Back Sculpting // Upper Body Strength Workout

A workout from Heather Robertson with a title like this one, is definitely going to attract my attention. Back Sculpting // Upper Body Strength Workout is strength workout that focuses on your back muscles and wow! Does Heather work them well. You have to lift weights appropriate to your strength level in order to get real benefit from this workout. I challenged myself, lifting as heavy as I could with good form and my back is fried. Heather works everything from upper back to low back. She does it with weighted and body weight exercises. Some exercises you have to lift light dumbbells and some you can challenge yourself with significantly heavier dumbbells. This is a short workout but Heather does not shortchange your back muscles. This is a wonderful workout that I love and will be returning to frequently.

This workout is made up of 2 circuits. Each circuit is repeated once. Each exercise is done for 40 seconds followed by 20 seconds of recovery. There is a timer in the lower right hand corner of the screen, counting down your intervals and recoveries. Heather previews the next exercise during the recovery.

Back Sculpting // Upper Body Strength Workout is 26:39 minutes; 2:30 minute warm up and 3:15 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Heather used 5 and 10 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Narrow & wide row (bent over rows, alternate narrow rows with wide rows) (15# DBs)
2. Super V squeeze (lay on on stomach with arms extended straight overhead, raise arms and legs in superman then pull elbows back to ribs)
3. Single arm row (kneel on mat, hinged forward slightly and do a single arm row) (one 25# DB)
4. Repeat #3 on other arm
5. Rear fly combos (one double arm rear delt fly + single arm rear delt flys, one each arm) (8# DBs)
6. Repeat #1-5

30 second recovery

Circuit 2:

1. Underhand row (hinge forward, do alternating underhand rows) (20# DBs)
2. Row and fly combo (on all 4s, a DB in one hand, do a single arm rear delt fly alternated with a single arm row) (one 5# DB)
3. Repeat #2 on other arm
4. Star fish (lay on stomach, arms extended in front of you, raise arms/chest and legs off floor, hold isometrically while opening straight arms to side and bringing them down to hips while also opening legs)
5. Scapular squeeze (extend arms/DBs straight to side with palms facing ceiling, pull elbow behind waist, alternate arms)
6. Repeat #1-5

For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.