A Chest, Back, and Shoulders Circuit for Upper-Body Strength

The workout below is for Day 9 of the SELF 2022 Spring Challenge. Check out the full four-week workout program right here. Or go to the workout calendar here. If you’d like to sign up to receive daily emails for this challenge, you can do that here.

Welcome to your second upper-body workout of this challenge! And today we have a chest, back, and shoulders circuit to build ultimate upper-body strength.

You’ll notice that this workout is going to feel a little more difficult than your first upper-body session: In fact, you’ll continue to notice this theme of progression throughout the challenge.

For instance, you’ll be adding one more exercise to your circuit this week. While this may not seem like a lot more, it’s actually adding two to four more sets to your workout, depending on how many rounds you choose. Volume is important for getting stronger and building muscle, since it means your muscles have more time under tension.

In this upper-body circuit, you’ll perform some different variations of two foundational exercises you saw in Week 1: the chest press and the row. This time, you’ll complete an alternating chest press and a single-arm row. Both of these exercises are slightly more advanced versions because they’re unilateral moves, meaning that you’ll be working one side at a time. This can be helpful for building balanced strength, since you’ll be able work each side separately. Just a note, it’s totally normal to have slight differences in strength on each side of your body. If you notice huge discrepancies, though, you may want to try to build up strength in your weaker side, perhaps by adding on an extra set only on that side.

Then, you’ll round out the chest, back, and shoulders circuit with a pullover to work your back muscles and the overhead press to hit your shoulders. You’ll finish off with a hammer curl, a biceps curl variation that also hits your forearms.

And we didn’t forget about the back of your arms, either! Your triceps work comes into play in the form of the bonus finisher, where you’ll be challenged with a solid 60 seconds of overhead triceps extensions.

WORKOUT DIRECTIONS

Aim for 8 to 15 reps of each exercise. Rest for up to 30 seconds between exercises. Rest for 1 to 2 minutes after each round. Complete 2 to 4 rounds total.

EXERCISES

• Single-Arm Row
• Alternating Chest Press
• Pullover
• Overhead Press
• Bicep Hammer Curl

BONUS MOVE

After your last circuit, try the bonus move for 60 seconds.

• Overhead Triceps Extension