41 MIN Total Upper Body Strength // Day 52: HR12WEEK 5.0

41 Min Total Upper Body Strength is Day 52 in Heather Robertson‘s HR12Week 5.0 program.

This was an intense and thorough upper body strength workout that gets metabolic in places. Heather hits every upper body muscle group through both isolation and compound movements. I modified one 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 an d it keeps your lower back safe.

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 Total Upper Body Strength is 40:11 minutes; 25 second intro, 4:40 minute warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather recommends light to heavy dumbbells (5 to 35+ pounds). The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Alternating lateral raise (9# DBs)
2. Partial lateral raise (double arm, raise arms to top of lateral raise and hold isometrically while pulsing upward) (5# DBs)
3. In & out curls (alternate one traditional bicep curl with one wide bicep curl, elbows remain close to sides throughout) (15# DBs)
4. Slow mo bicep curl (traditional curl done slowly) (16.5# DBs)
5. Bicep burn out (fast alternating bicep curls done with light DBs) (5# DBs)
6. Repeat #1-5

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Single leg rocket push up (do one push up then push glutes back to heels keeping knees elevated off mat, when doing the push up lift one leg behind you, alternate legs)
2. Combo chest press (do one single arm chest press each arm + one double arm chest press) (30# DBs)
3. Skull crusher (15# DBs)
4. Pullover (legs are raised and bent at 90 degrees while arms do pullover) (one 40# DB)
5. Burpee & press (start standing w/ a DB in each hand, hinge forward placing DBs on mat, jump legs back into plank, do one push up, jump feet back into DBs, stand and do one double arm bicep curl into an overhead shoulder press) (20# DBs)
6. Repeat #1-5

30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Alternating straight arm front raise (palms face thighs/floor) (9# DBs)
2. Rainbow raise (straight arm front raise w/palms facing each other and slightly turned out when DBs are at thighs, as you raise DBs, arc them rainbow fashion so that at top of raise you arc DBs towards each other) (8# DBs)
3. Bear crawl (in bear/beast pose (on hands and toes w/ knees bent at 90 degrees and elevated a few inches off mat), walk laterally the length of your mat and back)
4. Gorilla row (hinge forward with flat back holding one DB in each hand, do alternating bent over rows) (40$ DBs)
5. 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 they are at shoulders and lower into a shallow squat, as you raise out of squat do an overhead shoulder press) (20# 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.