CGX: Iron Program Day 50: Shoulders & Triceps

This is a workout from Caroline Girvan‘s CGX app. For more info on Caroline’s App, see the CGX App page. This is the final workout in the Iron Program. I still have two more Iron workouts to do because I did them in perfect order. I followed the weekly schedule but within each week I re-arranged the workouts to suit the way I prefer my workouts to fall. This was a great way to finish out the program. She really fried my shoulders and triceps–my shoulders especially. She mixed long intervals with cluster sets and I was frequently struggling. But the good struggle. At the very end of the workout, right before the stretch, her adorable puppies run out to celebrate with her/us and run around during the very short stretch. Since this is a short workout that isolates the shoulders and triceps, I did her 10 Minute Back Builder as an add on workout, but since it is working a larger muscle group I actually did that workout first before this one.

This workout is done interval style. The interval and recovery times vary so they are noted below in the breakdown. 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. The intro is longer than usual at 6:19 minutes. The first 4 minutes Caroline gives a recap of the past 10 weeks and also talks about the different ways to achieve progressive overload (though she doesn’t use that term, that is what she is talking about). The last 2 minutes she discusses this workout.

Shoulders & Triceps is 35:52 minutes (this time does not include the optional 6 minute warm up or the 6:19 minute intro, also optional) with a one minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, chair/bench, and a fitness mat. Caroline is using 10kg/22 pound, 7.5kg/16.5 pound, and 5kg/11 pound dumbbells.The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Arnold press for 75 seconds (seated in chair) (20# DBs)
2. 30 second rest
3. Repeat #1 for 60 seconds
4. 30 second rest
5. Single arm rear delt fly for 60 seconds (hinged forward with one knee and one fhand/orearm resting on bench, palm faces behind you) (one 10# DB)
6. 10 second rest
7. Partial fly for 20 seconds (same position as #5 but only lift DB halfway) (10# DB)
8. Repeat 6 & 7 three more times
9. 30 second rest
10. Repeat #5-9 on other arm
11. Seated should press for 75 seconds (arms are in goal post) (22.5# DBs)
12. 30 second rest
13. Repeat #11 for 60 seconds (20# DBs)
14. 30 second rest
15. Lateral raise for 60 seconds (standing) (9# DBs)
16. 10 second rest
17. Partial lateral raise for 20 seconds (only lift DBs/arms halfway) (9# DBs)
18. Repeat #16 & 17 three more times
19. 30 second rest
20. Arc raises for 60 seconds (straight arm front raise, at top of raise arc DBs towards each other so the ends almost touch) (9# DBs)
21. 10 second rest
22. Frontal raise for 20 seconds (9# DBs)
23. Repeat #21 & 22 three more times
24. 30 second rest
25. Skull crushers for 75 seconds (15# DBs)
26. 30 second rest
27. Repeat #25 for 60 seconds
28. 30 second rest
29. Overhead tap for 85 seconds (same as a skull crusher except bring DBs back further so they tap the floor just behind the head) (13# DBs)
30. 15 second rest
31. Repeat #29 for 20 seconds
32. 10 second rest
33. Repeat #31 & 32 two more times
34. Repeat #31
35. 30 second rest
36. Tricep press for 60 seconds (same as a chest press except arms/elbows are kept close to sides) (25# DBs)
37. 10 second rest
38. Repeat # 36 for 20 seconds
39. Repeat #37 & 38 three more times
40. 30 second rest

Finisher: (2:15 minutes)

1. Skull crushers for 60 seconds (with one DB held in both hands) (one 20# DB)
2. 15 second rest
3. Partial lateral raises for 60 seconds (8# DBs)