30 Min Cluster Sets Upper Body Workout is Day 22 in Caroline Girvan‘s Fuel Series. Another tough upper body strength workout. Caroline uses “cluster sets” to really burn out the muscle group you are working. You hit the muscle group for a solid minute then you do 3 cluster sets hitting the same muscle group but with a different variation of the exercise. The exercises are done interval style but the interval lengths vary. You will do one 60 second interval then it will be followed by three 20 second intervals. However every exercise is separated by a 20 second rest/recovery, regardless of the interval length. There is a timer in the upper right hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recovery. 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. This workout is done to music with plenty of visual cues as well as “dings” to keep you on track.
30 Min Cluster Sets Upper Body Workout is 39:41 minutes; 3:12 minute intro, no warm up and 1:50 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a chair or dip bars, and a fitness mat. Caroline is using 15kg/33 pound, 8kg/17.6 pound dumbbells, and 4kg/8.8 pound. The weights listed below are what I used.
- Supine row for 60 seconds (bent over double arm row with palms facing forward) (30# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Bent over row for 20 seconds (palms face the body) (30# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Repeat #3 & 4 two more times
- Chest press for 60 seconds (30# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Diamond press for 20 seconds (chest press but with DBs pressed together over chest, push DBs to ceiling) (20# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Repeat #8 & 9 two more times
- One supine row + one bicep curl + one bicep curl into Arnold press–do this combo for 60 seconds (18# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Overhead shoulder press for 60 seconds (arms in goal post) (20# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Alternating overhead shoulder press for 20 seconds (18# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Repeat #15 & 16 two more times
- Slow tricep dips on chair or dip bars for 60 seconds
- 20 second rest
- Repeat #18 at a moderate but faster pace for 20 seconds
- 20 second rest
- Repeat #20 & 21 two more times
- Repeat #11 & 12
- Alternating bicep curls for 60 seconds (18# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Double arm hammer curls for 20 seconds (18# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Repeat #26 & 27 two more times
- Bent over rear delt flys for 60 seconds (9# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Partial reps for 20 seconds (bent over rear delt flys but only lift DBs halfway) (9# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Repeat #31 & 32 two more times
- Repeat #11 & 12
- Arc raise for 60 seconds (front raise but arc ends of DBs toward each other at top of raise) (8# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Hammer frontal raise for 20 seconds (straight arm front raise w/ palms facing each other) (8# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Repeat #37 & 38 two more times
- Straight arm lateral raise for 60 seconds (9# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Partial reps for 20 seconds (straight arm lateral raises but only raise arms/DBs halfway) (9# DBs)
- 20 second rest
- Repeat #42 & 43 two more times
Finisher:
- Double arm hammer curl holding one DB in both hands for 30 seconds (one 25# DB)
- Hammer raise for 30 seconds (straight arm front raise still holding one DB in both hands) (one 15# DB)
- Hammer press for 30 seconds (double arm overhead press still holding one DB in both hands) (25# DB)
- Combo for 60 seconds (one rep of #1 + one rep of #2 + one rep of #3) (one 15# DB)
For more info on Caroline Girvan’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
