Day 11: Upper Body Strength & Conditioning (Bi’s, Tri’s & Shoulders) / HR12WEEK 4.0

Upper Body Strength & Conditioning (Bi’s, Tri’s & Shoulders) is Day 11 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week 4.0 program. During the intro Heather says that this is a superset workout in which she pairs one strength exercise that you can use heavy weights with and one conditioning exercise that you use lighter weights for. It is a nice pairing because if you use the appropriate weights for the muscle groups being worked you will definitely fatigue your muscles. And for an upper body workout, it is even a little metabolic.

There are 4 supersets in this workout and each superset is done 3 times. The exercises are 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 the next exercise. At the bottom of the screen during the preview, there is a small graphic with a weight recommendation–light, medium or heavy.

Upper Body Strength & Conditioning (Bi’s, Tri’s & Shoulders) is 32:24 minutes; 35 second intro, 3:15 minute warm up and 3:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Hammer curls (20# DBs)
2. Bicep burn out (fast alternating palms up bicep curls w/ light DBs) (5# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times
4. Skull crushers (15# DBs)
5. Tricep kickbacks (double kneeling, torso hinged forward, light DBs) (10# DBs)
6. Repeat #4 & 5 two more times
7. Alternating straight arm front raise (10# DBs)
8. Plank shoulder tap (straight arm plank holding a light DB in each hand, alternate tapping DB to opposite shoulder) (8# DBs)
9. Repeat 7 & 8 two more times
10. Curl & press combo (palms up bicep curl into an overhead press w/ palms facing each other) (20# DBs)
11. Boxer jack (holding one light DB in each hand, one cross-punch each arm + one jack pushing DBs overhead) (5# DBs)
12. Repeat #10 & 11 two more times

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