This is a workout from Caroline Girvan‘s CGX app. For more info on Caroline’s App, see the CGX App page.
This workout fried my shoulders. It is a great upper body workout that hits the shoulders, chest and back but the shoulders definitely carry the brunt of this workout. By the time we get to the chest press, I was feeling the chest press more in my shoulders more than in my chest! And the finisher just continues to fry the shoulders, but my shoulder were fried before we even got the finisher! I foresee DOMS in my future.
The exercises are done interval style. The exercises are done for 60 seconds of work followed by a 30 second rest. There is a timer in the upper right hand corner of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a progress bar along the bottom of the screen, counting down the workout time as a percentage.
Upper Body is 45:47 minutes (this time does not include the optional 3:55 minute warm up or the 4:05 minute intro, also optional) with a 1:50 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, chair/bench, and fitness mat. Caroline is using 15kg/33 pound, 10kg/22 pound, 7.5kg/16.5 pound, 5kg/11 pound and 4kg/8.8 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.
- x1 arm rear delt fly (palm behind) (one hand and same side leg rest on step/bench) (one 10# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other arm
- Repeat #1 & 2 two more times
- Upright row (15# DBs)
- Shoulder press (seated in chair, arms open to sides and are in goal post at bottom of press) (20# DBs)
- Repeat #4 & 5 two more times
- x1 arm momentum row (single arm row, one arm and same side knee rest on bench, pull DB up with force/power and lower slowly) (one 45# DB first set, one 40# DB last 2 sets)
- Repeat #7 on other arm
- Repeat #7 & 8 two more times
- Alternating chest press (arms are extended straight to ceiling, from this position, alternate lowering arms/DBs) (30# DBs)
- Single arm lateral raise for 30 seconds (9# DBs)
- (no rest) Repeat #11 on other arm
- (no rest) Repeat #11 & 12
- Repeat #10-13 two more times
Finisher: (4 minutes)
- Rear delt partials, 20 reps (seated on bench, hinge torso forward over thighs, palms face behind you, raise arms/DB partway) (8# DBs)
- Seated lateral raise, 10 reps (still sitting on bench but upright, full range lateral raise) (8# DBs)
- Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible in 4 minutes
