Jim's Workout

This upper body workout burns so much, I had to cut the reps in half for the second round. I wouldn't have been able to continue if I had to do all those reps again! Come see what I mean, try it out with me...

Workout Breakdown: 

Round 1/ Round 2:

20/10 squat and overhead press 
10/5 plank rows + pushup 
10 weighted jump lunges 
20/10 overhead tricep extensions 
20 kettlebell swings 
10/6 pushups + weighted side plank
20/10 bicep curls 
20/10 lying chest flys 

BUY OUT: 1 minute bicep curl + overhead press

​You need a pair of dumbbells and a kettlebell for this workout. I used 10lb dumbbells and my 25lb kettlebell. You can use any size weights that are challenging for you. And if you don't have any weights, check out these modifications so you can still do the workout too :D

MODIFICATIONS:

-If you don't have weights for the squat and overhead press, you can instead do bodyweight squats or jump squats for an extra challenge. If you have them, you can hold a light canned good in each hand and do the squat and overhead press with those. You can also increase the reps to 30 or 40 to work your legs and shoulders harder. 

-If you can't do the plank rows, you can instead hold plank for the duration of my completing the rows, and then do a pushup. This will still work your core, arms, and shoulders. Do NOT use canned goods for this exercise, you need dumbbells that have flat edges for safety. The cans could bend, break, or roll, and you could get hurt. Don't do it.

-If you can't do the weighted jump lunges, you can instead do bodyweight jump lunges, or backward lunges without a jump if you can't jump. You can also, again, hold a canned good in each hand and do the jump lunges with them. 

​-If you have no weights for the overhead tricep extension, you can instead do tricep dips holding onto a chair. Tricep dips are kind of like a weird angle pushup. To do them: grip your hands (fingers pointing down) around the edge of a chair, walk your feet out so your knees are over your ankles with your legs bent, and your butt is a few inches away from the chair so you have room to squat down. Making sure your elbows are pointing behind you, arms not flaring out to the side, bend your arms until your elbows are bent at a 90 degree angle, your hips and butt lowering to the ground. Lower and raise 20-40 times for maximum burn. If this explanation makes no sense, I demonstrated this exercise in a previous workout, so check that out for a visual. 

-If you can't do kettlebell swings, you can instead try to swing a dumbbell. If you have no weights you can instead do squats or jump squats, and increase the reps to 30 or 40. 

-If you don't have weights for the pushup and weighted side plank, no sweat, this one's tough either way. You can instead do a pushup, then stack your feet and do side plank without the weight. 

-If you don't have weights for the bicep curl, you can instead hold a canned good in each hand and do curls with them, or you can just practice the movement of slowly raising your arms and contracting the muscles, and slowly lowering and releasing the contraction without any added weight. If you've never done a bicep curl, it's actually important to practice this without weight first to see how it feels to properly contract the muscles through each part of the exercise. Then when you add weights to it, you'll be sure you're getting the full benefit of the exercise, and you'll be well on your way to getting buff ;)

-If you don't have weights for the lying chest flys, you can instead do the exercise with canned goods in each hand, or again, practice the movement of slowly contracting your arms as you raise and lower them. 

​-If you don't have weights for the bicep curl and overhead press, you can instead hold a canned good in each hand for the exercise, or practice the movement of the curl and the press without added weight. Moving your arms this way still burns even without any additional weight.

This workout took just under 30 minutes to complete, and as you can see above, is very upper body heavy. This was created specifically for Jim, tailored to his interests and desires for his body in his fitness regimen.

Not into all the upper body exercises and the need for added weights in this workout? I hope the modifications are helpful to make it work for everyone, but I have another option for you to get what you want: I've opened up the option to commission your very own, personalized workout! I'm very excited to offer this to you and I hope everyone interested will take part in this. I'm so passionate about creating and sharing workouts with you, and I feel like this will be a great way to better give everyone more of exactly what they want. Plus you'll have your very own workout, made specifically for you, with your name on it. How cool is that? And I would be eternally grateful for your support in keeping this site going. 

I also have nutrition content coming very, very soon. I've been teasing forever, but it really is in its final stages now. I hope it will prove to have been worth the wait. Sign up to make sure you don't miss when it goes live! And I'll see you over in the *FREE* Fit Club in the meantime, right? ;)