Summer Workout Challenge Day 7: 20-Minute Back & Arms Workout (Max 20)

This is day 7 of my Max 20 program where strength training is made simple. 20 minutes a day, max impact, and you can get the full program when you click the link in the description below. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. All right team, uh, welcome back. Day 7 is all about the arms. Today we are specifically targeting your back, biceps, shoulders, and triceps. We hit chest yesterday, so we're gonna give that a rest. I'm Lindsey Bomgren of Nourish Move Love, and I'm joined by the amazing Caroline. Hello. She'll be offering modifications throughout today's workout, so if you want to keep it all standing, follow along with Caroline. She's going to have standing modifications for you. All you're going to need today is dumbbells. And as you can see, my pull-up bar is back on set. If you are working on your pull-ups, we are going to throw in pull-ups today. If pull-ups are not available to you today, you can follow along with Caroline. She's going to have your reverse grip back row modification. We're sticking with our rep drop format you guys love for upper body day. You've got 4 big upper body exercises. You're going to do 12 reps, then 10, then 8, then 6, all times 4 sets. The reps drop as we work through the sets, which is good news because we got some tough upper body exercises today. We're going to build some serious upper body strength. So let's get our arms warmed up so we can jump in. You ready? Let's do it. Awesome. You also have your PDF tracking sheet, which is available to you so you can track your weights and your reps for every single exercise. Take notes. This is where progress is made. Download it for free when you click the link in the description below. I'm going to use a resistance band to warm up. This is a pull-up assist band. You can also use it on the pull-up bar today. Caroline's going to show you how to do it without. We're just going to go for a big shoulder rotation. So big inhale and exhale. Brace that core, soft bend in those knees. Arms are going to go all the way up overhead and around. Big shoulder rotations. Just taking that shoulder through a full range of motion. You could grab a broomstick. All right. You could grab a long towel. Or you could just take your arms to that range of motion, just like Caroline is doing. Nice big full shoulder rotation, keeping that core brace. During today's workout, I want you to think shoulders pulled down and back, shoulders down and back. We're not letting the traps creep up into the ears. Nice long neck. Give me one more here. One more here. Nice. I'm going to drop that band and we're going to go for painting the fence, stretching out those forearms. If you held heavy weights yesterday, those forearms are fiery. So fingertips down on the way up, flip it, fingertips up on the way down. Fingertips down, stretch the wrist, stretch the forearms. Nice. Reach up just like you're painting a fence. Nice. Give me one more here. Reach all the way up and down. Take those arms behind the chest, interlace the fingers, big chest expansion. Open the chest, pull it apart. If it feels good for you, take a forward fold. Let those knuckles fall down to the ground. You take those hands down to the ground as well. Step back into a high plank position. You'll have the option today to take the plank from the knees or toes if you choose. Shoulders stacked over wrists, take a wide base with your feet. You're going to row and row. Hips are staying square to the ground as you row. We're going to start off today, we got a 20-rep buy-in, and I'm not going to sugarcoat it, it's Renegade Rows. It's a plank and rows at the same time. It's going to be spicy. Caroline's going to have a standing modification. You got 3, 2, and 1. Nice work. You can drop down to all fours, little cat-cow. Drop the belly, lift the chin. Reverse it. Tuck the chin, roll that spine. Find a nice neutral spine. Bird dog, extending opposite arm and opposite leg. Hold for 3-second count and lower and switch. Reach, firing up your back extensors here. Nice strong back. This is a back and arm workout. Reach, hold. Nice. Creating length from fingertip to heel and set it down. One more other side. Reach, hold. Nice, right there. Awesome