This is one of my favorite quick workouts to do to work the back and chest. You can use dumbbells or resistance bands as long as whatever you use challenges you. I’ve been using yellow (light resistance), red (medium resistance ) and blue (heavy resistance) bands that I bought from Target. You can see how I have them rigged up on my workout bench in the picture of my home gym. I’ve discovered that bands are a great way to change up my workouts and they throw a bit of variety into my routine.
Warm up by doing 2 or 3 minutes of rhythmic movement, focusing on sweeping motions to stretch the back and chest. You can also walk in place or on treadmill for a few minutes to warm up.
(and I’m going to literally write out every set and the weights I use as I’ve had some feedback that my upper body workout was a little confusing!)
Circuit One
12 Pushups on the knees (You can place the band over your upper back, place the ends under the palms and add some serious resistance here!!! You kind of wrap yourself with it across the upper back area so that you have to push up against it from the floor…)
12 Double Lat Rows – 10 pound DBs or the Red Band
12 Pushups on the toes
12 Double Lat Rows – 12 pound DBs or the Red Band
12 Pushups on the toes to begin, but I often end up dropping down to the knees
12 Double Lat Rows – 15 pound DBs or the Blue band but sometimes I end up back at the blue
Do a set of side planks for each side for about a minute to give the back and chest a little break…
Circuit Two
12 Single Arm Lat Row R – 20 pound DB or you can loop a band around a heavy object or step on it and pull it with one arm – very hard to do with good control and a great challenge. I’ll use the red band here.
12 Bench press L – (I hold 15 pound DBs in both hands or go for the red band, but only move the Left side up and down. I hold the R side in a steady contraction with the elbow at 90 degrees to balance <and this also works the R side with the static hold>)
12 Single Arm Lat Row L – 20 pound DB
12 Bench press R – (I hold 15 pound DBs in both hands, but only move the Right side up and down. I hold the L side in a steady contraction to balance <and this also works the L side with the static hold>)
12 Single Arm Lat Row R – 20 pound DB
12 Bench press L
12 Single Arm Lat Row L – 20 pound DB
12 Bench press R
Here’s a great opportunity to do 50 crunches on a body ball for your ‘rest” break.
Circuit Three
12 Pec flyes – 10 pound DBs or I’ll lie down on my bench and use the yellow band.
12 Posterior delt flyes – 5 pound DBs or place the yellow band under the feet and lift it to the side.
12 Pec flyes – 10 pound DBs (I sometimes do these with my hands positioned so that the palms are turned toward my feet rather than facing one another as this engages the shoulders a little more and I like to develop that little “cap” on the delts)
12 Posterior delt flyes – 5 pound DBs (to add variation to this I’ll also sometimes turn the palms to the rear rather than to the floor)
12 Pec flyes – 10 pound DBs but sometimes have to lighten up a little to 8s
12 Posterior delt flyes – 5 pound DBs or sometimes have to lighten up to 3s
And to finish it up, do some slow stretches to expand the chest and then also to stretch the back.
By the end of this workout, your chest and back muscles should truly be exhausted!
I was trying to think of a way to add some resistance for ab work and I came up with this move using a band and a body ball. The band is anchored around my bench and I’m able to pull it up and over for some great resistance. I was going to attempt to just tell you about it, and then I figured I would save some time by just taking a quick snap shot. Feel free to try it and let me know if you have any moves similar to this as this is now one of my favorites…
