Chest, Tri’s & Shoulders: Upper Body Strength Workout // Day 13 HR12WEEK 2.0

Chest, Tri’s & Shoulders: Upper Body Strength Workout is Day 13 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week Program. This is an excellent upper body strength workout. My back feels normal again, so I used the weights I would normally use and I was working very hard. Harder than I expected! I think it’s due to taking a week off because of back pain and the first few workouts I did when I started doing my regular workouts again, I lifted lighter than normal weights (for me). You lose strength quicker than you think! It felt great to be working that hard again–and without pain! I was still careful with some moves. For the single arm bent over rear delt flys (Circuit 4), I sat on the edge of a chair. I may continue doing that for a while until I am positive my back really is back to normal. Since this workout is just under 47 minutes, I used one of Heather’s Daily 10 workouts to round out my hour: Day 6 Arm Toning.

This workout is made up of 6 circuits. Each circuit contains 3 exercise and is done two times before moving 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 your next exercise. For some (not all) of the moves that have impact, Heather shows a low impact variation.

Chest, Tri’s & Shoulders: Upper Body Strength Workout is 46:27 minutes; 4 minute warm up and 5 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather is using 5, 10 and 15 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Chest press (lay on back, knees bent and feet on floor, hips are lifted into bridge and held there isometrically throughout interval) (22.5# DBs)
2. Chest flys (18# DBs)
3. Lay down push up (alternate one push up with one superman)
4. Repeat #1-3

Circuit 2:

1. Around the world (with palms facing forward and hands in front of thighs, keeping arms straight, raise DBs out to sides then overhead, lower DBs out to sides and back in front of thighs) (7# DBs)
2. Fist pumps (arms are raised to shoulder level, elbows bent at 90 degrees and held in front of you, palms are facing you, push one arm/DB to ceiling and lower, push other arm/DB to ceiling and lower, push both arms/DBs to ceiling and lower) (13# DBs)
3. Push press (with DBs at shoulders, do a squat and when you stand, do an overhead press) (15# DBs)
4. Repeat #1-3

Circuit 3:

1. Overhead tricep press (French press) (one 25# DB)
2. 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)
3. Double arm tricep kickbacks (13# DBs)
4. Repeat #1-3

30 second rest

Circuit 4:

1. Close grip press (tricep press w/ DBs pressed together) (15# DBs)
2. Single arm bent over delt flys, alternate arms (8# DBs)
3. T-push ups (one push up then rotate into side plank, reaching top arm to ceiling, alternate sides with one push up between each side plank)
4. Repeat #1-3

Circuit 5:

1. Walking plank (alternate straight arm plank with forearm plank)
2. L-raises (one arm does a straight arm front raise while the other arm is doing a straight arm side raise at the same time, alternate arms) (8# DBs)
3. Weighed jacks (jumping jacks, push DBs overhead when jacking legs) (5# DBs)
4. Repeat #1-3

Circuit 6:

1. Lying tricep press (lay on side with legs extended straight, bottom hand is holding top shoulder, top hand is on mat in front of chest, do a side lying one arm push up in this position)
2. Repeat #1 on other side of body
3. Inchworm push up & hop (stand at end of mat, hinge forward and walk hands out to plank, do one push up, walk hands back to feet, stand and jump, raising arms overhead)
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.