15: Upper Body Strength | 32-Minute Arm, Core, & Back Burner Workout with Weights!

Hey everybody, I'm Amy from Bodyfit by Amy. And this is your upper body strength workout. In this workout we're going to work your entire upper body. So arms, back, shoulders, chest, core, and we will get your heart pumping in the process. We'll be working with bands and dumbbells and kettlebells today. If you have all of those, bring them out. Otherwise just use what you have available to you. Of course, I'm going to give you lots of different options to work to your fitness level. Are you ready? Let's do it. Let's start by moving your body. You can get a march and start pumping those arms. We're gonna get the blood flowing, get our body's temperature up and get ready to move. It's gonna be a quick dynamic warm up. We're gonna get energy going, blood flowing and we'll get some mobility, work through the upper body and the back and then we will jump right in. You can see I have a variety of equipment behind me. Don't worry if you don't have all of that equipment. Let's roll through. You can use whatever you have available to you. Our first circuit, we're going to be using the mini loop bands. If you don't have them, just go through the motions. It's really an activation circuit. It is more an extension of our warm up. So it's going to be quick and we're just going to get a little movement with a little resistance if you have the band. Otherwise it's just mobility which we all need. Right. Speaking of, let's take one arm to the back. Then we are going to take it to those weights. So we'll be working some with a single dumbbell or kettlebell something if you've got it. Let's go. Same thing, other side to the back. And then some where we put the dumbbells and the kettle bells together. Some standing, some down on the mat or two dumbbells together. I should say rather. Let's take it to flat, back down, arms out, flat and then round it up. So really think about making the difference between the flat and the round. So we can get that movement through the spine, through the back of the body, right through here. One more and then here you're gonna rotate those shoulders gently pressing out. But while we get shoulder mobility. So I'm going to be giving you lots of different options. I'm going to be reminding you to work to your fitness level and be where you are today. Go ahead and walk the feet in, eyes wise and t's Start straight up. You're making it I with those arms. You're taking a Y, you're taking it a T. So be where you are today. That means where you are in your fitness level and your fitness journey and also where you are today, how you're feeling. This is back to basics, not putting a lot of crazy combinations or things like that. We're not adding lower body. Your heart rate should get up a little. You can add a little hinge if you want to this, but nothing too crazy. So listen, try to go heavy if you can challenge yourself, but in a way that's good for you. We're going to take it to a little hinge to stretch through the back. You can keep it just right here. Or if you want, we're just going to inchworm it out. We're also going to get that core fired up with this and just inchworm walk back. Almost there. Right through here. Feel that core kick in. And you also can inchworm out halfway or to your knees again. You do you. It's your workout. And then let's take it back, take it up through here. And let's tap out and reach. All right, so as we're stretching out, we're going to grab that mini band first. Then we go to some weights. We'll start with some of those bigger muscles, then work our way down upper body, adding in some core. Get in, get out and get our bodies moving. Little knee cross right here. Little rotation through the spine. All right, team, so go ahead and grab that mini band if you've got it, preferably the elastic one if you have one. But if you have fabric, that's okay, too. We're going to start with that band Y. So I want you to think that you're going. We're going to go from here to here. And you're pressing out to the wide. Now, you may have a tighter mini band like I do. Don't worry, you don't have to get out super far. You're just out to here and then down. We'll start just level. Then we're going to add a little press out in all the different places. So a little burn if you've got the band activation if you don't. Either way, here we go. Up and out and here. Up and out. And we're going to keep these things pretty short and we're going to keep moving. Right. I'm staggered to make sure that I'm not leaning into my back, but you can be here. Up to you. Now we're going to Take it. Squeeze at the top, in the center, and down below, you can have a little fist right here. Top, center, and below. Now, if you don't have the weights or the band, you can even open up even more if you want to get that activation. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. If you do have the band, you're going to keep it kind of small. Ten seconds. Yes, I know. Three, two, one. All right, so if you've got that band, we're gonna take it to a pull down, right and left. If you want to add a little core, you can. Otherwise, again, you're just pulling, but squeezing that back. 30 seconds in three, two, one. Right here. Still just activating. Here we go. Also, this first round may get our hearts pumping just a bit. Feeling that I meant to grab my lighter band. This is more my lower body band. But as luck would have it, I just did the lower body strength workout, and this one was here. Three, two, one. All right, team, I want you to group it here. Getting a little biceps. We're going to just squeeze up and down. You're going to maintain that tension. Biceps right here. 3, 2, 1. So up and down. Halfway through, we're gonna mix it up, but you've got the tension. If your body weight. Turn those palms up. Should feel that a bit. Right now we're gonna go up, push out, in and down. Don't worry. We're almost done with this, so we can really get into everything that we have going today. All right, team, last thing we're here. Triceps. Push out, push out. You actually don't have to step with it. You can just do tricep extensions. But either way, we got 30 seconds to work the back of the arms activation, and then we'll get into that heavy work. Here we go. You'll notice just by holding them here, I like to add the little step out just because it kind of gets my body thinking. Okay, right and left and. And it's going to keep everything core engaged. Push out and in. Out and in. Yes. Breathe. Three, two, one. All right, shake that up. Go ahead and grab one heavy weight, heavy kettlebell if you got it. I'm gonna try my heaviest kettlebell for this. I want you to try to go heavy and then have your dumbbells close by. Here's what we got. 30 seconds of your regular row. So if you only have lighter weights available to you, you can grip them together or you can put them together here, if you can. We're going one side. 30 seconds, regular row, and then we're going to do A rotating row. So I'm going to turn my palm to the back, turn my palm to the front. So you're essentially making a little bit of a circuit. Then we're gonna rest, we're gonna grab some dumbbells, then we do the other side. So go ahead and join me here. We've got 30 and 30. We're gonna wrap that core so we have support for our back. We're gonna hinge. This arm can be out if you want that to help you stay in place. Regular row, here we go. So I want you to think pulling towards the hip, that always helps me. What I want with that is for us not to be up into those traps. Trapezius muscles and those shoulders. We're working towards the mid back, those big muscles along our spine. If you need a little break for your back in between this, go ahead and come up. And now we're going to rotate palm to the back. Rotate palm to the front as you do that rotating row. And you notice I'm not going very fast because it's really heavy for me, but I'm going for it. Right. So don't worry about speed, just worry about good form. Rotate, bring it down. Rotate, bring it down. Yes, you can. Three, two, one. That was a lot, right? All right, so we're going to come to a standing position. We're going to keep that upper body pull and we're going to take it with some biceps. We're going to do with a little circle. Biceps. So we're going here, circle around here, circle around. All right. Grab some dumbbells if you got them. Otherwise, just go through the motions. We're coming up. Circle around, front to back. Here we go. Up, up and here. So I'm going to keep my palms up. Regular curl, and then turn them into hammer as I come here. Yes, I know. We feel that. Up curl. Boom. Strong in those arms. Now, the reason we put these together, these are two of our classic upper pull motions. Last one and breathe. Right, so our biceps are working on that row as well. That's what made that extra hard, but you did it. Let's switch gears to that other side. Again, I want you to go heavy. If you only have lighter weights, try to group them together or take it between two. Regular row, rotating row. Then we're back to biceps. Here we go. Let's get it done in three. Hinge, 2, 1. Pull towards your hips. Palms stay in. Again, I like to often have this arm out for a nice flat back, right? And here, pull shoulder blade in that Elbow up. I know second side is harder no matter what. Even though we're isolating, unilaterally. Breathe. All right, if you need a little break for your back, come on up. Then. Let's go in rotating, road. Palm to the back, palm to the front as you turn. So you're not just turning the wrists, right, you're still rowing, pulling the elbow up, but as you do it, you're rotating. This is a 26 pound kettlebell, and normally I'm often doing my 15s, but I wanted to go heavy. Today, it's back to basics, so let's get it done. Feel that core. 3, 2, 1. Ha. Set it down, team. Shake that out. All right, last thing. From here, we're gonna go bicep curl W press in and down. So I want you to think about the push and then the pull as if you're pulling those back muscles in. Pulling with the biceps press out. Squeeze, Bring it down. Try these heavies. You can do it. We can always alternate. I know they're tired. Three, two, one, curl. Press, pull. And down. Biceps. Big push. Squeeze in the back. And down. Push, squeeze, and down. Sweat in my eye right here. Up, up, in and down. 3, 2, 1. Relax. Catch your breath, team. Whoo. Shake that out. How about 30 seconds of a little reach? Reach. So we stretch, and we're gonna push it to the back. So we'll go forward for 15 and then back. Don't worry too much about it. Let's just stretch it out. Here we go. Reach, reach, even like that to also get that heart rate up, but also stretch out through the arms, the back, the shoulders. Just a little cardio mobility. I call it. Now let's open the chest, stretch through the back. Yes. We got three, two, and one. Grab some water, team. I know one circuit. Down again. Sweat in my eye. Cheers. Y' all. Sweat all over this white shirt, per usual, right? Okay, bring it back to here. Here we go, team. We're going into some upper body push here is what we've got. We're going to start with one dumbbell. We're going to alternate. We're going to do a cross floor press. You're going to go down all the way up. We're going to take it here, then we're going to switch. Then we're going to get our overhead press here, and then we get some triceps. We'll finish with a snatch, which will be optional to give you a little bit of power. But watch me knee here. It's just a little hinge you don't have to go far. If it feels better just to go to your knee, and then you're coming all the way through. So don't think of it like it has to be a bicep curl. Just think of it as coming up towards the ceiling. It's a reach. And all the way up. Reach all the way up. All right, starting with this side, right hand as the dumbbell cross to the left. Here we go. And up. Whatever feels most natural for you. Maybe it does feel better to curl and press. Maybe you can think of it as that crossbody stretch. Again, it's going all the way to. That toe is not right. I want you to get the stretch, but I don't want you to feel like you have to pull with the back. You can also just cross towards the knee. This way, we engage that core, bring it up, and breathe. Let's switch our sides right here. Here we go. We're gonna alternate our sides here. Now, on a lot of the things that we're doing, we're going to stay all on the right, then on the left for that type of overload, for these smaller muscles with our shoulders and our triceps, we're going to alternate so it's not too much on one side, but we're going to keep it moving. Cross body, cross press. Three, two, one. All right, we're gonna switch sides now. I want you to try to go heavy on this. It's that half Arnold press. Up and out and in. All right. The reason I want you to go on one side. I want you to challenge that core. And again, let's take it up. Here we go. Up, wrap it in. Up, Wrap it in. It could be helpful to grab it here. Steady it out. For some reason, this feels way harder to me than when we have two. Right. There's something about being unilateral that makes it tougher. Chest and shoulders. Last one. And breathe. Get set. Other side. Here we go. Up and out. Rack it in. Up and out. So you'll notice a theme today. We're getting a lot of these circular movements where we get more mobility work and strength work on our joints. So instead of just moving one way, we're gonna go out and up, down and in. Right, Right here. Here. Yes. Three, two, one. And relax. Shake that out. All right, team, so now that we've done that press, we're taking it over our head. I want you to come at the diagonal here to here. I want you to have this hand here for a little support. And here, if you need this hand here. We got right side, left side, triceps. You need to put two hands on it. That's okay, too. Here we go. Behind your head and here, going across. So instead of straight down here, we're crossing here. And then you have this hand for support, so you know where to go. And if you need a little help, you can add a little push, right? Ah, I know. Breathe, breathe. Burn. Relax. Catch your breath. Take it to that other side. We're here. Across behind your body. Watch that head. If you need to, you can always go to a tricep kickback if that feels