New Year Workout Challenge Day 7: 25-Minute Upper Body Pull Workout (Athlete 25)

It's back in. Bye. Day 25 minutes of upper body pull power. And my favorite burnout finisher is at the end. So don't tap out early on this one. It's day seven of my Athlete 25 program and you can get the full program when you click the link in the description below. Or better yet, tap that join button so you can join my YouTube membership community and I can help you reach your fitness goals. All right, team, welcome back. It's day seven, upper body pull day, hitting your back and your biceps. I'm joined by amazing husband, Tim.

How we doing, guys?

We're about to do some curls for the girls. Or should I say curls for your wife?

Curls for your wife.

You can do some curls for your wife. All right, guys, get ready to feel so pumped up in the back and biceps. We're doing the same format we did for upper body push day, which means it's a rep drop format. I'm really grateful for rep drop format. It looks like this. You got two upper body pull circuits. Each circuit has three exercises. A back, a bicep, and then a combo move that hits the back and the biceps together. You're going to do three sets, but the reps reps drop. So you go 10 reps, eight reps, down to six reps, do it three times. We're going to build a power move in between circuits and then you're going to get another three moves to round it out. You ready to do this thing?

I'm ready.

All right. I'm ready too. Fun little burnout at the end, so make sure you stick around for that. We're going to get ourselves warmed up. All you're going to need today is dumbbells. I have anywhere from 25 to 15 pound weights with me today, and I do have the pull up bar on set. If pull ups are not available to you, I'm going to show you a modification you can do while we do pull ups and make sure you click the link in the description below and download your PDF tracker so you can track the weights you're using and how many reps you get if you take each set to completion as well as if you're doing pull ups or doing the modification so you can track your progress and get better each time you come back to this workout. Let's go ahead and get started with a warmup. All right, feet are stacked, shoulder width, distance apart, arms come up right here, bent at 90 degrees. Give me a big inhale, reach up, exhale, pull down. Now you're Going to go palms down, palms up. Reach and pull. Palms down, palms up. Reach and pull. It's a very active movement, so you really want to think about that. Pull on the way down. You're activating your lats. Reach and pull. One more down. Up, reach. Hold the top. Right or left wrist grabs right. Give me a little side body. Open those obliques. Open those lats. Back to center. Same thing. Little side body stretch other way. Nice work. Now hands are going to drop right behind your head. Little. Good morning. So push the hips back. Stand tall. Push the hips back. Stand tall. Getting ready to hold that bent over position for some rows. Nice work. Soft bend in those knees. Push that floor away. Give me two more hinge and stand on this one. Hold your hinge. Hold your hinge and just reach your fingertips as far away from your tailbone as possible. Reach, reach, reach, reach, reach. Nice work. Right here. Nice. Hold for three, two and one. Come all the way up. Give me two. Big shoulder, rolls up, back and down. Two big shoulder, rolls up, back and down. Take it to the back of your space. Little plank. Walk out. Hands hit the mat, walk out. Find a nice high plank position. Hold it here. Give me a back row. In this plank position, you can always drop to your knees if you need to. So elbow to hip pocket. Elbow to hip pocket. Row and row. Nice. Give me eight, seven, six. You got it. Five, four, three, two and one. Drop to all fours. Little cat. Cow. Drop the belly. Lift the chin. Reverse it. Tuck the chin. Spine goes up towards the ceiling. Nice. From here, drop left forearm to the ground, hand behind the head. On the right, drop the elbow. Wring out that spine. Think of your spine as a washcloth and you are wringing out as much water as you can. Opening things up. Rotating gaze is going to follow that elbow. Nice spinal mobility here. One more. Nice work. From here, hips stay high. Hands walk out. Big inhale through the nose. Open mouth, exhale. Melt your lats or your armpits down to the ground. Stretch it out, walk it back in. Right forearm on the ground, left hand behind the head. Drop the elbow and rotate through the spine. Drop and rotate, trying to create as much mobility in that upper mid back as possible. Nice work. Rotate. One more right here. Rotate. Nice work. Hands hit the mat, toes tuck. Give me a down dog. Push all the way up, back and down. Pedal at the heels. Pedal at the heels. Nice. If it's available to you, you're going to go all the way. Belly to the mat. Your option is going to be a bird dog. If you have a towel or something you could pass between your hands. You're going down to the mat in a prone position. You're going to take this towel. You're going to reach out. I'm going to reach behind me. Pass the towel from hand to hand. Pass the towel from hand to hand. It's like a little. Try not to love tap for your partner. Nice. Working on that shoulder mobility, Timothy. Working on that shoulder mobility. Warming up the back. Everything's fired up. Give me one more. Pass that towel. Nice hands. Hit the mat. Push yourself up and back down, dog. Just give yourself a little, like, wrist flip here. Flip the wrist back. Forearms are gonna get spicy during this one. We were already talking about it. Yep, forearms are gonna be on fire. Flip the wrist. You can give yourself some little circles here. Whatever feels good for you. Flip those wrists. Nice. One more stretch. Just stay right here kneeling or. And I'm going to show you the final stretch. Okay. A lot of people have overactive traps. They're going to come up to their ears during this workout. To combat that, take your hand out, fingertips to the ground, pull it across your body. Now drop your left ear to left shoulder. Open up the neck, open up the trap. Remember, during this workout, you want to keep distance between your ears and your traps. That's right. Here, your shoulders. Same thing. Other side. Right or left arm out, palm down. Take it to your right hip. Now drop right to your right shoulder. Open it up.

Does feel good.

Yeah. We'll come back to that. Good stretch, huh?

It is.

Yeah, I like it. I love when I get a little. That means it's really good when Tim gives me a compliment. All right, you guys, we're going to jump in. You got a 25 rep buy in, but it's actually 30 reps today because we're going to do a single sided. So grab one heavy weight you want to use. You're going to give me five single arm back rows into one snatch or clean. And then you're going to switch arms. So it looks like this. I roll for five, four, three, right? I do five rows here, and then I go for the big snatch rack reload. And then I row for five on the left. If the snatch isn't available to you, give me a clean to the shoulder. Okay. Five rows right snatch, five rows left snatch. Yes.

Yep.

You in? You're gonna do 30 reps total. 30 rows or 3 sets per side. 30 rows into a snatch, 5 snatch, 5 snatch. Switch your arm at the bottom. Follow along or go at your pace. Right Hand hits that weight, you're rowing in three, two. Let's row. Row for five, four, three, two, one. Give me the big powerful snatch, rack, reload. Switch hands at the bottom. Row five on the left. Four, three. Nice. Two, one. Give me the snatch on the left. Rack low back to the right arm. Okay, I want you to think shoulder in your socket, elbow in your hip pocket. Shoulder, socket, elbow, hip pocket, shoulder goes down and back. Now you snatch it. Snatch, rack, reload, shoulder pulls down and back. Elbow loads to the hip. That's 2, 3, 4, 5. Statue. You got one more on each side, one more on the right, one more on the left. Here we go. Row for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Snatch. You're done on the right, finish on the left. You got five. Here we go. Row, five, four, three, four, two, one. And snatch, snatch, rack, load. We did that in strong 20 and I had to bring it back because it's one of my favorite moves. All right, we're going to jump into your workout. You got three moves. First move is a pull up or a chin up. Tim's going to hit that bar, he's going to do 10. I'm going to show you your option and then I'll switch with him and I'll do 10. So 10 pull ups. If pull ups are not available for you, you're going to give me 10 back row, clean. So it looks like this. Row and clean. You got 10 reps. Start when you're ready. So it's a row and a clean. That's one row and clean. That's two row and clean or pull ups. Tim's finishing his. I'm going to jump on for 10, finish your row and cleans, and then we're going to go into bicep curls. Here we go. Nice work. You got this good thing. It's a rep drop. Nice work, Nice work.

There you go. Oh, it's hard when you're talking during it.

Yeah.

Give you a little break while I get set up over here.

Nice. Come on. Easy. Ah, one more. It's gonna be so hard to do bicep curls after this. Holy bananas. All right, grab your weights. Flip grip, bicep curl, right? Palms out, flip in and down. You got 10. Flip, rip, flip, grip, bicep curls. Palms out, shoulders down and back soft. Bend your knees. Curl in. Three, two. Let's go. Curl up, flip, palms in and down. Nice and slow. Up, flip at the top and down. Your bicep is a two headed muscle. You're hitting both heads of the bicep with this move right here. Palms out, long head. Palms in or sorry. This is your long head. This is your short head. This is your long head. This is your short. Nice work. Curls for the girls. Tim, we both admit it's not often we do bicep curls.

No, it's not.

We build them into a lot of our workouts through pull ups. You got two more. We're going to see our fair share of bicep curls today, though. Come on, you got one more curl. Slower flip.

And use some heavier weights, though. You push yourself.

Push yourself. If your biceps don't. Today's the day. It's not often your biceps get sore. Today they're going to be sore. All right, you got 10 reverse grip back rows. See if I can go up. So this is your combo move. The reverse grip row is going to hit back and biceps together right here. Row elbow to hip pocket, right palms face out. So you're engaging a little bit more bicep. You have 10. Find your hinged over position. You're rowing in three, two. Let's go. One, two. You got this. Three. Nice work. This position externally rotates the shoulders, draws the elbows back towards your body or your torso. Nice. Really targeting that mid back. Nice. Two more, two more. One, two. Woo. They're down. Shake it out. You're back up, honey. I'm gonna take a quick break. You got eight. Same three moves down to eight reps. Eight pull ups again. If pull ups are not available to you, you are here. You're giving me a back row and a clean for eight. Knock out those reps when you're ready. Take a little bit longer break right here if you need to.

Biceps.

There's a reason I made him go first. Nice work, Han. You can also hit the chin up here, which is the reverse grip. Palms face you, right palms facing you is going to get a little bit more bicep, then back. All right, Nice work. One more. Here we go. One more. Yeah. Biceps are going to be toast after this workout. I was like, it's a good thing. This is a rep drop. See if I can get eight. Here we go. Here we go. Get yourself all the way up over that bar. Nice. Yes, Team.

Flip my grip a little bit in the middle just to help make it easier, but doesn't help much how to keep it moving.

Come on, two more, Lindsay. Yes. Yes. Let's go. Finish it. Here we go.

Everybody else getting ready for bicep curls here.

All the noises come out and pull up day. Okay, flip grip curls. Grab the weights you want palms out. Rotate palms in on the way down. You're curling for eight. For eight. In three, two, let's go. Curl flip. Slow control on the down. That's one. Come on. Curl, flip. Nice. Remember, soft bend in the knees. Keep those shoulders out of the ears, you guys. It is so common. I was actually on a girls weekend and we were talking. One girl was like, oh, man, I have so much neck pain. I carry so much stress in my neck. And truly, 60 to 80% of us have that forward head tilt and that slightly rounded shoulders. Because we're at computers all day, that means you have overactive traps under active lats. That's what we're training today. Come on, one more. Curl, flip and down. Holy bananas. Eight, reverse grip rows. Reverse grip rows. We're going to hit those lats and that mid back, which helps bring you upright. Combat that forward hinge and that neck out posture we get from being on our phones, being on computers. Here we go. Palms out. Eight, reverse grip back rows. Eight, reverse grip back rows. You're there in three, two. Let's go. Pull. Eight. Nice. Seven. Combating those overactive traps right here. Training those lats right here. Elbow to hip pocket. Yes. That's five. Come on. Nice. That's six. Two more seven. One more. One more. Eight. Whoo. It should feel very, very hard. You got one more round and it's only six reps. I need you to go heavy here. If those eight reps, those six reps are not challenging. You pick up heavier weights. Tim's back on that pull up bar for six reps. You can do anything for six reps, honey. Anything for six reps.

Some of this is embarrassing on camera, but here we go.

You're crushing it. If that's not available to you again, you're giving me six. Row and clean, back row and clean. My biceps feel so pumped up right now.

You realize how much you use biceps?

Yes. During pull ups. Back and biceps. If you do want to hit more of the lats, give me that overhand grip right on those pull ups. Come on, you got this. Yes. Way to go, six. Nice work. You can always take a longer break if you're working on pull ups. This is a great workout for you. Come on.

It's humbling how fast your biceps get tired, especially when you don't do biceps that much.

Come on. One more.

Biceps are secondary muscle exercises.

Holy bananas. Pull ups never get easier. They truly never do. Flip grip, bicep curl for six. Flip grip, bicep curl for six. Palms out. We go in three, two. Let's go. I'm just such a huge fan of pull ups because so many muscle groups are working at once. And you guys know this. I said it in day one. But, like, I just love the pull up. They make me feel so strong and powerful. When I started training them and being able to rep them out alongside my husband, it was just a confidence booster for me both physically and mentally. That's five. One more rep. Holy bananas. Do these bicep curls feel hard? Whoo. Bringing me back to push day. Shoulders were on fire. Now my biceps are on fire. Here we go. You got six reverse grip back rows. Six, reverse grip back rows. And then we're gonna give you a power move to shake things out. Six, reverse grip back rows. Grab them. You're on in three, two. Let's go. Pull. Six. You got it. Five. It's only six reps. Come on. Yes. You got four. Three, two, one. Oh. Arms are on fire. All right, you ready for your power move? If the burpee and back row is not available to you, you're going to stick with the hinge over. Row and clean. You've got 10. Row and clean. If you're with me and Tim, you hit the deck. One row at the bottom. Burpee, stand up. That's one. So you're only doing three rows per arm. Six or. Sorry, five rows per arm. Ten total. Ten Burpee, back row, just rolling one arm at the bottom. We'll start on the right. You ready?

Yep.

10 burpees in three, two. Let's go. Jumper, step back row right. Oh, he added a push up.

Of course I did.

Stand up. No push ups. Do you have jumper, step back, roll left. Oh, I didn't roll left.

Ah.

Gotcha.

Now we're even.

We're crushing it right here today. Crushing it. Row right. There you go. Stand up. Now you roll left. Woo. Not every day is perfect, guys. You just show up and you put the work in. Come on. No one said you had to do it perfect. You just got to do it. Whoo. Come on. Come on. Keep pushing. Right here. One. Rock the bottom. Stand up. You got three left. Three. Nice. Two more. Come on, finish.

Two.

One more.

One more.

Row. Stand. Set it down. Walk away.

Okay. Not our best. We did it.

Who? You do your best, you forget the rest. Do your best, forget the rest. Water up. All right, second circuit. Three new moves. Time we go. Two for the biceps, one for the back. Yeah. Biceps. Concentration. Curl. Take it down to a kneeling position. Lock your elbow into your Knee or your inner thigh curl. You can always do this in a seated position. You got 10. Okay, then you're gonna stand up, bench over, back fly for 10. Concentration curl, other side for 10. Those are your three moves. 10, 8, 6. No more pull ups. Say hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah.

I like pull ups. Man on bicep day. There.

Concentration curl. Concentration curl. Track your weights, write it down. Here we go. We got 10 of them kneeling, right arm on the weight. Lock the elbow in. 10. Isolated concentration curls right here. Ready? Yep. We go in three, two. Let's go. Ten curls. Give me ten. You got it. Nine. Really working on that contraction. Lengthen the muscle. Contract the muscle. That's three, four, five. Halfway. This is where you got to grit your teeth. Squint those eyes. Six. Seven. Lock it in. Lock it in. Eight. Nine. One more, one more. Come on. Nine and a half. Okay. Nice work, guys. Holy bananas. That's tough. Here we go. Grab the weight. Do you want to use for a back fly? You might have to go lighter here. Okay, long lever, hinge over. Squeeze the shoulder blades together, down and back. You got 10 total. 10 total. Ready? Back fly. Hinge it. Pull it apart. In three, two. Go. 10. Go, 10. Go. 10. You got it. Nine. Stay with it. Eight. Two by four from head to tailbone. Nice flat back. Nice tight core. Gaze is in front of you. Come on. Halfway. Five. Four. Keep those shoulders out of the ears. Three. Shoulder blades go down and back. Two and one. Nice work. Concentration curl. Other side, forearms are already cramping. Here we go.

Forearms. Good for you, though.

Lock the left elbow into the knee. 10. Isolation or concentration curls. Other side, left arm. We go in three, two. Let's curl, curl. 10. I took Tim to get massages after we finished filming week one because I was scared he wasn't gonna come back for week two. I'm gonna be honest. He's here. He's crushing it, just like you. But when they massage your forearms, that's when I realized I'm like, I didn't know those muscles even existed. My forearms were so sore from holding these heavy weights. You got three left. Go. Three. It's easier when I'm talking, I swear. And distracting myself, too. Maybe my left arm is just stronger. One. Whoa. Got the full pen there. All right, back to the top. You can stay kneeling because you got to do the right arm. Down to eight, guys. Down to eight. Eight reps on the right. Eight back flies, eight reps on the left. How we feeling?

Doing good. It's burning, though.

Feeling young. Feeling agile?

Yep.

Feeling strong. Here we go. Grab those weights and curl eight in three, two. Let's go. Curl eight. Seven. Nice work. Six. If you're going heavy, you can always hit that pause button. Take longer rests if you need to. We're moving pretty fast and making the most of the 25 minutes we have today. Nice. Two more. Two more. You can always hit pause and slow it down. One more, One more. Man, my left arm must be stronger than my right arm. What's going on? Here we go. Eight back flies. Eight back flies. Grab the weights you want to use. Open that newspaper. Pull it apart. Hinge over. Flat back, tight core. Pull in three, two. Let's go. Go. Eight. You got it. Seven. Nice work. Six. Five. Come on. Shoulder blades go down and back. Three more. Three. Last three reps should feel real challenging. Last two reps should feel hard. Last one should be hard to complete. That's how you know you're using the right weights. Left arm, curl 8. Curl 8 on the left. Lock in that elbow. Here we go. Curls for the girls in three, two. Let's go. Curls for curls for strong girls. We should say, nice work. Come on. Yes. Let's go. You are so strong. You are so capable. Just keep moving that weight up and down, building strength and muscle and endurance and power with each rep. One more. Yes. There it is. We go till we fail. You keep pushing. Building physical strength makes us so much mentally stronger to tackle everything that's coming at us. You guys, let's go. Right here. Building it. Six reps. Down to six. Do anything for six reps. Do anything for six reps. Here we go. Grab that weight. We go in three, two. Let's go. This program was specifically designed to come after overload. 30. You build muscle, and now you're down to six reps. We never did this. Low rep count and overload 30. Okay. Lower the reps, heavier the weights. Come on. You're getting stronger right here. You got one more in the tank. One more curl and you're out. Whoa. Six back flies. Six back flies. Let's go. Grab those weights. You fly for six and three. Two. Pull them apart. Give me six. Come on. Five. You got this. Four. Stay with it. Three. Awesome job. Last two. One more. One more. Yes. Six curls. Six curls on the left and you're back to power. You're back to power. You're back to the row and clean or burpee and row at the bottom. Here we go. Curl six and three and two. Let's go. How those forearms do in six Five. You got this. Four. Stay with it. Last three. Nice work. Two and one. Holy banana. Grab your weights. You've got eight. Plank row, burpee. You row just on one arm. So four per arm. Eight total. Then you're gonna rest for 20 seconds and give me another six. We're gonna finish out these reps. Here we go.

We're gonna do better this time.

Burpee row at the bottom. We're gonna crush it. Row on the right. Row on the right. Step it. Jump it. Or give me that row and clean from a standing position. You go in three, two. Let's go. Hit the deck row. Right jumper, stand up. That's one. You got eight total. Hit the deck row left jumper, stand up. Two. Yes, team. Whoo. That's three. Nice work. Four Halfway right here. Come on. Give me four. Yes. Team. Burpees are easier when we do them together. One more each side. One more each side. Hit right up. Hit left up. Breathe it out. Set em down. Breathe. You got 30 or 20. 20. 20 seconds. 20 to breathe. Six more to go. Three per side, six burpees. Six burpees in 10. Ready? Whoo. Hit the deck row right. In five, four, three, two. Let's go. Hit the deck row. That's one. I don't know if we've ever had a program where we've had back to back sets of burpee rows.

Whoo.

Three. Halfway. Come on. Nice work. One more each way. Five. Finish. Six. Yes. Set them down. Ready for another burnout? You loved the strip set. In overload. 30, we're bringing back the strip set. You've got 10 bicep curls. You've got eight bicep curls. You've Got six bicep curls. You got 24 curls left. 10. 8, 6. It could be pull ups. It could be pull up.

Oh, man. I don't know if I could do that to myself.

You got 10.

Embarrassing.

I'm gonna try and alternate arms. I'm go heavy. You can alternate or you can go both arms. Oh, I'll go both arms. Can't alternate. You got 10 curls. Drop and switch weights if you need to. Right into eight curls. Right into six curls. Yes.

Going to alternate on heavy and then I'll get there.

You're going to alternate on heavy. Okay, then I'll alternate heavy. We'll alternate heavy. Drop and switch. 10. So we're going to do 10 curls. If you're alternating five per arm. Go heavy if you can. We go in three, two. Let's go. Go ten. Nine. You got it. Eight. Stay with it. Seven. You got this. Six. You're going to drop weights. Switch. Double up your arms if you can. And then you go to eight. In three, two, one, drop. Switch. Woo. Grab your next weight. You're on for eight reps. Can you double up the arms? You curl eight in three, two, curl eight. Let's go.

Go.

Eight. Seven. You got it. Six. Stay with it. Five. You're doing awesome. Four. Yes you can. Three. Don't quit. Not yet. Two. Last one, last one. Quick drop shakeout if you need it. You got six reps. We got six reps. I'm sticking, I'm sticking. We go in three, two. Curl six. Curl six, Curl six. You got it. Five. Nice work, team. Four. Yes, you can. Last three. It should feel really hard right here. Two.

Oh, it is.

And.

More back bend.

See how many pull ups you can do. Go, Tim. I'm just kidding.

Oh, gosh. I was like, I'll try it. I maybe get one.

There you go. How many pull ups can you get? Let's burn it out, right? How many can you get? He's gonna try it because I might.

Not even get one.

He goes for anything on camera. Oh, there we go. He's got one. He's got two. He's got three.

We're gonna call it crest team.

No, I'm gonna go for four. Four. Because I'm gonna beat him on camera. I'm gonna beat him on camera. Not competitive at all. I don't know if I could do four. Holy bananas. Here we go.

Hold her down.

Two, three.

Nice work. Thanks, honey.

Four.

Thank you.

I love you. I love you. Competitive spirit, keeping the marriage alive. All right, you guys, awesome job crushing Day seven. Shake it out.

Yeah, that's burning.

Flap those wings. This is when I should be like, take the picture of the bicep. Look how pumped up it is. There's the thumbnail image for the YouTube cover photo. Holy bananas. Wrap your hands behind your back. Pull the knuckles off the tailbone. Expand those biceps. Just stretch it. Open up those biceps.

Barely get my arms together.

Barely get the arms through is right. All right. Remember that stretch we did in the beginning? Hand out, palm down, pull it across the body. Drop the ear, open up the trap, open up the neck. It feels really, really good. So proud of you for showing up, guys. Back and by day, upper body pump is in the book. You know what that means? Tomorrow is all about the legs. Hand out, palm down, back on legs. Tomorrow drop the ear and shoulder. Back on legs. Tomorrow it's going to be a lot of fun. We'd love to see you back here. Okay. I have a stretch. I just want you to try. I want to see if we can try. It comes to a seated position, take your hands palms out. Now find like a chicken wing. Like you're like a chicken wing. Now can you get your elbows. Oh, it's hard. Can you get your elbows inside your knees? And then go like this. Pull your scaps. Just open up. No, not happening.

Not even close.

Not even close. Well, especially after biceps in. I was gonna say, your arms are so pumped up. So it's hard, but man, does that feel so good for everything back here. Give it a try if you can do it. If you can't, you can keep working.

Try it again later.

Try again later. Thanks, you guys. I'll see you back on the mat. Awesome job knocking out back and bicep day. If you loved it, hit subscribe to my YouTube channel. I've queued up day eight right here. Or you can find this entire two week program in this playlist right here. Keep it up, you guys.