40MIN Chest & Shoulders // Day 37: HR12WEEK 5.0

40 Min Chest & Shoulders is Day 37 in Heather Robertson‘s HR12Week 5.0 program.

Though this is technically a chest and shoulder workout, it is the shoulders that are carrying the workout. Mine were fried by the end! Heather hits the shoulders from every angle. I challenged myself to use 10 pound dumbbells for a lot of exercises that I normally would use 8s or 9s for. I definitely felt it. I also had my 16.5s nearby as back ups in case I had to drop to them when using 20s but I was able to push through. Another great upper body workout!

The exercises are done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of recovery. The finisher has different interval times and those are noted below. 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 Chest & Shoulders is 38:30 minutes; 35 second intro, 4:40 minute warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather recommends light to medium weights (5 to 25 pounds). The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Hammer front raise (straight arm front raise, palms face each other) (10# DBs)
2. Front raise and rotate (starts the same as #1 but when arms are shoulder level, rotate wrists inward so palms face away from you) (5# DBs)
3. Alternating lateral raise (10#DBs)
4. Clean & press (hinge forward as if in deadlift, as you raise out of deadlift raise DBs upright row style until they are at shoulders, flip DBs so the are at shoulders and lower into a shallow squat, as you raise out of squat do an overhead shoulder press) (20# DBs)
5. Repeat #1-4

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Alternating upward chest fly (stand with a DB in each hand, palms facing in front of you, do a single arm front raise, palm still facing upward, while angling arm/DB inward across body, alternate arms) (10# DBs)
2. Chest press (30# DBs)
3. Chest fly (lower body is raised in bridge entire interval) (20# DBs)
4. Combo pike push up (do one push up then walk hands back toward feet until you are in pike position, do a pike push up then walk hands back out to plank, continue alternating)
5. Repeat #1-4

30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Alternating shoulder press (palms face each other) (20# DBs)
2. 90 degree lat raise (bent arm lateral raise) (10# DBs)
3. Rear delt fly (hinged forward at waist) (8# DBs)
4. Partial rear delt fly (still hinged forward, lift arms to top of fly, hold there isometrically while pulsing upward) (5# DBs)
5. Repeat #1-4

10 second rest

Finisher: (each exercise is done for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest)

1. Shadow box (alternating front punches) (5# DBs)
2. T-push ups (holding a DB in each hand, do one push up then rotate into side plank and raise top arm/DB to ceiling, alternate sides with a push up between each side) (10# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 three 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.