It’s no secret around here that upper body workouts are my absolute favorite. They make me feel strong and powerful and I truly find myself feeling excited for workouts that work my arms, chest and back.
I love to keep my body guessing and changing things up by incorporating bursts of plyometric exercises in my workouts or playing around with the number of reps in an upper body dropset workout, but every once in a while I want a simple upper body workout. A workout that’s easy to follow and allows me to focus on heavier weights and nothing more than the reps at hand. That’s what today’s Everything One Minute Upper Body Workout is all about!
Everything One Minute Upper Body Workout
As the name of the workout implies, you’ll cycle through one minute of each upper body strength exercise for three total rounds.
If you decide to try today’s workout and have been strength training for a while, I encourage you to challenge yourself and lift heavy. Don’t worry about the number of reps you complete during each one-minute round. Focus instead on flexing your muscles and your form. If you fail out during the minute you’re working, don’t worry about it. Shake your arms out and try to get in another rep or two before the minute is up.
Add a Burst of Cardio
Looking to add a burst of cardio? Choose one of the following exercises to complete for 30 seconds after each one minute round:
- High Knees
- Jumping Jacks
- Mountain Climbers
- Jump Rope
- Burpees
- Star Jumps
Exercise Descriptions
Bicep 21s: Begin with a dumbbell in each hand and stand with palms facing forward. Curl arms upward, pausing briefly when arms are halfway up and parallel to the floor. Lower back down to the starting position. Complete 7 reps of this halfway curl exercise. Then, without stopping, completing 7 reps of the top half of a bicep curl, beginning halfway up a traditional the curl and curling the weight all the way up to your shoulders. Complete the exercise with 7 reps of a full-range-of-motion bicep curl.
Hand Release Pushups: Begin in a plank position with hands under and slightly outside of your shoulders. Bracing your core, lower your body until chest touches the floor. Lift hands off the ground before quickly placing them back on the ground and pushing up to return body to starting position. (Optional: To further engage your lower back, you may also lift your toes off the ground when you lift your hands off the ground.)
Bosu Chest Press: Grasp a dumbbell in each hand and lie with the middle of your upper back on a Bosu ball, your feet flat on the floor with your ankles under your knees. Lift your hips and engage your core. Hold the dumbbells outside of your chest with your palms facing forward and press up toward the sky. Slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position, keeping your hips lifted the entire time. Repeat.
Triceps Pushups: Begin in a plank position with your hands shoulder-width apart and your core engaged. Keeping your arms parallel to your sides and your elbows pointing straight back, lower your chest toward the floor. Push back up to start and repeat.
Plank Row: Begin in a high plank position with your right hand holding onto a dumbbell. Walk feet out slightly wider than shoulder width. Bracing your core and keeping your hips facing the ground, pull your right elbow back, bringing the dumbbell toward your chest while keeping your right elbow close to your body. Lower the dumbbell and release. Repeat on the left side.
Triceps Extensions: Begin by standing with feet hip-distance apart. Hold one dumbbell with both hands and bend at the elbow so the dumbbell is behind your head. Straighten your elbows to lift the dumbbell into the air and then slowly bend arms to the lower the dumbbell back down behind the head.
Mac Raises: Begin with feet hip-width apart, arms at your sides and palms facing back. Raise both arms simultaneously, performing a straight-arm shoulder raise with the left arm while bending the right elbow to perform a bent-arm side lateral raise with the right arm. Lower both arms to the starting position and switch sides, performing a straight-arm shoulder raise with the right arm and a bent-arm side lateral raise with the left arm.
Details
Wearing:
- Top: Montiel Activewear
- Capris: Nike High-Waisted Sculpt Capris
- Shoes: Nike Free Transform Flyknit
Photos: Stacey Lanier Photography
Location: Burn Boot Camp
Additional Upper Body Workouts
- Jump Rope Upper Body Workout
- Upper Body Tabata Workout
- Upper Body Dropset Workout
- Upper Body Superset Workout
You may also visit my Arm Workouts Pinterest Page for additional workouts!
