40MIN Chest & Back Strength + Sprint // Day 22: HR12WEEK 5.0

40 Min Chest & Back Strength + Sprint is Day 22 in Heather Robertson‘s HR12Week 5.0 program.

This is a great upper body workout that really highlights strength imbalances. There is some unilateral work for both the back and the chest. For the chest, I was surprised at how much stronger my left arm was. It was much easier to do the single arm chest press with my left arm. This surprised me because I have had so many problems with my left shoulder so I expected my right arm to be stronger. They were both pretty equal for the single arm rows. The workout ends with a HIIT finisher to get in some extra cardio burn.

This workout has two circuits and each circuit is done 3 times. The exercises are done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of recovery. Finisher/sprint is done for 30 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. 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. During the sprint finisher Heather shows low impact modifications for the exercises with impact.

Chest & Back Strength + Sprint is 39:16 minutes; 1:15 intro, 4:40 minute warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Heather recommends 25 to 30 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Single arm chest press (one 30# DB)
2. Repeat #1 on other arm
3. Slow mo chest press (5 counts up and 5 counts down) (25# Dbs)
4. Chest press (regular pace) (25# DBs)
5. Repeat #1-4 two more times

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Single arm underhand row (palm faces forward) (one 40# DB)
2. Repeat #1 on other arm
3. Pull over (legs are raised and bent at 90 degrees the entire interval) (one 40# DB)
4. Slow mo double arm underhand row (25# DBs)
5. Repeat #1-4 two more times

30 second rest

Sprint: (30/10 intervals)

1. Half burpee (start standing, squat and place hands on mat, jump feet back into plank, jump feet back to hands and stand)
2. Repeat #1
3. High knee run
4. Repeat #3
5. Power jack (sumo/plie jacks)
6. Repeat #5

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