BEASTMODE CHEST AND TRICEP WORKOUT | Intense Upper Body | Day 8

Chest and Triceps Workout | Intense Upper Body is Day 8 In Caroline Girvan‘s Beastmode series. This workout was brutal. By the halfway point my arms were trembling and by the end I was struggling with the cobra push ups! The finisher? My form was $hit. I fear the DOMS will be brutal. I actually had chest DOMS yesterday from Saturday’s workout (Beastmode Day 4 Full Body Workout). It was gone this morning but it will probably return after this morning’s workout. This was an excellent and intense upper body strength workout. I even felt my biceps being worked hard in this workout. Since this workout has no warm up, I used Heather Robertson‘s No Equipment Arm Toning Workout as my warm up and a nice 5 minute upper body stretch afterward since Caroline’s stretch is so brief. My arms and chest really needed something extra.

All of the exercises workout is done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the upper left hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage.

***The Beastmode workouts are an important part of the 7 Week Rotation I created. There are 2 Beastmode weeks in the rotation. So below, I am documenting the increase in weights I was able to lift the second and final time you revisit the workouts in the rotation. The first weight listed is frequently already more than what I lifted the first time I did the workout in October 2021. When I returned to it at the beginning of the 7 Week Rotation, I updated my weights in this review. So the first weight listed is what I used at week 3 of the rotation and the second weight (with the date 12/20/21) is what I used the 6th week of the rotation. If there is no date then I used the same weight both weeks.***

***10/06/22 I used this workout in yet another rotation so there are more dated weight updates below. The ones dated 10/06/22 are for Caroline Girvan Strength & Muscle Building Rotation. I only added a date and weight when I lifted heavier than the last time I did the workout.***

Chest and Triceps Workout | Intense Upper Body is 40:56 minutes; 45 second intro, no warm up and 1:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a chair and a fitness mat. Caroline is using 17.5kg/38.6 pounds and 9kg/19.8 pounds dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used. I also used my weight bench for all of the laying down exercises and the tricep dips.

1. Chest press (22.5# DBs first 3 sets, 20# DBs the last set) (10/06/22 27.5# DBs)
2. Repeat #1 three more times
3. Chest flys (18# DBs) (10/06/22 20# DBs)
4. Repeat #3 three more times
5. Push ups
6. Repeat #5 three more times
7. Diamond press (lay on mat, two DBs pressed together over chest, do narrow chest press with DBs pressed together) (16.5# DBs first set, 15# DBs last 3 sets; 12/20/21 I used 16.5# DBs all 4 sets) (10/06/22 20# DBs all 4 sets)
8. Repeat #7 three more times
9. Tricep dips
10. Repeat #9 three more times
11. Tricep press (narrow chest press) (16.5# DB first set, 15# DBs last 3 sets; 12/20/21 I used 16.5# DBs all 4 sets) (10/06/22 18# DBs all 4 sets)
12. Repeat #11 three more times
13. Tricep push up
14. Repeat #13 three more times
15. Lying overhead tricep extension (lay on back, holding one DB on both hands, unlike traditional lying tricep extensions, arms are not straight from shoulder to elbow, arms are extended past head and arms from shoulder to elbow are at a 45 degree angle, from this starting position, bend elbows lowering DB closer to floor then raise DB–it is a small movement) (one 15# DB; 12/20/21 one 16.5# DB) (10/06/22 one 20# DB first 2 sets, one 18# DB last 2 sets)
16. Repeat #15 three more times
17. Diamond cobra push up (lay on stomach on mat, hands are on mat beneath ribs and together so fingers and thumbs form a diamond, do push ups cobra-style, thighs remaining on mat)
18. Repeat #17 three more times
19. Deadstop push ups (do full push ups, but lower entire body all the way to mat, raise hands off mat briefly, keeping body straight from feet to shoulders when pushing up)
20. (no rest/recovery) Deadstop tricep push up (the same as #19 but hands are closer together under shoulders)

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