Barre Arms & Abs is Day 2 in Heather Robertson‘s Fusion Flow series. Heather’s Fusion Flow is a week of “yoga, Pilates and barre inspired movements with my favorite HIIT exercises.” There are 7 approximately 30 minute workouts in this series. Day 2 is an upper body strength workout using light dumbbells. Heather is only using 3 pound dumbbells. I used heavier than that for most of the exercises but still lighter than what I normally would use. It worked my upper body nicely and the sequencing of some of the exercises actually gave my muscles a bit of a burn. #8, the Bend & Press, I only use 10 pound pound dumbbells. I usually use much heavier for shoulder work but the exercises before it (plus the short recoveries) fatigued my muscles enough that by the end of the interval I was feeling the overhead press in my shoulder. This workout also gives you some core work. Since this workout is just under 27 minutes, I paired it with Fusion Flow Day 1: HIIT Pilates Legs & Glutes for an hour long total body workout.
Barre Arms & Abs is 26:41 minutes; 2:40 minute warm up and 2:50 minute stretch. Equipment: light dumbbells and a fitness mat. Heather is using 3 pound hand weights. The weights listed below are what I used. The exercises are all done interval style: 30 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.
- Plie fly & lift (stand with legs wide and toes turned out, arms/DBs extended straight overhead, lower straight arms to sides so arms are in a T, lower into wide plie squat and hold, bring arms/DBs together in front of you chest fly style, open arms to a T again as you raise out of squat, raise arms back overhead so you are back in starting position) (3# DBs)
- Rear fly & row (do one bent over read delt fly + one narrow back row with arms close to sides) (8# DBs)
- Scap squeeze combo (extend arms/DBs straight to side with palms facing ceiling, pull both elbows behind waist at same time them push both arms back to start, then pull elbow behind waist then push it back to start, repeat on other arm) (5# DBs)
- Down dog & tuck (in 3 leg dog (down dog with one leg raised to ceiling), flow forward into plank while bringing knee of raised leg to same side elbow outside of body, return to 3 leg dog)
- Repeat #4 on other side of body
- 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)
- Short stop push up (full push up but pause at halfway point when lowering)
- Bend & press (stand w/ one elbow bent so DB is at shoulder and other arm is at side, do one single arm overhead press and when you lower DB back to shoulder, do one side bend) (10# DBs)
- Repeat #8 on other side of body
- V sit & curl (hold V sit (sit on bottom, knees are bent and feet raised off floor, torso is leaned back), while doing bicep curls) (8# DBs)
- Kneeling tricep kickbacks (8# DBs)
- Tricep pulse (same position as #11, keep arms extended at top of kickback and pulse DBs upward) (8# DBs)
- Side bridge & fly (hold side elbow plank, top arm is extended straight to ceiling, keeping arm straight, lower arm to mat then return to start) (one 5# DB)
- Repeat #13 on other side of body
- Plank hop & press (stand at end of mat, hinge forward and place hands/DBs on mat, jump feet back to plank, jump feet back to hands, stand and do one double arm overhead press) (10# DBs)
- Repeat #1-15
For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts , I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
