13: 23-Min Upper Body Express Workout | Arms, Shoulders, Back & Core 💪

Hey everybody, I'm Amy from BodyFit by Amy, and this is your upper body express workout. This is a quick workout for your arms, chest, shoulders, back, and core, and I'll be using a mix of weights and a mat and an optional bench. Of course, I'll give you options to work to your level. Are you ready? Let's do it! Let's start just by getting our muscles warm with a march and just pump those arms. We are going to keep this warm-up short so we can keep the workout short. It is press after all. And we're going to keep the cool down short as well, so please add a little more on either end if you need it, if you have time. Let's roll those shoulders to the back. So we're just going to get the blood flowing, get our body's temperature up, get some movement through our upper body and core, and then we're going to jump right in. Let's take them to the front. Here's what we've got: 2 quick circuits today, only 2 circuits, but they each have 3 exercises for 3 rounds. Going down in time. Let's open up those arms, cross it over and under. If you want to do a little step out, because always good to open up those hips, take it here. All right, so 3 exercises, 2 upper body with different movement patterns, and then a core. Our first round is 40 seconds of work, true back to basics. Let's take it up with a Y, hinge it to the back, Y, stretch those shoulders. To the back. So within that, we are getting our major movement patterns— upper body push, upper body pull— and then some core. 40 seconds of work. Round 1, we get our back to basics, then we mix it up a little bit on rounds 2 and 3. This time, let's reach it all the way up, hinge it all the way down. You can start with that going down the front of your legs, and then we're going to add a little inchworm. So if you can walk those hands out and then walk those hands back. Totally at your own pace. If that's not right for you, you can keep it up top or walk out to your knees. So round 2, we're going to mix it up. It may just be a little bit of a difference in angles, or it may be adding something on, but that one's only 30 seconds of work, 15 seconds of rest. Our last round is our lightning round, 20 seconds of work, and we'll have something with a little different intensity just to finish it out. If Here we go. This time we're gonna walk it all the way out, find that high plank position. If you're not in the high plank, drop it to the knees. We're gonna sit back to the child's pose, up to the plank or up to the knees. And if you want, we will add a little reach under for the shoulders and then core, ready to go. So I'm working all with my dumbbells today. Of course you can use kettlebells or even just keep it body weight if that's a better option. For you. Go ahead and walk those hands back nice and slow. Feel that stretch in your back, and then slowly round it up one at a time. All right, so you can do some little taps out right here. Watch me for your first 3 exercises. First is our basic bent over row. We're going to keep it with 2 weights. So we're here, I got my heavy weights. We're gonna hinge it, bent over row. If you need to stagger, you can stagger. Then we're down on the bench or mat for a press, and then we have a regular plank. All right, we'll mix it up as we go, but go ahead and grab those weights. Get set, shoulders back, core engaged. Hinge it here, pull with those big muscles in your back, pull towards your hips in 3, 2, 1. Now often in our longer workouts, we'll separate this out, right side, left side. I love a single arm row, but not today. We need them working together bilateral so we can get this workout done quickly, right? Squeeze in the back. Really focus on those big muscles in your back, so pulling your shoulder blades together. And I like to say pull towards the hips so we keep it out of that upper back and shoulders. We're not really tight here, we're pulling them down and back. You got 5 seconds. 3, 2, 1. All right team, so set those down. You're either coming down on the mat or down on the bench. I'm gonna be on the bench so you can see. Go ahead and watch me here, but meet me down. You can use this little trick to get them up. Here is your press. Remember, you're going to angle in slightly, bring those elbows down at about a 45-degree angle, and press them up. Join me here, core engaged. 3, 2, 1. Regular press. Now, as we switch this up, when we get to our round 2, we're going to just be switching up our angles and how we rotate our wrists. But this, we're keeping it super back to basics. So if you get to round 2 and you want to just keep it simple, just keep these exact exercises that we're doing, right? We're here. Nice and strong. 10 seconds. Think you'll find this workout's going to go quick. 