Upper Body Supersets: Bi’s, Tri’s & Shoulders // Day 36 HR12WEEK 2.0

Upper Body Supersets: Bi’s, Tri’s & Shoulders is Day 36 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week Program. This is another workout that will burn the titled muscle groups out–if you are using the appropriate weight for your strength level. For me, this was not a heavy weight workout. The heaviest weight I used was 16.5 pounds and my 13 pound dumbbells got the most work. Since each superset is done 3 times, by the third time through, I was starting to struggle. And Heather throws in a few exercises that not only work your upper body but raise your heart rate to add some fat burning to this muscle building upper body workout. Since this workout is just under 47 minutes, I used Heather’s Toned Arms //Tabata with Weights as a finisher. It actually worked perfectly with this workout–finishing off the same muscle groups already worked in this workout.

There are 6 supersets in this workout. Each superset is done 3 times before moving on to the next superset. The exercises are each done for 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. For some of the moves that have impact, Heather shows a low impact variation.

Upper Body Supersets: Bi’s, Tri’s & Shoulders is 46:39 minutes; 4 minute warm up and 5:25 minute stretch. Equipment: medium and heavy dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather does not identify the weight of her dumbbells but she did not appear to use any “heavy” dumbbells. To me, it looked like the heaviest weight she used was 15 pounds. I’m guessing she used 5, 10 and 15 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

Superset 1:

1. Press curls (bicep curls with elbows pressed close to sides and ends of DBs pressed together) (16.5# 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 DB up to ceiling, push other DB up to ceiling then push both DBs to ceiling–when not pushing DB overhead, elbows are always bent at 90 degrees and held at shoulder level) (13# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times

Superset 2:

1. High pulls (lift DBs upright row fashion until they are at shoulder level then flip wrists so DBs/arms are in goalpost, lower DBs back to start) (13# DBs)
2. Boxer jacks (jack the legs while doing alternating front punches) (5# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times

Superset 3:

1. Bent over tricep kickbacks (13# DBs)
2. Squat & front raise (as you squat do a straight arm front raise, arms/DBs lift to shoulder level at bottom of squat, lower DBs as you stand) (5# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times

30 second rest

Superset 4:

1. In & out curls (alternate wide bicep curls with regular bicep curls) (15# DBs)
2. Bicep burn out (fast alternating bicep curls using light DBs) (5# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times

Superset 5:

1. Tate press (lay on back, knees bent and feet in floor, DBs are extended to ceiling with palms facing feet/legs, bend elbows bringing ends of DBs to chest then straighten arms again) (11# DBs)
2. Skull crushers (lay on back with knees bent and feet on mat close to glutes, raise hips into bridge and hold isometrically while doing skull crushers) (11# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times

Superset 6:

1. Walking plank (alternate straight arm plank with forearm plank)
2. Inchworm & 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)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times

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