This is a workout from Caroline Girvan‘s CGX app. For more info on Caroline’s App, see the CGX App page.
This is a thorough upper body strength workout with a lot of shoulder work. In fact, the shoulder work was seriously kicking Caroline’s butt! The very last interval before the finisher she just quit when there was still 16 seconds left! And the finisher is more shoulders which was, again, kicking her butt. This workout fried my shoulders, too. I had back up weights nearby for every exercise but did not end up using them. I did drop to my 8 pound weights for the finisher because my shoulders were fried.
The exercises are done interval style. The interval and recovery times vary so they are noted below in the breakdown. 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 45:23 minutes (this time does not include the optional 3:55 minute warm up or the 3:16 minute intro, also optional) with a 1:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, chair/bench, and fitness mat. Optional: push up bars. Caroline is using 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.
- Rear delt row for 75 seconds (sit on bench or chair holding one DB in each hand, torso is hinged forward over thighs, DBs start near heels, row DBs w/ arms open out to sides and palms facing behind you, leading/raising with elbows, arms are bent and elbows are in line with shoulders) (12# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Shoulder press for 60 seconds (seated overhead shoulder press, arms are in goal post at bottom of press) (20# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #1-4 two more times
- Double arm bent over row for 60 seconds (30# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Diamond press for 75 seconds (similar to a chest press, but DBs are pressed together over chest and arms/elbows are kept close to sides the entire time) (20# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #6-9 two more times
- Upright row for 75 seconds (15# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Push ups for 60 seconds (Caroline is using push up bars to go deeper, I used DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #11-14 two more times
- Rear delt fly (palms facing behind) for 60 seconds (sit in chair, torso hinged forward over thighs) (9# DBs)
- (no rest) Lateral raise for 45 seconds (standing) (9# DBs)
- (no rest) Arc raise for 45 seconds (straight arm front raise w/palms facing each other, at top of raise arc DBs towards each other) (9# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #16-19 two more times
Finisher: (4 minutes)
- Frontal to lateral raise, 10 reps (raise arms into a straight arm front raise, at top of raise open arms out to sides then lower arms/DBs to sides, reverse this motion, lifting arms to sides in a lateral raise, at top of raise bring arms together in front of you then lower them to front of thighs) (8# DBs)
- Lateral then frontal, 20 reps (alternate one double straight arm front raise with one double straight arm lateral raise) (8# DBs)
- Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible in 4 minutes
