40 Min Upper Body Strength Workout (Back, Bi’s & Tri’s) is Day 40 in Heather Robertson‘s HR12Week 5.0 program.
This was an excellent and very enjoyable upper body strength workout. I did modify some of the exercises to protect my back and to lift heavier. For the gorilla rows I used a step and did it as described in Cathe Friedrick‘s STS 2.0 Body Parts Back bonus. You can lift much heavier weights using Cathe’s method for this exercise. And for the single arm rows I rested one knee and hand on a step bench rather than kneeling; again, this protects the back and makes it possible to lift heavier.
There are 2 circuits and each circuit is done 3 times. The exercises are done interval style; each exercise is done for 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 Workout (Back, Bi’s & Tri’s) is 40:31 minutes; 20 second intro, 4:40 minute warm up and 3:45 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and exercise 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 13# DB)
- Repeat #2 on other arm
- Alternating rotational curl (start w/ DBs at sides, palms facing body, as you curl DBs, rotate DBs so palms face upward) (20# DBs)
- Hammer curl & hold (one DB in each hand, elbows are bent at 90 degrees with arms close to sides, lower one DB into hammer curl then return it to 90 degrees, alternate arms) (16.5# DBs)
- Repeat #1-5 two more times
30 second rest
Circuit 2:
- Alternating rear delt fly (hinged forward) (8# DBs)
- Single arm row (done in kneeling lunge) (one 42.5# DB)
- Repeat #2 on other arm
- 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) (13# DBs)
- Diamond push up (tricep push up, arms are kept close to sides, hands are together under chest, thumb and forefinger 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.