job, nice work. From here, I'm gonna go down to a belly down position. Caroline's gonna give you standard T-spine rotation. So we're gonna go left hand behind the head. If you want to make this spicy, lift your chest up, take your right arm and thread the needle. So you're stretching here and then add T-spine from here, throwing in a new mobility move for you today. This is going to stretch the shoulder, it's going to create that back Extensors are really going to fire up again, and then you're rotating through the back. A lot happening. Very great warm-up exercise for upper body day. Oh, it's gonna feel good. We'll come back to this shoulder stretch at the end of the workout too. Nice work, awesome job. Same thing, other side. So I'm going to lift up, I'm going to thread the left arm, right hand behind the head, lift off and down. I want my right— or my left palm on the ground. Right hand behind the head. Great way to strengthen your back. You got low back pain, working on this is a great way to strengthen, build more back mobility. Nice, right there, all the way. One more, nice job. From here, I'm going to plant my hands. Caroline's going to give you a standard kneeling push-up. I'm going to give you a cobra push-up. So I'm just pushing up, opening that front side of the body, and lowering back down. Push up, open that front side of the body, and lower back down. 2 more right here. Push up and open and lower back down. 1 more. This time I'm gonna hold at the top and I'm gonna gaze over one shoulder and gaze over the other shoulder. Nice. From here we're tucking our toes, going back into a down dog. Pedal your heels. Option down dog to high plank. Option reach opposite hand to toe, high plank. Reach opposite hand to toe, high plank. Adding a little rotation, reaching back Across that midline, reach back, shift forward. Last one, reach back, shift forward. All right, slap those wings. You warm? Yes, I'm warm. I'm going to stay here. Caroline's going to go up to standing. We're going to jump into your 20 rep buy-in. It is 20 renegade rows. That is a plank and row put together. Plank and row. If you're with Caroline, you're going to go standing alternating rows. So she's going to take a hinge position, pull one arm, pull the other arm. So I'm going to be doing a plank and row, 20 reps. You're going to want to set yourself up here. You could always take this to an incline or do the plank from your knees. I want to set up a nice wide base with my feet. Caroline's going to hinge over, shoulder blades go down and back. I'm pulling right elbow to right hip, then left elbow to left hip. That is 2 reps total, 1 rep per arm, 20 reps. Ready to do it? Let's do it! Let's go! 20 rep buy-in right here. Set up that plank, nice wide base with the feet. Hips stay square. 3, 2, let's row. Go, 1 and 2. If you're with me, you're thinking about setting that weight down gently, right? You're holding a nice strong stable plank as you row elbow to hip. Whether it's Caroline or me, I want you to think shoulder blade pulled down and back, elbow to hip pocket. Hold at the top, squeeze, lower with control. Not over rotating at the top. Our shoulders are parallel or square to the ground. The entire time. Nice work, that's 15. You have 5 left, give me 5. Nice, 4, you got it, 3, and 2, and 1. Woo! Little core and arm fire up. 20 rep buy-in is done. Nice work, write it down on your PDF tracker sheet. We're gonna jump into your 4 moves starting with good old that raises. Yeah, you can check your ego at the door right away in this workout. You've got 12 lat raises. We know they're a hard move. Okay, I'm gonna start with a little bit lighter weights than I want to, but this is an endurance game, right? We gotta get through all 4 rounds. Lat raise. You can alternate one arm at a time or fly both. You only have 12 reps, so I'm gonna get both arms up. Soft bend in that elbow, lead with the pinky out to a 45-degree Stop bending those knees. Core is braced right here. Lift off, 12 reps in 3, 2, let's go up to shoulder height. Lower with control. It's that lower that matters, guys. This cannot be a drop of the arms. It is a controlled lower. Up and lower with control. All right, lat raises just never get easier, but I promise You're getting stronger. You are building that side shoulder muscle. You're building it right here. Come on, you got it. That's 9. Woo! 10. 