3, 2, 1, and relax. All right, meet me on the mat if you're not already there. Just your basic plank. Now if you need to, you can be on your knees here. If you need to take it to plank singles, and taking it individually at a time, you can do that as well. Here we go, we're gonna bring it up and hold. Find that strong plank, and then let's go through that little plank checklist. So I like to have elbows and hands shoulder width apart if you can. This sometimes makes those shoulders turn in. You can also rotate those thumbs up, and then I want it tight all through the center, but make sure that you're breathing. So think about buttoning up the rib cage Zipping up the core, lifting in the pelvic floor, a slight tilt of the pelvis. So thinking bringing your hips towards your ribs, and then really tighten out in your quads, in your glutes, right? All the way through. In 3, 2, 1, and relax. All right team, each thing again. Again, you can keep it back to basic if you want to mix it up. Here's what we got. We're gonna rotate rotating row. So my palms are to the back, turning in, turning forward, here to here. Same thing when we do our press, we're going to turn them in, turn them out. All right, then we'll get a little bit of movement through that plank. All right, here we go, rotating row, 30 seconds. Same positioning, here we go. Palms back, palms in. It's not a bicep curl, you're still pulling with your back. Now if that feels weird at all, you can just rotate in. You can keep it simple, or again, just do your regular row that we just did. Still pulling with those back muscles nice and strong. 10 seconds right here, and up. 3, 2, 1. All right, this time same thing with your chest press. So we're gonna rotate them in and out. You decide how far you want to go, if you just want to turn them in or if you want to turn the palms all the way to the back. Either way, we got 30 seconds. Again, watch me here. Down regular, turn up and in. So just a little twist. If that's not right for you, just keep a regular press as is best for you. Here we go, down regular Turn up and in, turn them out and turn them in. So what it does, obviously you can feel, it makes you build that strength from a different angle, which is important, which is super functional, right? Because we're obviously in our daily lives working at different angles, moving at different angles. It's also getting mobility through those joints— shoulder, elbow, wrist. And it's making it more to stabilize for your core, right? Here we go. All right, now we're back down to our plank. Let's add some rotation to that, just your regular rotation that we know. Open up to the side plank, back to center, side plank. Obviously a little slower than that. You can also do this on the knees or on the hands. 30 seconds, join me down on the mat. I like to have my hands this way for this, but you do you. Be where you are today. Tuck the pelvis, lift up in the core. 3, 2, 1, rotate back to center. So regular plank to side plank. So this round is all about rotation. And again, you can always keep it back to basics. You can do everything we did in that first round, you can do it 3 rounds if you want the variety, if you want the challenge. Change it up. Otherwise, you're still getting everything that we want to get done today in this workout. 3, 2, 1. All right team, last round right here. Here's what we've got. It's called a reciprocating row. So as one goes up, one goes down. What we're not doing is twisting in the torso, but here to here. So they're really feeding off the power of the other. Little bit of momentum, but in a good way. And then we'll do the same thing with our press, and then we'll mix it up with our plank. All right, here we go. Grab those weights. 20 seconds only. Hinge it here, turn them in. Reciprocating row. Up and up. Squeeze and squeeze. Keeping the shoulders and the hips square right here. Here we go. Yes you can! 10 seconds, squeezing in the back. One goes up, one goes down. Again, your core has to stabilize. Everything's working hard. One more, down on the bench. All right team, bench or mat, same idea. One is up, one is down. They're feeding off of each other. Your core has to work extra hard. So go ahead, come down in that position, regular grip. One goes down, one goes up. 3, 2, 1. This one's a little tougher because it requires some balance. So again, if that does not feel right for you, then just keep it regular. Harder than it looks to go up with it, right? I know. Man, and relax. This time with that plank, let's just do that little hip drop. So we split the difference, regular plank. We're going here to here, side to side. You can also just hold the plank. 