Upper Body Crush

This workout is relentless. It just crushes your upper body for pretty much the duration of the workout (minus one leg exercise to give the upper body a brief break). Thankfully it only takes 12 minutes; then you can stretch, relax, and grab some protein to help rebuild your fatigued muscles. Let's get to it!

This workout is a 12 minute AMRAP of mostly burpees and pushups. If you struggle with pushups or cannot do them, I am providing modifications below so we can all work on our strength together. You have to start somewhere, don't be afraid to work on something just because it's challenging. Workouts should always challenge you. If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you; and change is what we're after!

Workout Breakdown:

10 burpees
10 pushups
10 candlestick burpees
5 sets - 3 jump squats + jump tuck
10 elevated pushups
10 burpee jump tuck
10 pike pushups

*NOTE*:
I did all burpees with pushups for this workout. If you want less of an upper body challenge/faster and more intense cardio, you can instead do competition burpees (lower chest directly to ground without pushup) for each of the 3 sets of burpees. 

​MODIFICATIONS:
-If you cannot do burpees, you can instead jump or step your feet back to plank, then jump or step your feet back to your hands, stand up and do a little hop if you can. If you want to include the pushup, you can do the pushup off your knees, then raise back up onto your toes in plank, jump your feet to your hands, and stand and jump up. 

-If you cannot do pushups, instead do pushups off your knees. Get into plank, lower your knees down to the ground, and just make sure you're not pushing your butt/hips up into the air. You always want straight lines with planks and pushups, never dip your hips low or push them up high. Don't skip working on pushups! You will get stronger practicing them on your knees, I promise you. 

-If you cannot do candlestick burpees, you can instead do regular burpees, or the modified burpees I described above. You could even do the roll back and then get into the modified burpee, that will still be fun and different to try. But if you cannot do it, skip it, it's just a variation. As you gain strength you will be able to incorporate it.

-If you cannot do jump squats or jump tucks, you can instead do squats; and if you're up for it, you can add a jump after the 3 squats in place of the jump tuck for a little extra cardio.

-If you cannot do elevated pushups, you can instead elevate your feet less by using a stack of books or a thick book, or even a yoga block. Just be careful that you are stable using whatever you put your feet on. If you cannot elevate at all, instead do regular pushups or pushups off your knees.

-If you cannot do burpee jump tucks, you can instead do regular or modified burpees, and if you can, try to jump a little higher than the usual hop for the burpee. 

-If you cannot do pike pushups, you can instead try to just bend your elbows as much as possible in the pike position, even if it's only a little bit, or just do regular pushups or pushups off your knees.

Phew! That's a long one, but there's plenty of options for all fitness levels to try this workout. So try it with me now, no excuses!

I made it through 1 round and the first 2 exercise sets in the second round. I really ambitiously thought I could easily get through 2 rounds and beyond in the 12 minutes. Maybe next time! Leave me a comment and let me know how you did. And if you want to discuss your fitness, health, and nutrition goals further, be sure to join me in the Jickety Jacq Fit Club. 

We're expecting a blizzard of a Nor'easter tonight and tomorrow, so I'm heading over to Jim's in a little bit to get snowed in together. Took until March for winter to show up, great job Mother Nature. Winter was slow to start last year too. For Christmas the temperature was in the upper 60s (much to my extreme dismay), but I remember many chilly days as late as May. Maybe we should just change the start dates for the seasons to different months so things make a bit more sense. Nature would probably still thwart any sense of order we tried to bring to it. Oh well. If you're in the blizzard affected area too, please stay safe and warm. And if not, I hope you enjoy whatever weather you're having, or that it changes to something better for you soon.