40 Min Upper Body Strength (Back, Bi’s & Tri’s) is Day 30 in Heather Robertson‘s HR12Week 5.0 program.
This was a very enjoyable upper body strength workout. I always enjoy back work and this brought back one of my favorite exercises from Cathe‘s STS 2.0–the Gorilla Row. Cathe does it a bit differently than Heather by resting the dumbbells on a low step. I used Cathe’s method because it not only enables you to lift heavier but also protects your low back. And my low back has been acting threatening for a while now. So I used my step bench for several exercises including the Gorilla Row (single arm rows and I sat on the bench for the rear delt row). However, in the breakdown below I describe how Heather performs the exercise. The last thing I want is for my low back to go out! I also do not do Tate Presses frequently enough to automatically know the right weight so I had to run through several dumbbells before settling on 14 pound dumbbells for the final set. That felt perfect.
There are 2 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, there is a small graphic with a weight recommendation–light, medium or heavy.
40 Min Upper Body Strength (Back, Bi’s & Tri’s) is 40:34 minutes; 25 second intro, 4:40 minute warm up and 3:40 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather recommends light to heavy dumbbells (5 to 35+ pounds). The weights listed below are what I used.
Circuit 1:
- Gorilla row (hinge forward with flat back holding one DB in each hand, do alternating bent over rows) (40# DBs)
- Tricep cross press (hold one DB in one hand, extend arm overhead, bent elbow bringing end of DB to front of opposite shoulder, working arm remains stationary from shoulder to elbow) (one 12# DB)
- Repeat #2 on other arm
- Rotational curl (start w/ DBs at sides, palms facing body, as you curl DBs, rotate DBs so palms face upward) (20# DBs first set, 16.5# DBs last 2 sets)
- Slow mo wide curls (elbows kept close to sides, arms/DBs open to sides) (15# DBs)
- Repeat #1-5 two more times
30 second rest
Circuit 2:
- Single arm row (done in kneeling lunge) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other arm
- Rear delt row (bent over wide row, arms are open to sides, lead with the elbows) (20# DBs first set, 16.5# DBs last 2 sets)
- Tate press (lay on back, DBs are extended to ceiling with palms facing feet/legs, bend elbows bringing ends of DBs to chest then straighten arms again) (12# DBs first set, 13# DBs second set, 14# DBs 3rd/final set)
- Diamond push up (tricep push up, arms are kept close to sides, hands are together under chest, thumb and fore finger forming a diamond shape)
- Repeat #1-5 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.
