the lean muscle in her arms will have been built through compound moves, which principally target larger muscles such as the back or chest. In the process, the arms are pushed to failure too. These exercises include the bench press, pectoral fly and dumbbell row.
‘She will have also regularly increased the total volume she can lift on exercises such as the frontal and lateral raise. These each isolate slightly different areas of the shoulder.
‘As you travel down her arms, she will have improved her tricep extensions, bicep curl and reverse curl strength. Isolated movements overload in exactly the same way, but really go the extra mile in growing those smaller muscles.’
‘Building muscle is just one side of the coin – managing the ratio of lean muscle relative to fat is the key to Victoria’s sculpted look. This is principally determined by diet, which Victoria is known to be very diligent with.
‘She favours a lean, high-protein diet largely comprised of fish and vegetables. Fish is a particularly low-fat source of the protein needed to synthesise muscle. Her consistency in diet, alongside a well-designed programme of progressive overload, are how she arrived at this point.
‘There’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution, as everybody has different starting points. As a first step, you can take a look at your BMI. If your BMI falls within the ‘healthy’ range, you won’t need to make significant changes.
‘If it exceeds this range, aiming for a calorie deficit can encourage fat burning. Conversely, if your BMI is below the healthy range, increasing your calorie intake becomes essential to provide your body with the necessary energy for sculpting lean muscle and achieving those toned arms.
‘Remember, the weight should be high enough that you only have one or two repetitions left in the tank at the end. You can supplement this routine with low intensity fat-burning activities, such as walking, jogging or cycling.’
How to achieve VB’s ‘power arms’
Personal trainer reveals his recipe for arms like Victoria
Push-Ups:
Reps: 10-15
Rest: 100 seconds
Sets: 3
Description: Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width on the floor, keeping your body in a straight line from head to heels. Lower your body by bending your elbows, then push back up to the starting position.
You can make the exercise easier by putting your hands on an elevated surface, like a bench or solid table.
Punching On The Spot (gloves or 0.5kg weight in each hand) – 30 Seconds
Dumbbell Bench Press:
Reps: 8-12
Rest: 100 seconds
Sets: 3
Description: Lie on a bench with a dumbbell in each hand. Lower the dumbbells to chest level, then press them back up to the starting position.
Dumbbell Rows:
Reps: 10-12 (each arm)
Rest: 100 seconds
Sets: 3
Description: Place one knee and one hand on the bench, with the opposite foot on the floor. Hold a dumbbell in the free hand, let it hang down, then pull it up towards your hip while keeping your elbow close to your body. Lower the dumbbell back down and repeat.
Dumbbell Shoulder Press:
Reps: 8-10
Rest: 100 seconds
Sets: 3
Description: Sit or stand with a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height. Press the dumbbells overhead, extending your arms fully, then lower them back to shoulder height.
Lateral Raises:
Reps: 12-15
Rest: 100 seconds
Sets: 3
Description: Stand with a dumbbell in each hand by your sides. Keeping a slight bend in your elbows, lift the dumbbells out to the sides until they reach shoulder height. Lower them back down with control.
Frontal Raises:
Reps: 12-15
Rest: 100 seconds
Sets: 3
Description: Stand with a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs. Keeping a slight bend in your elbows, lift the dumbbells straight in front of you until they are at shoulder height. Lower them back down with control.
Lat Pulldowns:
Reps: 8-10
Rest: 100 seconds
Sets: 3
Description: Sit at a lat pulldown machine, grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width, and pull the bar down to your chest while squeezing your shoulder blades together.
Dumbbell Bicep Curls:
Reps: 10-12 (each arm)
Rest: 100 seconds
Sets: 3
Description: Stand with a dumbbell in each hand, arms fully extended. Curl the dumbbells towards your shoulders while keeping your elbows stationary, then lower them back down.
This workout emphasises the arms and shoulders but also challenges the large muscles in the chest and back. That’s because all of your upper body works together, and you need to challenge the larger muscle groups to perform at your best. Larger muscles also require more calories to maintain, which helps with managing fat levels.
What’s her secret? But with fans agog at Victoria’s incredible physique, MailOnline asked a professional personal trainer Victoria achieves her ultra-toned arms
Speaking to the Guardian in 2019, Victoria revealed that her exercise regime took around two hours a day and began at 5.30.
The former Spice Girl revealed she fits in a 7km run on the treadmill before taking her children to school.
She said: ‘[It’s] a mix of uphill fast walking, jogging, running. That’s the only time I watch TV – boxsets, documentaries – so I look forward to that. It takes 45 minutes.’
‘Then I work out with a trainer – 30 minutes legs, 30 minutes arms, toning and conditioning, then loads of planks and that kind of thing for my core.’
Bobby has been Victoria and David’s PT since 2019 and ensures that she trains five days a week, including online sessions when she is out of the country.
The fitness guru previously told the Sun that Victoria is likely to burn around 600 calories during each session with him. Victoria and Bobby train together for about an hour each session.
During an interview with Women’s Health earlier this year, Bobby revealed that before this Victoria had been relying on the same 90 minute workout every day and wasn’t getting the most out of her workout routine.
He told the fitness publication: ‘It was becoming apparent to her that the benefits from her own training routines had become minimal. Despite spending daily 90+ minute sessions in the gym she was purely maintaining her fitness levels rather than improving in other meaningful ways. She was ready for a change.’
Victoria was apparently nervous about weight training and didn’t want to ‘end up looking like the incredible Hulk’.
She previously told Grazia: ‘I’ve always been a bit scared of weights, but it turns out I love them. I’ve even got those special gloves to wear! It’s good to switch things up and keep your body guessing. I’ve got so much more muscle tone now.’
Bobby told us: ‘It was a challenge Victoria was happy for me to prove her wrong about. And her concerns were short lived.’
‘While Victoria was used to smashing her workouts week in and week out, she didn’t necessarily have measurable goals the way that she does now.’
As well as her work with Bobby, Victoria has shared the arm workout she has been perfecting with Tracy.
The 10-minute workout was performed by Tracy and shared by Victoria so her fans could copy her exact routine.
Tracy has praised Victoria on how good she is at ‘stretching and lengthening her arms while performing the aerobic-style moves.’
Victoria reportedly loves barre for toning too.
Gemma Bass-Williams, head trainer at barre studio Barrecore, said: ‘Barre uses high repetitions whilst being low impact to improve muscular endurance and strength.
‘This type of workout will help someone to achieve a lean aesthetic that Victoria Beckham has achieved.’
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