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Yes!! I also feel beast mode when doing upper body workouts! In my local fitness studio they’ve started a class called X-CO which is awesome! It’s kind of a like a shake weight and honestly I snicker to myself when we do certain exercises (I’m not mature enough to utilize a shake weight….) but the work out is awesome and has my upper body burning after just a few minutes!
Upper body is my least favorite, which means I need a few great workouts to add to my rotation. I’m also adding your Nike’s to my wishlist!
Upper body workouts are probably my least favorite, I think it’s because I really don’t like push-ups, lol. So I love finding workouts that move quickly have have different moves. What do you typically use to time the minute, like a tabata timer?
I actually have an old school clock in my home gym so I usually just watch the second hand move around but when I’m traveling and want to complete timed workouts, I love the Interval Timer app!
Looks like an awesome workout! Kind of off topic, but are you still using Collagen? If so, are you still noticing the benefits/any more results? I’m thinking about purchasing it but wanted to hear some feedback from someone who has used it for a decent amount of time!!
Have a great day!
I am! I add it to my coffee every morning. I love the boost of protein! I actually talk about the benefits I’ve seen from incorporating it into my diet in greater detail in this post: https://www.pbfingers.com/collagen-benefits/ I really hope this helps!!
I LOVE the upper body workouts best too! Something about it makes me feel extra strong too. This one looks great! I stink at triceps push-ups haha still working on that one!
This is perfect. I haaaate weight training, but I know I have to do it, so the faster I can get it over with, the better!
Wow, this looks great! Trying it today at the gym! Did anyone ever ask you how you think up your workouts?
Oh I love this so much! I feel like sometimes we forget about the simple things – which are oftentimes the best for us. I also have never seen mac raises before, but I’m definitely going to incorporate them into my workout tomorrow morning.
Thanks!
I am ALL about short workouts that can be done during nap time! I love cardio so much more than weights, but am trying to incorporate more strength training, this looks great!
Oh, how i love a good weights session! I hit legs and upper body today and it felt amazing! I LOVE the feeling after lifting- so much better than cardio in my opinion!!
I’m LOVING all your workouts and was just hoping for a new upper body workout, since that’s my least favorite area of my body to focus on. Thanks for sharing!!
This looks like a great workout, thanks for sharing! I struggle with finding variety in my upper body workouts because I exercise at home and have limited equipment. I do have some dumbbells and a stability ball though so I’m excited to try this.
Love this! Just shared it on FB. https://www.facebook.com/cuckoolemon/
Looks like a great workout. I love that since it’s 1 minute intervals it makes it easy to time.
#ArmGoals I am still new to strength training (I usually default to running long distances instead!) and these are super helpful, especially the exercise descriptions. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing these inspirational work out tipps!
http://www.blogellive.com
Looks good – I really need to work on my upper body! x
Izzy |https://pinchofdelight.wordpress.com
This is a perfect workout for busy moms! Totally adding this to my arsenal, thank you.
I love your starry leggings! And it’s always exciting to see a workout with “one minute” in the title. Thanks!
Hi Julie!
I just wanted to say, thank you for posting this really well thought out and well designed post. I am not an exercise person, but I would really like to learn how to be one. I am just starting out on my fitness journey, a little later in life than most of your regular blog readers. So thanks for giving a real hands on “this is how you do it” explanation of each exercise. Have you ever thought about putting together a post of how to work out for beginners? I think you could do a great job with that.
Ahh…Hand release push ups. I have a love hate relationship with them! I find if I push into my heels slightly on the way up it helps with alignment but this might be cheating!
Hi Julie! I did half this workout this AM and I LOVED it! I was sweating a ton and can already feel my arms getting sore!! Thanks so much for sharing!
yay! so glad to hear it! thank you for taking the time to let me know, martha! <3
Idea for a post – can you tell us sometime about your home gym, where it is, what equipment you have, etc.? The way some people are obsessed with home studios/craft rooms (I am too), there are people (me too) that are also obsessed with home gyms. Thanks!