Fierce 14 Day 12: Back & Arms Sculpt // Upper Body Strength

Back & Arms Sculpt is Day 12 in Heather Robertson‘s Fierce 14 program. This is an excellent upper body workout. Though the title says back and arms, your shoulders are getting plenty of work, too. Heather does most of the exercises to a slow enough pace that you can challenge yourself with heavier dumbbells. This workout has 4 circuits, each containing 3 exercises. The first exercise is always a back exercise, the second exercise is always a bicep exercise and the third exercise is always a tricep exercise. Each circuit is done 3 times before you move on to the next circuit. The exercises are all done interval style: 40 seconds of work 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. During the recoveries Heather previews the next exercise.

Back & Arms Sculpt is 43:06 minutes; 2:30 minute warm up and 3 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather is using 5, 10, 15 and 20 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Bent over row (double arm row with palms facing forward) (30# DBs)
2. Bicep rotation (start in hammer curl, raising DBs until the are at shoulders, when you lower DBs open arms out to sides with palms facing ceiling, reverse motion back to start) (15# DBs)
3. Tricep push up
4. Repeat #1-3 two more times

Circuit 2:

1. Pull over (lay on back with legs raised and knees bent at 90 degrees, perform a pull over w/ upper body in this position) (one 35# DB)
2. Alternating bicep curls (16.5# DBs)
3. Skull crusher (lay on mat with knees bent and feet close to glutes, raise hips and hold bridge isometrically while upper body does skull crushers) (11# DBs)
4. Repeat #1-3 two more times

30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Bent over rear delt flys (8# DBs)
2. Reverse curls (palms face downward) (15# DBs)
3. Overhead tricep extension (French press) (one 25# DB)
4. Repeat #1-3 two mores

Circuit 4:

1. Scapular squeeze (hold DBs in front of thighs with palms facing in front of you, extend arms out to sides in a T then pull elbows behind ribs, push elbows back out to a T then lower both arms in front of body, palms still facing forward) (8# DBs)
2. Hammer curl (alternate arms, palms face body when curling) (16.5# DBs)
3. Alternating tricep kickbacks (13# DBs)
4. Repeat #1-3

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