Ripped with HIIT: Lift it Hit it Back, Biceps & Shoulders

For more information on Cathe’s Ripped with HIIT program see the overview post.

The way some of the workouts within the Ripped with HIIT series/program are titled is a little confusing to me. The one I am referring to in this post is Lift It Hit It: Back, Biceps & Shoulders. Within this series/program, you have workouts with the acronym “HIIT” in them, which contain actual HIITs. Then you have the “Lift It Hit It” workouts which are a mixed bag. There are two upper body Lift It Hit It workouts (this is one of them) and they contain no HIITs or cardio–just heavy strength work. Then there is Lift It Hit It: Legs–which does contain HIITs. So basically, every workout in this series contains high intensity cardio except the two Lift It Hit It upper body workouts.

Due to this confusion I went to the “official” descriptions of the Lift It Hit It workouts. They state that they contain something called “contrast training.” Contrast training is where you perform a heavy loaded exercise, then follow it with an unloaded explosive equivalent of the same (or similar) movement pattern. This makes sense to me with lower body work–a lower body exercise followed by a plyometric move (weighted lunges followed by jump lunges is one example). However, with upper body work the concept didn’t seem so obvious to me. For upper body, Cathe uses something she calls “finishers” after each exercise. You do 3 sets of each exercise (usually 12 reps) then you finish the exercise off with a finisher, which is a different exercise (or two) that hit the same muscle group, burning it out completely. The finisher usually uses a lighter weight or the stretch band and you do a lot of reps (usually 20). This is the “contrast training” in the upper body workouts. And it is tough!

Back, Biceps & Shoulders is an excellent strength workout that hits the muscle groups in the title hard. It definitely does the job. At the end of the workout, one of the stretches has you bent over to stretch your back and I felt it vividly all across my upper back. Plus my biceps had a great pump afterward. In addition, if you are using this workout as part of the Ripped with HIIT program then it is a well needed and deserved break from all of the plyometrics in most of the other workouts.

Lift it Hit it Back, Biceps & Shoulders is 52:30 minutes long with a 2:30 minute warm up, 46 minute training time and 4 minute stretch. The weights listed below are what I used.

Equipment needed: barbell, dumbbells, step w/ 4 risers on each side, a chair (optional) and a dyna or stretch band.

One Arm Row (3 sets) (one 35# DB); Finisher: Barbell Rows (50# BB) and Band Power Pulls

Pull Overs (3 sets) (one 35# DB), Finisher: Barbell Rows (50# BB) and Supine Band Pulls

One Arm Angled Row (3 sets) (one 32.5# DB); Finisher: One Arm Seated Band Pulls

Rear Delt Flys (3 sets) (12# DBs); Finisher: One Arm Band Pulls

Prone Rear Delts (3 sets) (7# DBs); Finisher: Seated T-Band Pulls

Bicep Curls (3 sets) (35# BB); Finisher: W-Curls (12# DBs)

Concentration Curls (3 sets) (one 17.5# DB); Finisher: Crazy Eights (25# BB)

Simultaneous Standing Hammer Curls (3 sets) (17.5# DBs); Finisher: Crazy Eights (25# BB)

All of the Ripped with HIIT workouts included two Bonus Ab workouts:

Bonus Abs 1 is 10 minutes. I really enjoyed this abs workout. Lots of fun–I love how it starts standing. You will need an 8 pound dumbbell and a mat for this bonus. The workout starts standing, holding one 8 pound dumbbell. 1. Standing Oblique Crunches, 2. Alternating Oblique Crunches with Knee Lift, 3. Lay on mat, still holding one 8 pound dumbbell. Seated Lean Back Crunches, 4. Pullover Sit Ups with a Twist, 5. Pullover Heel Tap Extended Crunches, 6. Set dumbbells aside for this move; High Low Planks with plank Jacks.

Bonus Abs 2 is 13 minutes long. Bonus Abs 2 is much more challenging than Bonus Abs 1 and not nearly as fun. But still, very effective–I really felt it! 1. Seated One Arm V-Ups, 2. Ankle Grabber Sit Ups, 3. Bent Leg/Straight Leg Bike Maneuver, 4. Banana Holds, 5. Alternating Leg Forward Crunches, 6. Hip Lifts into Balancing Snow Angels, 7. Supermans into Swimmers

Premixes: