I’ve got a quick shoulder burnout for you today! If you’ve ever taken an indoor cycling class that incorporates hand weights, you’ll be familiar with this arm song workout. We’ll use light weights and small movements done to the beat of the music to burn out the upper body.

A couple years back, I teamed up with Recycle Studio here in Boston to make another of these arm song workouts. If you want a longer burnout, try doing both back to back.

Arm Song Workout (Spin Class Arms)

Because moving to the beat of the music is what makes this mini workout what it is, I’m not going to include a breakdown and preview of the exercises. It’s small movements done repeatedly so you shouldn’t have any trouble following along with me in the video.

I’m using a set of 2 lb hand weights. You could use anything from 1-5 lbs. If you’re a beginner and the weights are too much, make tight fists with your hands and just do it bodyweight.

The song is just over 5 minutes long, so this would make for a great finisher to a longer workout. Or you can do the two arm song videos I have back to back for a longer burn (linked above).

Hope you all are starting your week off on the right foot! Cheers to a productive week.

xo Nicole

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Today I’ve got an upper body workout for you focusing on the back (shoulders and arms will feel it, too). It’s not the best videography or lighting on my part, but hey, you all should be used to that by now (lol).

Before we dive into this back workout, I want to prepare you all for a possible lull in workouts the next few weeks. I’m going to do my damnedest to keep up with them, but I’m working on a big project that’s going to consume a lot of my time through mid November. I’ll share more details as it comes together, but basically I’m creating a series of full-length, group-fitness-style workouts. You have no idea how excited I am about this! The first day of shooting is actually today, so you can follow me on Instagram if you want to get a little sneak peek. 🙂

Upper Body Workout (Focus on Back) – Strength + Endurance

This upper body workout combines high-rep, low-weight exercises with low(er)-rep, high(er) weight exercises for a taste of both endurance and strength. The focus is on back but you’ll feel your shoulders and arms working as well.

First you’ll do a 3-minute sequence with light weights (2-5lbs) and small, high-rep movements to fatigue the target muscle group. You’ll then grab your heavier dumbbells (8-15lbs) for a circuit of three exercises using a 30 seconds of work / 10 seconds of rest interval structure. You do that twice.

As with all workouts, make sure to warm up beforehand. I have a warm up on the blog or you can do your own. Listen to your body and modify as needed, stopping altogether if something doesn’t feel right. A proper cool-down is important, too! Take some time to stretch after this workout.

WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

Endurance – 20 seconds each x3 (no rest)

See 02:02 in above video for preview of exercises

• High Row Pulses
• W Pulls
• Newspaper Pulses

Strength – 30 seconds work / 10 seconds rest x3

See 06:17 in above video for preview of exercises

• Single-Arm Row (right) – use both medium weights or one heavy one
• Single-Arm Row (left)
• Wide Grip Row

Endurance – 20 seconds each x3 (no rest)

See 13:05 in above video for preview of exercises

• Rev Fly Rotations
• Bent Fly Pulses
• Bent Newspaper Pulses

Strength – 30 seconds work / 10 seconds rest x3

See 16:54 for preview of exercises

• Rev Fly (+Row as needed)
• Upright Row
• Bent Overhead Raise (use single weight)

If you like this workout structure, I have two more using the same format but with different focus. Check out Biceps/Triceps and Shoulders.

xo Nicole