FUEL Series 30 Min TEMPO – Shoulders, Chest & Triceps Workout | Day 27

30 Min Tempo – Shoulders, Chest & Triceps Workout is Day 27 in Caroline Girvan‘s Fuel Series. Another killer, burnout upper body strength workout. I previewed this workout and knew what to expect so I went more conservative on most of my weight choices. It still burned out my arms. I think it was the staple move: walk out to tricep push ups. By the end of the workout my arms no longer wanted to cooperate with that one. First she burns out whatever muscle group you are working with the slow tempo exercise, then you hit the muscle group again with the same basic move but done to a brisk pace, then you do those walk out push ups. My triceps were definitely feeling it by the end.

The exercises in this workout are done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of rest. #9-11 below is done to different interval times: 50 seconds of work followed by 10 second of rest. There is a timer in the upper right hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. During the intro Caroline explains what tempo means in this particular workout (slow eccentric reps followed by explosive reps).

30 Min Tempo – Shoulders, Chest & Triceps Workout is 40:06 minutes; 2:23 minute intro, no warm up and 1:20 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a chair and fitness mat. Caroline is using 15kg/33.1 pound, 8kg/17.6 pound and 4kg/8.8 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Slow eccentric chest press (lower the DBs slowly and push them up normal speed) (25# DBs)
2. Repeat #1
3. Chest press done to a brisk (but controlled) pace (25# DBs)
4. Walk it out to tricep push up (stand at the end of your mat, hinge forward and walk hands out to plank, do one tricep push up then walk hands back to feet and stand)
5. Slow eccentric diamond press (chest press w/ DBs pressed together over chest, lower slowly and raise normal speed) (20# DBs)
6. Repeat #5
7. Diamond press holding one DB in both hands (done to a brisk but controlled pace) (one 20# DB)
8. Repeat #4
9.  Slow eccentric x1 shoulder press (done to 50/10 intervals) (in kneeling lunge, do a single arm shoulder press, lower slowly and raise DB at normal pace) (one 18# DB)
10. Repeat #9 on other arm
11. Repeat #9 & 10
12. Push press (double arm overhead press, arms in goal post, use lower body to assist in pushing the DBs overhead explosively) (16.5# DBs)
13. Repeat #4
14. Slow eccentric frontal raise (hold one DB in both hands, do a straight arm front raise lifting arms normal speed and lowering them slowly speed) (one 15# DB)
15. Repeat #14
16. Frontal raise (hold one DB in both hands, raise and lower DB in straight arm front raise at a brisk but controlled pace) (one 15# DBs)
17. Repeat #4
18. Slow eccentric rear delt fly (bent over rear delt fly, raise normal speed and lower slowly) (6# DBs)
19. Slow eccentric lateral raise (straight arm side raise, raise normal speed and lower slowly) (8# DBs)
20. Repeat #18 & 19
21. Partial rear delt flys (bent over rear delt flys, but only lift halfway) (6# DBs)
22. Partial lateral raise (straight arm side raise but only lift arms halfway) (8# DBs)
23. Repeat #4
24. Slow eccentric skull crushers (lower DBs slowly and raise them normal speed) (12# DBs)
25. Repeat #24
26. x1 dumbbell skull crushers (hold one DB in both hands, do skull crushers at a brisk but controlled pace) (one 15# DB)
27. Repeat #4
28. Slow eccentric dips (tricep dips, lower slowly and raise normal speed)
29. Repeat #28
30. Cobra push ups (done to a brisk but controlled pace)

Finisher: (3 minutes, no rest/recoveries)

1. Sprawl for 40 seconds (start standing, hinge forward, place hands on mat, jump feet out to plank, jump feet back into hands and stand)
2. Standing diamond press for 20 seconds (hold one DB in both hands at chest level, press DB in front of you and pull it back into chest at a brisk pace) (one 15# DBs)
3. Repeat #1
4. Figure 8 for 20 seconds (hold one DB in both hands and draw a large figure 8 in front of body) (one 8# DB)
5. Repeat #1
6. Drive the car for 20 seconds (hold one DB in both hands, extend arms in front of body at shoulder level, rotate DB side to side like turning a steering wheel) (one 8# DB)

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