Super BACK SCULPT Strength Workout // Day 16 HR12WEEK 2.0

Super Back Sculpt Strength Workout is Day 16 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week Program. This is another one of Heather’s deceptively tough workouts and it is due to the short recovery time. 10 seconds is not a lot of recovery time when lifting weights. My back still isn’t 100% so I lifted lighter than usual for just about every exercise. Plus, my cranky back makes me leery of rushing to pick up dumbbells, so I felt more pressed for time than usual during the recoveries (to get the appropriate dumbbells and get in position before the interval started). But I still got a great back workout. There is a lot of bent over exercises in this workout so I used a chair for all of them to protect my back. I sat on the corner of the chair for all of the double arm bent over exercises and for the single arm bent over exercises, I put one knee and one hand on the chair seat. Heather also throws in some cardio to make this workout more metabolic. She gives a very thorough upper body warm up and an excellent and thorough stretch at the end. Since this workout is only 43:30 minutes, I used one of Heather’s Daily 10 Workouts as a finisher (Day 12: Back Sculpting).

Super Back Sculpt Strength Workout is 43:29 minutes; 4 minute warm up and 4:50 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Heather is using 5, 10, 15 and 20 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used. The exercises are all done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 10 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 your next exercise. If an exercise has impact, Heather also shows a low impact variation.

Circuit 1:

1. Alternating scapular squeeze (extend arms out to sides in a T, pull one elbow behind ribs, alternate arms) (5# DBs)
2. Scapular squeeze (same as #1 except pull both elbows behind ribs then push arms back out to a T) (5# DBs)
3. Single arm flys (bent over single arm rear delt flys, alternate arms) (8# DBs)
4. Underhand row (bent over single arm rows, palms face forward, alternate arms) (20# DBs)
5. Renegade row (alternate arms) (25# DBs)
6. Plank stroke (in elbow/forearm plank, extend one arm in front of you then sweep it out to side and back to hip, alternate arms)
7. Super human (supermans)
8. Alternating pull overs (lay on back, legs raised and knees bent at 90 degrees, arms/DBs are extended to ceiling, do alternating single arm pull overs) (15# DBs)
9. Pull overs (same position as #8 but holding one DB in both hands, do a double arm pull over) (one 30# DB)
10. Rear pull jacks (jack the legs, arms are raised to shoulder level w/ elbows bent at 90 degrees, palms facing floor, pull elbows back behind back you then cross arms in front of you in time with legs)
11. Repeat #1-10

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Single arm bent over row (one 35# DB)
2. Repeat #1 on other arm
3. Wide row (double arm bent over row, palms face behind you, elbows are out to sides) (15# DBs)
4. T, Y, I’s (superman but each rep you change arm position–T arms are extended straight out to sides, Y arms are raised overhead but in a Y formation, I arms are extended straight in front of you in traditional superman)
5. Super V squeeze (lay on stomach with arms extended in front of you, raise arms and legs in superman, hold and pull elbows behind back, push arms in front of you again then lower hands/legs) (I used a medium resistance band)
6. 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, return arms/legs to start–chest and legs remain elevated throughout the interval)
7. Single arm rear fly (single arm bent over rear delt fly) (one 8# DB)
8. Repeat #7 on other arm
9. Bent over row (double arm bent over row, arms are close to sides and palms face each other) (25# DBs)
10. Bent arm jacks (jack the legs, arms are raised into goal post, do goal post chest flys in time with legs)
11. Repeat #1-10

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