2 more, 2 more. 1. 1 more, 1 more. 2. Woo! Hello, bananas. Woo! All right, if you're with me, you're jumping on that pull-up bar. Yeah, it's 12 reps. You scale it to your level. Hit pause if you need to. Add a pull-up assist band. Okay, if you want to. Caroline's giving you a reverse grip back row. Kind on the shoulders, kind. Okay, right there. A little more bicep focus. Elbow to hip pocket, palms face out. If that doesn't feel good for you, go ahead, flip those palms in. It's 12 reps. Scale it any way you want to. I'm striving for 8 and 4. Let's see. All right, here we go. 12 reps. Reverse grip back row or pull-up. Pick your level. We go in 3, 2, let's go. This is where I go quiet. Pull elbows down. You got it, Lindsey, keep going. Nice. 8. Jump off, shake off. We got 4 more. How's Caroline doing? She's crushing. All right, here we go, finish. Last 4, 3, 2, 1. Woo! That's going to get harder. Yes, it is. All right, now you're on to your bicep. Option to stay standing with Caroline. Option— I'm going to take the legs out of the equation, making biceps and triceps a little bit harder. Okay, you got 12 hammer curls, palms face in on the hammer curl. Up, lower with control, all the way up, all the way down. 12 reps, we go in 3, 2, let's go. Curling all the way up and all the way down. All right, what I like about kneeling, it takes the legs out of the equation. I can't lean back, it forces me to brace my core, forces me to put the work into the biceps. No swinging, no momentum. You are in control the entire rep, all the way up, all the way down. You're in control. Come on, you can do anything for 12 reps. You're getting through the hardest set right here. This is 12. The reps go down after this. You got it. That's 9. 3 more, 3 more. Let's go. 3. I want the elbows off the body. In front or slightly ahead. You got one more, come on, it's all the way up and down. We are shaking, embrace it. I'm gonna stay here for overhead tricep extensions. Caroline's gonna be standing again, same thing, elbows tight, hide the weight, show it. I'm taking a half kneeling position here, a little bit more of a weight stable base for me. Here we go, up, punch to the gut, 12 reps in 3, 2, let's go. Inhale down, exhale push. Come on, ribs down. Nice work. Shoulders down, don't let those traps come up. Elbows forward, elbows face me. One rep at a time. Inhale down, exhale push. Inhale down, exhale push. You're looking in the mirror, you're hiding that weight behind your head and then you're showing it. Elbows forward right here, building back of the arm. That strong tricep right here. A lot of length, a lot of stretch. 2 more reps. Down, up. One more. Down, up. All right, good news, those are your 4 moves, guys. Set one done. Set one done. 12 reps out of the books. Now you go down to 10 reps. Grab some water. 10 reps per exercise. 10 lat raises, 10 pull-ups or reverse grip rows. It just gets easier from here, right? It just gets easier. All right, grab the weights you want to use for 10 lat raises. 10 lat raises right up to shoulder height. Here we go. Find it. Soften in those knees. Core is braced. You got 10 reps in 3, 2, let's go. Lift 10. On this move, I want you feeling your side shoulder muscle, not your neck, not your traps. Nice long, relaxed neck. Put the work into that side shoulder muscle. This is the muscle that stabilizes— stabilizes— stabilizes your shoulder joint. Your shoulder is the most mobile joint in the upper body. You want to avoid shoulder injuries. This move right here builds strength and stability. Come on, you got 2 more reps. One more, one more. Just 10 this Time. Thank you. Okay, that's what they're here for, keep me accountable. We're not doing more than we have to. No one's doing extra reps today. All right, 10 pull-ups or reverse grip rows. I got a goal in my head, 5 and 5. I'm gonna try and split it 5 and 5. You throw that band on, do your best, forget the rest. Let's go, 3, 2, let's go. Building a strong back, this is the largest muscle in your upper body. Come on, come on. But there's so many more muscles involved in a pull-up. Come on, you got this. We're going to get 6. We're going to get 6. 