better for you. 30 seconds. Use this extra hand for support. Here we go. And up right here. This elbow is going to stay in. We don't want to be out here to the side. We want to be zipped up in the core. Yes, you can. And again, use this hand wherever it works best for you. Right here. Boom. Three, two, one. And relax. All right, team, last thing here. We're gonna take it to a snatch. Now, the snatch is a power move. We're going to alternate. It looks like this. You're going to pull it close to the front of your body. So you can almost think of it like that. Cross press. If you don't want to add the power, just do curl press. Switch your sides. Curl, press. All right, let's go. Generally speaking, we can go a little heavier. So I'm gonna switch. We got 30 seconds, alternating. Little power, little heart rate. Here we go. Snatch it up slowly. Down. Power. So, yes, we're getting the upper body muscles working, but I really want you to think about power from the ground up. So starting at those feet from the hinge. Power. And here. Yes, you can. Boom. Yes. Hand breathe. Last one, every. Yes, team, again, tap it out right here. That heart rate's up. Reach. We're gonna grab some water, and then guess what? We are taking it to the mat. Yes. Reach it over shoulders, and then tap it to the back. All right, let's grab some water right here. All right, team, taking it to the mat to finish strong. Join me down below. Now, I fix my microphone here. I would love for you to have both your kettlebells and your dumbbells close by. We're going to start with a little core because I promised you some core, and I know we've been moving through heavy upper body. So here we go. Let's start with a little core. We're going to take it weighted if we can. So if you want to hold one kettlebell or dumbbell up top we're going to start with a little lower body core. Then we will add something to it. So we're here, team. You're gonna hold that weight here. You're gonna start with little toe taps. Then if you want, you're gonna take it to that bicycle. Then if you want, you're gonna take it to the scissors. Then we're gonna add a little press to that. So if you don't want to start with the weights, have them close by. Wait here or here or no weight. Here we go. Toe tap. Think of that. 90 degrees, right. You don't have to bring the knees in super high. Keep them out a little bit more in front. Right there. Yes, team. I know. Breathe. Ah. Are you ready with the bicycle? Here we go. Strong core. If for some reason this is not right for you, you can always take it to that bridge, or you can just bring one knee in at a time. We're here. Strong in that deep core. Notice we are not moving through the spine. We're stabilizing, and that's what makes it challenging. If you need to take the feet a little higher or a little smaller range of motion, that works together too. You can stick with this or the toe taps or flex those feet. Scissors. Something I want you to think about is as you bring those heels together, squeezing those inner thighs to connect to that deep core and pelvic floor. And breathe. And breathe. Yes, you can. I know. Yes. 3, 2, 1. And relax. All right, team, so we'll come back to that. We're going to take it to a regular press. You can be on the bench. You can be on the floor here. Then we're gonna flip our hands into a reverse press. This is pretty challenging, so you may want to have your lighters close by. Go heavier with your standard press. Upper body push from down here. Then we're gonna finish it out, guys. Here we go. Core engaged. Three, two, regular press. Up and down. Right here. Nice and strong. Now, you just worked that corner core, so I want you to think about those core muscles engaging, being your stable foundation. Not sucking in, not holding your breath. All right, team, let me show you what this looks like right here. We're going to turn our palms in straight up. I'm going to stay here as long as I can. It's still a press. Up and down. Oh. I'm gonna try to get through this set, but it is hard to do. So if you need to go lighter, that's okay. Yes. Oh, strong. You were strong. You got this. 3, 2, 1. Resting down to the Side hands over. We're gonna go single legs, double leg stretch. So you get a big circle of the arms. You can just do a lift of the knee, or you can lift both legs in and out. Arm circle for a stretch and core. You can do a little lift of the hips right here. Yes. Everything in, everything out. Boom. Ah. Hug those knees in. Little stretch right here. All right, team, so last thing we're gonna go, isolated triceps, and then we're gonna take. Take it to circle triceps, which is going to look like a close grip press into triceps, but you're really just pulling the elbows down, pulling the arms back. So it's a little bit of a cross between