Arms & Abs Workout // Day 46 HR12WEEK 2.0

Arms & Abs Workout is Day 46 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week Program. This workout does exactly what the title promises–it works your arms, shoulders and your core. It is a a solid workout that is also pretty metabolic for an upper body and core workout, so you are burning calories, too. This workout is made up of 2 circuits. Each circuit contains 9 exercises and is done two times before moving on to the next circuit. The exercises are all done interval style: 45 seconds of work followed by 15 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.

To give myself a more thorough upper body workout, I used Heather’s The Best Exercises to Target Back Fat workout as a finisher. The stretch at the end of this workout, though very nice and feel good, was not really appropriate for this workout. It was lower body focused with very little upper body stretching.

Arms & Abs Workout is 46:25 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. 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)
2. Tricep kickbacks (13# DBs)
3. Sit up & press (lay on mat with knees bent and feet on mat, hold DBs at shoulders, do a full sit up and at top of sit up do one overhead press) (13# DBs)
4. Pilates 100
5. Plank pass thru (in straight arm plank with one DB sitting on floor outside of one hand, reach other hand under body, grasp DB, pulling it under body and setting it on floor on other side of body, alternate arms/sides) (one 25# DB)
6. Curl, press & twist (holding a DB in each hand, do a hammer curl and when DBs are at shoulder level, rotate torso to side while doing a double arm overhead press, keeping hips facing forward, alternate sides when doing the overhead press) (15# DBs)
7. Halo twist (in high kneeling on mat, hold one DB in both hands, circle DB from one shoulder, behind head to other shoulder, alternate directions) (one 15# DB)
8. Wood chopper (in kneeling lunge holding a DB in each hand with the DBs pressed together, chop DBs from one hip, across body and over opposite shoulder) (5# DBs)
9. Repeat #8 on other side of body
10. Repeat #1-9

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. In & out curls (alternate wide bicep curls with regular bicep curls) (15# DBs)
2. Tricep press (overhead tricep extension/French press) (one 25# DB)
3. Cross punch (alternating weighted cross punches) (5# DBs)
4. Seated twist (sit on mat with knees bent and feet on mat, torso leaned back slightly, holding one DB in one hand and both arms extended straight in front of you, rotate torso to one side while opening arm that is holding DB to side, return to start and pass DB to other hand, repeating on other side of body) (one 5# DB)
5. Plank tap combo (in straight arm plank, tap one leg out to side, tap other leg out to side, tap one hand to opposite shoulder, tap other hand to opposite shoulder)
6. Laying 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)
7. Repeat #6 on other side of body
8. Plank rocker (in forearm plank, alternate rocking hips side to side, tapping side of hip to mat)
9. Bear knee tap (in bear pose (on hands and toes, with knees bent and elevated a few inches off the floor), alternate tapping one hand to opposite knee while also bringing knee in to meet hand)
10. Repeat #1-9

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