20 seconds is all we need to finish out this round. Bring it up and hold. Here we go, side to side. And you can do straight legs, just a little hip dip, or you can bend the knees with it. Maybe you even want to tap that knee down to give yourself a little bit of stability. Up to you. Right here. Yes you can! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Stretch it back. Let's grab some water, team. Here we go, nice work! We are halfway there, keeping it simple. Cheers, y'all! All right, so this next round, here's what we've got. You probably don't need your heavy heavies because we're going to be working some of those accessory muscles. We've got a curl into a press. You know I love this combo. We're taking it down for a full crunch, everything in, everything out. And then we've got our lying triceps. Then we're going to work with angles. Then we're going to have some holds. All right, so I'm going to go— I'm going to start with my 15s. I'm going to have my 10s close by. All right, bicep curl into press, just your regular. It's again going to look like this. You can do the Arnold press like I'm going to do, or hammer press, keeping them in. All right, so curl and press, crunch, a version of a crunch for our core, and then we're taking it with our triceps. 3, 2, 1, bicep curl. Press up strong, in and down. So on both of these exercises, I've been working up to doing my 15s pretty consistently. If you feel like you're arching your back, you can always stagger those feet. And here, take it up and up. And here, keep it going. Core engaged, nice and strong. I know. Up, up, down. Can we squeeze out one more? And relax. All right team, so down onto your back. I'm going to come on the bench just so I can stay here, but you can also be right on the mat. Here's what we've got. We're bringing the knees in, everything in nice and tight, elbows to knees if you can get them, and then extend it out. If that's not right for you, you can just do a little march. All right, bring it in here, wrap the core, zip up, tuck the pelvis, button up the core. In 3, 2, 1. Modification is just that little march, or if you can lift the shoulders, the march and the crunch. Take them out right here. In and out. Breathe. And here. Yes you can. In and out. Take them out. 10 seconds to go. Make it good. And breathe. 3, 2, 1, and relax. Hug those knees in. Now we're going to go to triceps, so we're going to grab those weights. We're coming down by the ears and straight up. If that doesn't feel right for you, just do a close grip press. I'm going to try it with these 15s. You do you. So again, we're going to shift those shoulders back, you're going to come down by the ears and go straight up. A modification is that close grip press. Let's go ahead and join me here. Core engaged, so you should be feeling that core after that. Shift those shoulders back, bending in the elbows, weights by the ears. Here we go. If you're feeling good about the motion but your weight's too heavy, you can always put one weight between two hands. And again, I'm starting with my 15s, but my right one is not feeling it today, so I may have to drop down. I'm going to show you what that looks like if you want to switch to one dumbbell, taking it here, down and up. All right, not my plan. I thought I could get through that first round with 15s. But again, this just shows you, be where you are today. I was starting to lose form, so I wanted to make sure that I could finish out with good form. And relax. All right team, so back up onto your feet. Round 2, 30 seconds only. This time we're gonna do a wide bicep curl, a wide press. All right, you may want to go a little bit lighter. I'm going to switch to my 10s. Or try what you got. And again, if that doesn't feel right, just do your regular curl and press just like we did. We're on to 30 seconds. We're gonna switch, mix everything up as we go. Let's get it done in 3. Core engaged, nice and tall. 2, 1, up and down. So we're gonna open up the shoulders. What I like about this is it gives us that forced We're sometimes here, open them up, curl to the side, press up strong. I know that press is hard. Again, with a different angle, we're getting more work through our joints, more mobility. We're also getting a different angle of work, which we have to do in life. So let's do it here. Last one, and relax. All right, team, Team, keep those weights close by. Back down. This time, how about a good old-fashioned bicycle crunch? Nice and slow. We're just gonna go right and left, controlled. I want you to wrap that core. If you need to, of course, you can just do a little knee tap again or keep it grounded. Otherwise, bring it here. Tuck the pelvis, zip it up, button up nice and tight. Hands behind the shoulders, slow and controlled. 30 seconds. Bicycle. You got it, team! And breathe. I know. Yes, you can! Going to keep it moving. 10 more seconds. A little less now. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Hug the knees in. All right, so we're here this time, little different angle for our triceps. We're gonna come down regular. As we go up to the top, we're going to turn our palms up. So it looks like this, turning them up. 30 seconds. You're going to feel it at the top. You again may want to go a little lighter, but you do you. Keep it heavy if you can. 30 seconds rotating triceps, shifting back. 3, 2, 1, and up. Yep, 10s are where I am today. Again, with thighs, tris, shoulders, I've been trying to very consistently do my 15s, but a lot of times, as you all know, I have been switching in the second or third set. But sometimes which it can be anything. Remember, it could be maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night, maybe I didn't eat enough before, maybe I'm a little dehydrated. There's many reasons why things might feel harder. It does not mean you got out of shape or not strong overnight. Last one, and relax. All right team, one more option. Here is what we've got. We're gonna do like a reciprocating curl and press. Up, switch them through, switch them through. I'm going to try my 15s. All right, so we're alternating reciprocating curl and press. Let's try these 15s, why not? Last round right through here. One goes up, one goes down, they switch in the middle. 20 seconds only, here we go. Up, that's fun! Yes, it does not have to be perfectly smooth. You almost can think of it like a snatch or a clean without the power. 5, 4, 3, 2. Oh, that was hard, hard because we're working hard. All right team, down onto your back. Again, this time we're gonna do a hollow hold. So what that means is this crunch here, but I'm gonna do a little toe tap as I do it. So you're holding everything in nice and tight. 20 seconds only. A little toe tap. If that's not right for you, march or toe tap. Let's get it done. Wrap it in. Lift the shoulders nice and tight. Here we go, toe tap. And if you're on the bench, I want you to try to let that toe drop even longer. The idea would be if I came and I pushed on your arms right now, they wouldn't move, right? They wouldn't go here. You're just here, nice and tight. Yes, you can use your core to drop the legs. Use your core to bring the knee back into your chest. And relax. Hug them in. Yes, team! All right, last time with our triceps. We're going to go down. 3, 2, 1, power up. You can rotate if you want. I'm going to stick with these 10s. This is it, let's get it done. 20 seconds only. Down, 3, 2, 1, power up. We'll probably only get maybe 3 or 4, and that's okay. Here we go, slow, 3, 2, 1, power. 3, 2, 1, and up. Yes, here we go! Yes you can! 3, 2, 1, boom! Yes team! All right, wherever you are, right on the mat, how about one quick 30-second bonus? Let's finish strong. Here's what we got, we're going to do a Superman into a push-up, here's your modification. Your modification is a bird dog and then a push-up from your knees. If you can, all the way down, Superman, squeeze in the back, all the way up, or all the way up. All right, so we get push, we get pull, we get core, we get upper. Let's finish it strong for 30 seconds. In 3, start at the top, 2, push-up Superman, Lift and squeeze. Bring them in. Use your core, use your upper. Squeeze. You don't have to get super high on that lift. I certainly can't, my lower back gets tight. Just really lift. Shoulders back, lats, core, all the way through. Yes, 10 seconds. 3, 2, 1, and relax. Stretch it back. Big stretch right through here. Yes team, you did it! Oh man, stretch those shoulders down. You can do a little bit side to side, and then if you want, cross one arm under. We're going to keep this cool down pretty short, so please If you can, make sure that you get more stretching on your own. If you have a bench, a stretch that I love is just to lie flat on the bench and let your arms drop down to the side. Nice good chest opener, right? Bring it up onto all fours, roll through cat-cow, rolling through the wrists, the elbows, the shoulders. Rolling through those joints is also really, really helpful through the back, through the core. Roll back onto those feet again, letting yourself hang. You can either have hands on the ground, on your legs, on the bench, whatever is best for you. Slowly bring it up, reach those arms up, big stretch. Thank you so much for joining me today for this upper body express. I hope you were Feeling good, we got it all in. Upper push, upper pull, big muscles, small muscles, core, and hopefully kept your heart rate up a bit in the process. I'm losing this headband. All right team, get some more stretching on your own. Let me know, leave me a comment, leave me a like, and I will see you next time. One big deep breath in and out. You did it! That was your upper body express workout. Great job everybody!