Upper Body Strength Workout with Tabata Finisher

It’s Day 1 of our week of workouts! This is a 34-minute upper body strength workout with a tabata finisher. You’ll need dumbbells for it, and I HIGHLY recommend having a light set on hand so you can drop down as needed. The biceps work in the first circuit will sneak up on you, trust me.

Check out this week’s workout schedule HERE.

Upper Body Strength Workout with Tabata Finisher

EQUIPMENT NEEDED

Set of medium-light dumbbells – I HIGHLY recommend having a lighter set on hand in case you need to drop down. I mostly used a set of 8lb weights, but used 10lbs for the first set and 5lbs for one of the shoulder exercises.

This upper body strength workout is broken up into two circuits and a tabata finisher. The first circuit will focus on biceps and triceps; second circuit shoulders and back. In each circuit, you’ll go through a circuit of five exercises, three times total. The first two sets, you’ll do 30 seconds of the full range exercise, 15 seconds pulsing in the exercise, then 15 seconds rest. The third and final set, there’s no pulsing. Here’s a breakdown:

Full range exercise 1 (30 sec)
Pulses exercise 1 (15 sec)
Rest (15 sec)
Full range exercise 2 (30 sec)
… and so on.

The third time through, it’s just 30 sec full range, 15 sec rest.

If the pulsing is too much, you always have the option to do full range of motion for the full 45 seconds.

For the tabata finisher, you’ll alternate between two bodyweight exercises using an interval structure of 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest. If you’re just interested in the weight training, feel free to skip the finisher. 🙂

As with all workouts, you want to make sure you’re properly warmed up before, and always listen to your body, modifying or stopping as needed. I have two guided warm ups:

5-Min Warm Up
7-Min Gentle Warm Up (no jumping)

Workout Breakdown

Circuit 1 – Biceps/Triceps

See 1:59 in the above video for a preview of the exercises.

Biceps Circle Curls // Pulse Wide, palms up
Biceps Hammer Curls // Pulse Narrow, palms in
Front – Lateral Extension // Bend-Stretch, arms wide
Triceps Kickbacks // Straight pulses
Triceps Extensions // Pulse @ halfway

Circuit 2 – Shoulders / Back

See 17:59 in the above video for a preview of the exercises.

Arnold Press // Pulse with forearms together
Shoulder Complex: bent raise, rotate open, press // Pulse in goal post position
Lateral Raise – slide – Front Raise // Alternate the front raise
Row – Rev Fly Combo // Pulse row, elbows in
Upright Row – Bent Row // Pulse row, elbows wide

Tabata Finisher

See 33:41 in the above video for a preview of the exercises and how to modify.

Marching Plank
Surfer Get-Ups

Similar Workouts

If you liked this upper body strength workout, check out these similar workouts:

Strength & Endurance: Shoulders – this workout mixes heavier strength circuits with light, high rep endurance rounds.
Strength & Endurance: Biceps & Triceps – same as above but focus is biceps and triceps
Build-a-Combo Upper Body Workout – using a set of dumbbells, you’ll build exercise combos over 90-second stretches of work.

xo Nicole

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