Day 41: Chest & Back Strength (Upper Body Dumbbell Workout) / HR12WEEK 4.0

Chest & Back Strength is Day 41 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week 4.0 program. Wow. This was a brutal workout. During the intro Heather warns you that the intervals are longer but she wants you to use the same weights you’ve been using but to try to push out more reps. What she doesn’t share is that the recoveries are shorter, which makes it hard to keep using the same weights for 3 circuits. It also makes the workout very metabolic. The chest is my least favorite muscle group to work and also probably my weakest, so I was struggling hard during that first circuit. By the 3rd time through the circuit I dropped to lighter weights on almost every single exercise. My chest is fried! My back is stronger so I was able to maintain the same weights but my back was also fried by the end. And though the exercises definitely focus on the chest and back, you will work every upper body muscle group in this workout plus your core, too!

There are 2 circuits. The first circuit is a chest circuit. Though you repeat the circuit 3 times, Heather varies the exercises by changing her lower body placement for some of the exercises each time the circuit is repeated. For the back circuit the exercises remain the same each time you repeat the circuit. Each circuit ends with a body weight exercise done “to failure”; it is only done once after the circuit has been repeated 3 times. I am a little confused about the moniker “to failure”. You do not get a longer interval so I am not sure how this exercise is done “to failure” any more than any of the other exercises are but they do work nicely as finishers.

The exercises are all done interval style: 45 seconds of work followed by 15 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.

Chest & Back Strength is 41:41 minutes; one minute intro, 3:50 minute warm up and 3:50 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. The weights listed below are what I used. I also used a medium resistance band to add some resistance to the very last back exercise (Super V Squeeze).

Circuit 1:

1. Chest press (barbell @ 75#)
2. Negative chest press (lower slowly then push up at normal pace) (30# DBs)
3. Chest fly bridge (lay on back on mat, knees bent and feet close to glutes, raise hips into bridge and hold isometrically while doing chest fly) (25# DBs)
4. V-press (lay on back with one DB in each hand and arms close to sides, palms face each other, push DBs upward, opening arms into a V then return to start) (20# DBs)
5. Neutral chest press (standard chest press but Heather’s arms are situated so the dumbbells form a wide V, alternate arms) (25# DBs)
6. Repeat #1 & 2
7. Chest fly (legs are raised and knees bent at 90 degrees, legs remain in this position while doing a chest fly) (25# DBs)
8. Repeat #4
9. Neutral press & bridge (lay on back on mat, knees bent and feet close to glutes, raise hips into bridge and hold isometrically while doing a standard chest press but Heather’s arms are situated so the dumbbells form a wide V, alternate arms) (25# DBs)
10. Chest press bridge (lay on back on mat, knees bent and feet close to glutes, raise hips into bridge and hold isometrically while doing chest press) (25# DBs)
11. Repeat #2 (25# DBs)
12. Chest fly (20# DBs)
13. Repeat #4
14. Neutral chest press (legs are raised and knees bent at 90 degrees, legs remain in this position while doing a standard chest press but Heather’s arms are situated so the dumbbells form a wide V, alternate arms) (20# DBs)
15. Push ups (to failure) (Heather holds DBs to add depth to the push up)

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Underhand row (double arm bent over row, palms face in front of you) (30# DBs)
2. Negative single arm row (Heather is in kneeling lunge, torso is hinged forward and non-working hand rests on the end of another DB, lower DB slowly but raise at normal pace) (one 40# DB)
3. Repeat #2 on other arm
4. Dumbbell pullover (legs are raised and knees bent at 90 degrees, legs remain in this position while doing a pullover) (one 40# DB)
5. Renegade row (alternate arms) (30# DBs)
6. Repeat #1-5 two more times
7. Super V-squeeze (to failure) (lay on stomach with arms extended in front of you, raise arms and legs in superman, hold and pull elbows behind back, push arms in front of you again then lower hands/legs) (I used a medium resistance band)

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