Upper Body Strength is Day 18 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week 4.0 program. This was a tough upper body strength workout. More than half of the exercises are bodyweight strength exercises and it is tougher than I expected it to be. On the side lying tricep press, keeping your legs straight actually makes the exercise harder. I kept wanting to bend my knees to make it easier! Additionally, you spend a lot of time in plank so your core is getting worked, too. There are 3 circuits and each circuit 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, Heather has a small graphic with a weight recommendation–light, medium or heavy.
Upper Body Strength is 36:31 minutes; 45 second intro, 4 minute warm up and 3:50 minute stretch. Equipment: light and medium dumbbells, a yoga blocks/chair/step/bench and a fitness mat. The weights listed below are what I used.
Circuit 1:
- Around the world (with palms facing forward and hands in front of thighs, keeping arms straight, raise DBs out to sides then overhead, lower DBs out to sides and back in front of thighs) (8# DBs)
- Plank tap & reach (in straight arm plank, reach one arm straight in front of you, repeat on other arm then tap opposite shoulder with one hand, repeat on other shoulder)
- Tricep dips (Heather’s hands are behind her on a yoga block but you can use a chair, a bench, or a step–I used a chair)
- Repeat #1-3 two more times
30 second rest
Circuit 2:
- Chest fly (lay on back, legs are raised and knees bent at 90 degrees, legs remain in this position while doing a chest fly) (25# DBs)
- Lying tricep press (lay on side, top arm is on mat in front of chest, bottom arm rests on opposite/top shoulder, do a single arm tricep push up keeping legs straight)
- Repeat #2 on other side of body
- Repeat #1-3 two more times
30 second rest
Circuit 3:
- Kneeling chest press (in high double kneeling, holding one DB in both hands, push DB out straight in front of you then pull DB back to chest) (one 15# DB)
- Overhead press combo (stand holding one DB in each hand at shoulders, palms face each other, push DBs overhead then bend elbows into an overhead tricep extension, straighten arms and lower DBs back to shoulders) (13# DBs)
- Walking plank (alternate straight arm plank with elbow/forearm plank)
- Repeat #1-3 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.
