An Superset Workout That Hits Your Upper Body With 4 Major Moves
The workout below is for Day 16 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.
Your first strength workout of week 3 introduces a new kind of workout programming: the superset workout.
Prior to this workout, we’ve been working primarily in circuits, where you move from one exercise to the next with little rest between moves. A superset is similar, but the grouping of exercises is smaller: just two moves. This means you can really go hard on those two exercises, whether it’s by upping the weight or the reps, since rest comes quicker. So don’t be afraid to challenge yourself on these supersets.
Supersets can be programmed in a couple different ways: They can work opposing muscle groups or the same muscle groups. In this program, we’ll be working primarily with opposing-muscle supersets, since that avoids overstressing your muscles for the next exercise.
We’ll be alternating pulling exercises with pushing exercises in this routine. During your first superset, you’ll cycle between the bent-over row for your pull (which works the back of your body, including your lats and rhomboids) and the kneeling overhead press for your push (which works the front of your body by hitting your shoulders). The kneeling overhead press is a bit more challenging than the traditional overhead press, since it takes your lower body out of the equation—meaning, there’s no momentum to help push those weights up! Plus, you’ll have to engage your core throughout the move, which provides some added abs work.
Then in your second superset, you’ll perform the pullover for your pull and the elevated push-up for your push. While we’ve been working primarily with the elevated push-up in this challenge, feel free to take it from the ground for added difficulty if you feel like you’re ready. (Of course, you may need to lower the number of reps, which is totally fine!)
Our EMOM finisher in this upper-body superset workout is all about the arms, and you’ll alternate between the biceps hammer curl and overhead triceps extension. Finishers are great opportunities to get in some extra arms work (or “isolation work”), since we spend the majority of our time in our main workout sets on bigger compound moves that work your larger muscle groups. That provides the biggest bang for our exercise buck, but hey, sometimes dedicated arm work is fun too!
WORKOUT DIRECTIONS
Aim for 8 to 15 reps of each exercise in superset 1. Rest for up to 30 seconds between exercises and 1 to 2 minutes after each round. Complete 2 to 5 rounds total. Repeat for superset 2.
EXERCISES
Superset 1
- Bent-over Row
- Kneeling Overhead Press
Superset 2
BONUS EMOM
After your last circuit, try the bonus EMOM: Do both moves for the recommended number of reps aiming to finish in under 60 seconds. If you have time left over, rest. At the top of the next minute, start again. Repeat 4 times total (a total of 4 minutes).
- Bicep Hammer Curl (8 to 10 reps)
- Overhead Triceps Extension (8 to 10 reps)