Chest & Back // Strength Supersets is a solid upper body strength workout from Heather Robertson. I just got back from a 5 day vacation in which the only exercise I did was a lot of walking. So I was ready for good workout but nothing killer. This did an excellent job. I went a little conservative on some of my weight choices and was still very challenged. Though this workout does focus on the chest and back, your entire upper body gets work in this workout. All of the back and chest exercises also work ancillary muscles, so your biceps, triceps and shoulder are getting plenty of work, too. Heather packs a lot into this workout. She gives you 5 strength focused supersets and one cardio superset. So you get a bit of cardio, too. I also did Heather’s Booty Bootcamp. Between the two workouts, I got a total body strength workout.
This workout is made up of 6 supersets. Each superset is done twice before moving on to the next superset. 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.
Chest & Back // Strength Supersets is 29:07 minutes; 1:35 minute warm up and 2:15 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather is using 5, 10 and 15 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used. I also used a medium resistance band for the 2nd exercise.
- Lay down push ups (alternate one push up with one superman)
- 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)
- Repeat #1 & 2
- Chest press (27.5# DBs)
- Pull overs (lay on back with legs raised and knees bent at 90 degrees, do pull overs with legs in this position) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #4 & 5
- Walking push ups (do one push up then step hands out to side, do one push up, step hands back to start, do one push up, repeat on other side)
- Bent over rear delt flys (8# DBs)
- Repeat #7 & 8
- 30 second rest
- Underhand row (bent over row with palms facing forward) (30# DBs)
- Scapular squeeze (extend arms out to sides in a T with palms facing ceiling, pull elbows behind ribs then push elbows back out to a T) (7# DBs)
- Repeat #11 & 12
- Narrow & wide row (bent over double arm rows, alternate one narrow row (arms close to sides) with one wide row (elbows away from the body)) (20# DBs)
- Chest flys (lay on back with knees bent and feet on floor close to glutes, raise hips into bridge and hold isometrically while doing chest flys) (20# DBs)
- Repeat #14 & 15
- Bent arm jacks (jack the legs while doing goal post chest fly arms)
- Inchworm & hop (stand at end of mat, hinge forward and walk hands out to plank, walk hands back to feet, stand and jump, raising arms overhead)
- Repeat #17 & 18
For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
