Amy Schemper leads a 12-minute, no-equipment upper-body (arms/shoulders/back) workout focused on muscle endurance and strength using six bodyweight moves. The session is split into two parts: three standing exercises performed back-to-back for 60 seconds each to develop endurance and shoulder mobility, then three mat-based exercises performed for 40 seconds each emphasizing strength. The workout includes progression options (pulses on the second round, modifications), brief mobility cues, and a short, self-directed cool-down.
Questions this video answers
Six moves.
60 seconds each, performed back-to-back with no break.
40 seconds each.
December 20, 2025.
Chapters
Hey, everybody, I'm Amy from Bodyfit by Amy. And this is your 12 minute body weight arms workout. So we're not going to do a formal warm up, but you can go ahead and march, pump those arms. We can even get some shoulder rolls. We'll just get a few little mobility exercises in these first few seconds and then we're going to jump right in. Here's what we've got. Today we have six moves. Your first three, they're all body weight, but your first three are standing. And they're going to look a little simple in the beginning. Let's just do a little tap out and reach. But we are gonna go non stop for those three exercises. 60 seconds. 60 seconds. 60 seconds, no break. Then we will take it down to the mat for our remaining three exercises where we'll do shorter intervals. 40 seconds only. All right, so you're gonna get the burn from the length, the repetition, muscle endurance on the first ones. And then we will take it down for some pure strength. We're gonna start in a little hinge position, thumbs up. We're going I y t and a jo up I why? So I want you to think of this first round, getting that mobility and really nailing the form. Everything we do, we're coming to a second round and I'm going to give you a little bit of a way to intensify. And for these standing ones, we're going to add some pulses. So get excited. But then you'll remember these if you want to get a quick little arm workout or a little arm burn when you don't have equipment, or maybe you can't even get down to the mat or maybe you're just tired of push ups and our traditional arm body weight workouts. I know I get that way. So you're going to have some other things that you can do a lot of mobility in the shoulders here, but we're also really strengthening along the back in the back of the shoulders and the back of the arms. And then again, we're going to get some pulses in our second round. Get ready for that next move. We're going to come out of the that hinge position right here. We're doing a push and a pull and I want you to really think that you're pushing something away and pulling down. Right? Push up and pull and squeeze as if you're doing a shoulder press and a pull down now. Already feeling it a little bit, probably because of those eyes wise and te's again, that's what we're going to get muscle endurance in the first three, strength in the second three. Push and pull. And again, second time through, we're gonna get some pulses, so you're gonna feel it all the way through. And getting that upper body working. You can also really think about that core engaging push. If you want to add a little lower body push and pull with that little squat or half squat. But it's an upper body workout, so you don't have to get it. Feeling the burn. Our next one, we're gonna squeeze out and in a little fly, and then we're gonna bring those elbows in for a little prayer P high and try. Here we go. Squeeze. Elbows in. Push, squeeze out, squeeze in, push. And my goal, if you can, is to try to glue those elbows together. It is hard to do, but again, you're probably feeling those shoulders. You're feeling the burn because we haven't gotten a break. Right? But really squeeze the elbows in, squeeze these forearms in, and you're really going to feel the back of the arms. Right. Burn. My goal with this workout is to have a bunch of comments where you say, oh, man, these looked easy, but you were right, Amy. I really was feeling it. Maybe not, but again, I just want to show you you don't have to have equipment. You don't have to be going for 30 minutes or even 20 minutes. You can get it done in 12 minutes, and you can get it done with some pretty basic movement patterns. It's all in how we execute it. Let's get one more and relax. Meet me down on the mat in seated position. So this next one is speaking of triceps. A tricep dip. Let's keep that burn going. Fingertips pointing too. If you want to keep it super simple, just a little lower and push up. You want to make sure that you're bending the elbows and pushing up. If you want to add a little extra, you can push up into a bridge. Just try to have your arms do the work. Here we go. Lower. Halfway down. Push up and lift lower. My goal is to try to use my upper body as much as I can, and then, yes, I'm going to use my glutes and hamstrings a little bit. But that power as I come up is coming from the back of the arms, chest, and shoulders. This one is only 40 seconds. We will get intervals on these. 10 seconds to go. Burn. 3, 2, 1. All right, we're gonna flip it over all the way down in a superman. If you need to modify this or you need another option, we're gonna Do a bird dog. Opposite arm, opposite leg if you can. We're gonna lift the upper and the lower, and we're gonna squeeze the heels in, squeeze the shoulder blades in. So a little lift and a squeeze. If you need to come down in between, you can. If you want to keep it up, you can do that too. Here we go. Squeeze in, squeeze in here. So again, your goal is to try to lift the shoulders as much as you can lift those legs so we get that low back as well. I know for me, I'm super tight here. I don't have a lot of flexion in my lower back or extension, I should say. So I'm gonna do the best I can. And you can bring it down in between if you want, or keep it up. Squeeze in the back. Pull those shoulder blades in. Breathe. Lift. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Stretch it back. Last move until we are back to the top. And we're gonna take it in a plank press so you can be on your knees here. Down, down, up, up. Then switch your lead arm, knees here elevated on the bench or the wall or all the way up on those toes. Let's do it. Here we go. Down, down, up, up, down, down. Then we're gonna make our way up onto our feet after this, and we're gonna get right into it. So we'll start our time and we'll go back to the eyes wise. T's right here. Yes. Down, down, up, up. Ten seconds strong through that upper body push. Thinking about your core working hard, too. 3, 2, 1. Up onto your feet in that hinge position. Here we go. Eyes wise. T's and A's. All right, Take your time. Maybe it took you a second to get up. That's okay. Don't worry about losing time. I just wanted to get right into it. Thumbs up, eyes wise. Tease. One more, And then I want to hold the T right here. Little pulses. You can even rotate those thumbs up. Right here. Yes. Or thumbs down. Feel it? And then I want you to bring those arms in, pulse with that. A right squeeze. Back of the arms, back of the shoulders. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Bring it up. Push and pull. Push and pull. Get a feel for the motion. And if this is right where you want to be, that's okay, too. Not just going through the motions, right? Really visualizing. I'm pushing, I'm pulling. Yes. There we go. Getting lots of mobility in this workout as well. But also that arm burn. We're gonna get it done. Let's do just your pushes. Here we go. Push, push. To the ceiling. Little pulse. You can go straight up or you can go up and in. Up to you. Yes. Just about halfway down. Breathe. And then pulse. Squeeze the shoulder blades in. Right? Maybe it's just here. Maybe you want to go out a little bit. But squeeze in those shoulder blades, these muscles right along the spine. Three, two, one. Here we go. Out in tricep prayer. Right, elbows in. Squeeze, squeeze out, squeeze in. Think about squeezing in the back. This way instead of pulling down, we're pulling out. In and then pulse. Yes. All right, team, are we ready? Get set. Here we go. Elbows in. Pulse, pulse. Can you just do this? It can be super small, but push those hands together. Push the forearms together, Push the elbows together. 15 seconds. Ah, burn. I know, I'm feeling it too. 10 seconds harder than it looks. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now you get a little breather, right? Shake them out. Meet me down on the mat. We're into those triceps. And let me give you an option. If the tricep dip is not right for you, just go over your head just here with no weight if you can. Fingertips in, lower and lift or lower and lift all the way up in the bridge. Here we go. Getting the core and a little bit of lower body along with a lot of upper body. So what I love about this tricep dip with a little bridge is that we're getting a built in chest opener. See how far we have to rotate externally? Rotate those shoulders, which we spend a lot of our times here. Right. So when we're here, we're getting. That's why that's a stretch down. And then really let the chest open. I know. Here we go. One more. No pulses on these and relax. All right, Rest your wrists. We're going to do that up. Lift and push, pull. I'm going to give you a second option if you want to do swimming, our little pilates swimming, where we still get our back. Opposite arm, opposite leg. Or here you can do that as well. I'm going to take that option. And again. Don't worry if you don't have a whole lot of extension. That's me. But let's just lift it up. Here we go. Opposite arm, opposite leg. Squeezing in the back again. Another exercise, harder than it looks. And if you'd rather keep that little squeeze and pull like we did, you can do that as well. Or swimming squeeze. And remember, you can always adjust. Maybe your thumbs want to be up, maybe in, maybe down. Maybe that feels a little better for your shoulders, your back, whatever it is, either way we're going to finish it out. Five seconds swimming or pull. Three, two, one. Stretch it back. All right, team, last one. It is a plank press. Let's make it good. Down, down, up, up. Let's get some power. Lots of core, lots of upper push. But I want you to think about pull with your core. Let's finish it out in three, two, one. Down, down, up, up. Keeping the hips square, you're gonna move a little bit through the hips and the torso, but we don't want to let it all go or let it drop. Right. So nice and tight, trying to stay square into the mat. Same thing when we do any sort of plank that we're moving. Yes. A little bit of movement is totally fine, but we want control, core control. What helps us to really tighten out your quads. Squeeze those glutes, lift in the core upper body. We got five, four, three, two, one. And relax. Ah. Stretch back into the child's pose. If that's where you are. You just press those shoulders down one at a time. We are not going to get a formal cool down or stretch, so please make sure that you get it on your own. Come up onto all fours. Roll through that cat cow through the back. I know I get super tight in those supermans or swimming things like that, but really good to strengthen and stretch all the way through. Roll back onto your feet. Take your time. Feel that little hang. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling the back of my shoulders, my back, the back of my arms. I hope that you do too. Let me know in the comments. Bookmark this workout. Even if you do just those first few exercises in your office on a little workout snack break, I promise you're gonna feel the burn, you're gonna get the blood flowing, you'll get your heart rate up. It is worth it. So save this workout. Next time you need something just body weight, just 12 minutes. One big deep breath in and out. You did it. That was your twist. 12 minute body weight arms workout. Great job, everybody.
