41MIN Upper Body Strength Workout // Day 42: HR12WEEK 5.0

41 Min Upper Body Strength Workout is Day 42 in Heather Robertson‘s HR12Week 5.0 program.

If you challenge yourself with heavy weights, this is a tough upper body strength workout. Heather recommends using the same weights you used in Phase 2 of the program but doing more reps; she recommends the 12 rep range. I just lifted the heaviest I thought I could based on the exercise and interval. I did not do 12 reps most of the time but neither did Heather since I frequently kept pace with her. I made good weight choices but it definitely fried my muscles. During the final stretch exercise at the very end (child’s pose) I felt every muscle in back and shoulders still singing from this workout.

This is a circuit based workout. There are 3 circuits and each circuit is done twice. 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.

41 Min Upper Body Strength Workout is 40:44 minutes; 40 second intro, 4:40 minute warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather recommends light and medium dumbbells (5 to 25 pounds). The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Alternating shoulder press (stand with a DB in each hand held at shoulder level, alternate pushing DBs to ceiling) (20# DBs)
2. Arnold press (20# DBs)
3. Bicep curl (20# DBs)
4. Bicep curl & hold (raise DBs halfway into bicep curl with elbows bent at 90 degrees and palms facing ceiling, hold one arm isometrically while doing a bicep curl with the other arm, alternate arms) (15# DBs)
5. Bicep burn out (fast alternating bicep curls with light DBs) (5# DBs)
6. Repeat #1-5

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Quick stop push up (lower halfway, pause briefly, lower to bottom of push up then push all the way back to top of push up)
2. Chest fly (lay on back with knees bent and feet close to glutes, raise hips/glutes into bridge and hold isometrically while doing chest flys) (20# DBs)
3. Tricep press combo (lay on back with legs raised and knees bent at 90 degrees, holding a DB in each hand, palms face each other and keeping arms close to sides, push DBs to ceiling in a tricep press then bend elbows and do a skull crusher) (15# DBs)
4. Plank row (renegade row, alternate arms) (30# DBs)
5. Burpee and press (stand holding a DB in each hand, squat placing DBs on floor, jump feet back to plank, do a push up, jump feet back into DBs, stand and do a hammer curl into an overhead press) (20# DBs)
6. Repeat 1-5

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Alternating fist pump (stand with arms raised in front of you to shoulder level, elbows are bent at 90 degrees with palms facing you and a DB in each hand, from this position alternate pushing arms/DBs overhead, lowering them back to 90 degrees) (12# DBs)
2. Fist pump (same as #1 but do not alternate, push both arms to ceiling) (12# DBs)
3. Inchworm & pushup (stand at end of mat, hinge forward and walk hands out to plank, do one push up, walk hands back to feet, stand and jump)
4. Combo bent over row (hinge forward at the waist, do one single arm back row each arm + one double arm back row) (25# DBs)
5. Shadow box (alternating front punches holding light DBs) (5# DBs)
6. Repeat #1-5

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