a pullover and triceps and a close press, medium weights, I think. Let's start with our tries. You can also always do that with just one dumbbell. Almost done on the mat here. So we're here, team. Shift your shoulders back just a tad. Watch me. We're coming down by the ears. We're bringing them up in three. Core engaged. Two, one, and up. So just isolated triceps, back of the arms. Maybe my favorite tricep move, which I love here. Up. Oh, I feel it too, you guys. Boom. All right, watch me here. You can rest for a second. Circle down, circle back. So you are bending the elbows. It's not a pullover, but join me. Here we go. Up and over. Tap, up and over. Tap. Tap with the elbows, tap with the weights. Yes, you can. Up, tap, up. Yes. Boom. Almost there. Three, two, and one. You did it, team. Slide those weights to the side from here. Get a little stretch. We're not quite done yet, but we are close. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go into a little superman lift, optional band with a little lift and squeeze to get that upper back, low back. We're adding to that and adding some core. So if going all the way down is not right for you, you can also just do a bird dog as a modification. If you got the band, we're going to loop it over right here. A little squeeze and lift as we lift our legs. You don't have to get super high. Don't feel like you have to really hyper extend. But we're here 30 seconds only in three, two, one, squeeze. And notice one. For me, that really limits my range of motion. So if that's. If it does that for you and you want to get a little higher with it, take the band off. You can also always just do the lower or just do the upper. I find it very hard to just do the upper. I have a really tight lower lumbar spine which I'm working on. But that's why sometimes this. This motion is tough for me, but why I need to do it right. 3, 2, 1. Stretch it back, team. Put that band over your arms. Let's take it into a plank. Down on your elbows. You can also be on your knees. We're gonna tap those knees and you can do a little tap out. Knee tap. Join me here. Knee tap, hand tap, knee tap, hand tap. And breathe. And breathe. Yes. Down and up. Boom. So close. Breathe. Last one. Ha. Stretch it back, team. Whoo. All right, here's what we got. I want you to grab some medium dumbbells, meet me on your feet. One last move. We're going to call it a bonus move. We're gonna get some upper pull, some upper push. A little heart rate drive. For our last exercise, guys, here's what we got. Team, if you can, we're gonna hinge, reverse fly, clean it up. Press and press so we get all the way through. Reverse fly and up. Press and press. All right, if you want, when you do that clean, you can add a squat to it. If you want a little extra like we've done, probably another bonus moves. Otherwise, let's get. Keep it upper body. Let's get that heart rate up. Let's finish strong. We got 60 seconds on the clock. You can do it. Core engage. 3, 2, 1. Reverse fly. Bring it up clean. Press and press. Take it down and hinge. Squeeze in the back upper. Little bit of power. That clean does not have to be power. You can just do a curl. Press and press again. If you want to add squeeze, squat, press and press. You can press. Yes. So close. What is best for you in this moment to finish in these last 10 seconds. Last one. All the way through. Yes. Boom. And relax. Oh, man. Team. I hope you're feeling it because I know I am. Let's tap it out right here. Thank you for working hard with this upper body workout. Leave me a comment, let me know how you're feeling. Leave me alike. How are those arms feeling? I know towards the end on the mat, my arms, my tries, everything was super tired. I hope you feel it too. Get some mobility, get some more stretching on your own. We're going to keep it pretty short today, cuz we got a lot done, but little stretch. Let's get those arms right here. Chin to your chest. Of course. Leave me a comment. Leave me a like and don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel so we can reach more people, get more people moving. More people moving in a way that good for them, that gives them options. And of course, don't forget to subscribe. And join us over in the Body Fit Athletic Club. If you're not there already, reach behind. Just reach those thumbs to the back. And then if you can grab them, grab them. If you want to add a little hinge to it as well, sometimes that can be really helpful. Roll through those wrists. Get more stretching on your own. Roll through your elbows, roll through your back. Let's take right through here. Walk those feet in a little standing. Cat, cow, cat, camel. And slowly roll it up. Get one big deep breath in and out. You did it. That was your upper body strength workout. Great job, everybody.