6. Okay, we got to get 4 more to get to 10. Oh man, that feels heavy. That feels heavy. Let's go. This is where I hit the pause button. Not today. Not today. Come on. 3, 2, 1 more to get to 10. Come on, Lindsey, you can do it! Woo! It's not pretty, but it's done. Okay, here we go. Bicep curls, kneeling or standing. Tell you what, doing bicep curls after pull-ups is brutal. Reverse grip rows target more of that bicep too. You got 10 reps. 10 reps kneeling or standing. We're curling in 3, 2, let's go. You know the hammer curl, which is what we're doing, palms facing in, actually works more of the forearm. Talk about building grip strength, pull-ups into a hammer curl. Lots of forearm muscle happening here, but we know grip strength, they've said it, it's science-backed research. It's an indicator of longevity. Doing this for my 70-year-old self right here. Come on, keep curling. Yes, let's go. 3 more. 3. Come on, 2 more. 2. So where those shaky arms set in. Last one. One. Holy bananas. Woo. Those last 2 to 3 reps, guys. That's where the challenge should really be tough to complete with good form. We want to find that. That's where those muscle adaptations are really, really happening. 10 overhead tricep extensions. Elbows forward, weight behind the head, ribs to hips. 3, 2, let's go, ribs to hips. When you start to shake, that's actually your nervous system telling your body to physically recruit more muscle fibers. That's like legitimately what is happening, right? It's your nervous system saying, we need more muscle here. We need more muscle, right? It's a good thing. Embrace the shake. Push through the reps. You're almost there. 2 more. 2 and 1. Woo! Nice work. Water up. 2 sets down. 3rd set. Best set. Best set. 8 reps. 8 reps feels so good. Now it goes fast. Now it goes fast. Now it goes fast. I'm excited about 8. I'm excited about 8. Let's do 8 together, guys. Let's do 8 together. Write it down on your PDF tracking sheet. Take a big breath. Get mentally tough here. You got 8 lat raises. Strict form. Control the lower. It means dropping the weights. That's okay. Check your ego at the door. I had to, right? Here we go. 3, shoulders down and back. Long, relaxed neck. 2, let's go lift for 8. 8. Come on, you got this. 7. Yes, you can. 6. Each rep, you're fighting for it. 5. Lower with control. 4. Right up to shoulder height. 3. You can do anything for 2 more reps. 2. The eyes are squinting. Is Caroline smiling? Oh my goodness, she is! She is the new Rachel, officially Smiling on set during lat raises? I wasn't during the triceps. Okay, okay. Not during triceps, but during lat raises. All right, here we go. Pull up bar, 8 reverse grip rows, 8. Let's just see how many we can get. Do your best. Forget the rest. 3, 2, go! Halfway. You got this. 3. 2 more. 2 more. I saw like a meme the other day or something. It said that childbirth is like the second most painful thing a human can experience while they're alive. I might vote. Pulling, fighting for pull is up there. Holy bananas. You did it. 8 down. 8 down. Here we go. Biceps and triceps. Biceps and triceps. I don't know about you, but my biceps feel so pumped up right now. So pumped up. So involved in the— We've got 8 reps kneeling or standing. You're curling. Here we go. No swinging. Using that bicep strength in 3, 2, let's go all the way up, all the way down. I've started taking some of my upper body exercises, shoulders, biceps, triceps to my knees. Man, is it making a huge difference in my form and in my strength gains. Really focusing me to take my legs out of the equation on that shoulder press, on that bicep curl and get so strict. In my form. For 2, you've got 1 more, 1 more, 1 more. Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight! There it is. You're on triceps for 8. Triceps for 8. Let's see if we can make Caroline squint. Get that weight overhead. Here we go. 3, 2, go! You know what I really like about the overhead tricep extension is it actually hits the longest part of your tricep muscle, which spans across your shoulder. This is where you really have capacity to stretch. How deep can you get into that? And then push overhead. Really stretch that tricep, lengthen that muscle, and then push. Think about getting as much length and range of motion behind your head as possible. For one more, and up. Nice work. Okay, there we go. 4th set, strong set. Last one, last set, and it's 6 reps. Speed round. Speed round. See if you can increase your weights for the lat raises. Yes, Caroline. I'll try. She's trying. I'm gonna squint this time. We're gonna squint. See if we can fight for these 20s. We're gonna squint for 6 reps. We're gonna make ourselves proud right here. Come on, 6 reps. You can do anything for 6 reps. We go in 3, 2, go 6, 6. Let's go. 5, Come on, 4, almost there, 3, finish, 2, just get them up for 1. I don't know if that was a full fly, but we'll count it for today. Woo! Always pushing yourself to get 1% better. 6 pull-ups, 6 pull-ups, 3 and 3. You can do anything for 6 reps. Yes, Caroline, grab your weights, grab your weights. This is me stalling again. You got this. 6 reps. When Lindsey feels scared, like she can't do something on set, she stalls. I'm a procrastinator in life too. We go in 3, 2, let's go. You just gotta jump in and face the hard things. You were made to do hard things. Yes, you were. Come on. Yes, you can. 4, 2 more. Come on. Woo! 2 more. Come on. Finish. Last 2, and 2 and a half. Holy— okay, put it down on your tracker sheet. Gotta get 6 next time. That's a lot of pull-ups in a short amount of time. I'm not gonna lie, I normally take longer breaks. Okay, here we go. Pause button at home. Yeah, I need a pause button. Okay, you got 6 bicep curls and 6 triceps. Let's finish this. Finish it in 3, 2, let's go. If you want more, which I don't know why you would after this workout, I want you to know we got a 10-minute burnout. It's an arms and abs finisher. Okay, you can add on to this workout. It's available when you train inside the NML app. Nice work. You got one more rep here. Up and down. Now we're gonna fight for 6 overhead tricep extensions to finish this workout. There is no bonus round. This is it, guys. Finish with strength and we are stretching in 3, 2, 1. The good news is, is if you want more Max 20, more of this, we have an additional week of programming, week 3. It is found inside the NML app. Get full details when you click the link in the description below. You are done. Woo! Weights are down. That arm day, brutal. What's also brutal is you got legs tomorrow and the format's the same. It's rep drop, it's 4 big moves and it's going to be super spicy, but I want you to come back for it. We're going to stretch and we're going to stretch and then we're going to see you back on the mat for day 8, leg day. Let's just flap those wings. I don't know about you. Feels good. Holy bananas. Everything feels tight and puffy in my upper body. Okay. Going down to a tabletop position here. You do a puppy dog stretch so hips can stay high. Hands are going to walk away from you. Whoo! You're gonna melt those armpits into the ground. Your forehead's gonna hit the mat. You're gonna take a big inhale through your nose, big open mouth exhale as you let your armpits drop to the ground. Option to stay here, option to walk your hands over to one side, little side body puppy dog. Option to walk over to the other side, really opening up those lats. A lot of work today. Nice work, team. Let's bring it back here. I want your fingertips. Right hand faces Caroline, left hand faces away from me. I'm just sliding my right hand through, thread the needle, and come back up. Thread the needle, ear and shoulder to mat, stretch into that shoulder. Come back up. One more on this side. Thread the needle, dropping to Caroline. That feels so good. Now switch it. My left hand faces the windows, my right hand faces Caroline, and now I drop into sliding the left arm through, Come back up. Slide the left arm through. Can you get left ear and shoulder to mat? Come back up. One more time, left ear and shoulder to mat. Should feel so good. Come back up. A little cat-cow action. Drop the belly, lift the chin. Reverse it, tuck the chin, roll that spine. Find a nice flat back. Nice. Awesome job, you guys. So stinking proud of you. So proud of you. Can't wait to see you back on the mat for day 8, legs. Awesome job crushing arm day. If you loved it, hit subscribe to our channel. I've queued up leg day, day 8 right here, or find this entire 2-week strength challenge in this playlist right here. Have a great day.