We have a 15 minute upper body workout. You are going to work every major muscle group in the upper body and get done in 15 minutes. All your gonna need is a set of dumbells and a mat and that is it. Alright? Let's get going. Ok, so let's get going here. Let's balance on 1 leg - nice and tall with bow & arrow arms. You are warming up through the upper back, back of the shoulders, and even your core. Also challenging the stablizers of the ankle, knee, and hip. The more you can work, the better, right? We are doing a couple exercises without weights first. Try to stay tall and lengthen through both sides of your waist. Think of there's a string attached to the top of your head and somebody is pulling that string up. How much length can you get through both sides of your waist? Keep going.
Bring that elbow back as much as you can. Exaggerate it and work full range of motion. So, we are going from one exercise to another without a break, which makes it weight loss. So, we are going to open up. Think like a backstroke and the opposite leg is going to step back. If you want to take it down to a lunge, you can. What I'm doing is trying to keep my hips squared off. Really exaggerating the motion through my shoulder. Trying to make it as big as possible. Keep those abs engaged. Switch sides, same thing. Breathe. It's so peaceful here at Beaver Lake and so I wanted to make sure I got in a couple of workouts here for ya.
So, remember when it comes to weight loss, you aren't spot reducing areas, you are building strength and the stronger you are - it actually increases your metabolism. That's a good thing, right?! Alright, shake that out. Let's grab our weights. You do want to try to go with a medium to heavy weight. If you aren't sure, start medium and next time you can always make it harder. So, you are going to do a back row, pinching your shoulder blades, and step forward, bicep curl. Step back and do 2 back rows, and 2 bicep curls and we are going to go to 7, ok? 3 backrows, and really control it, pinch your shoulder blades at the top, come up, bicep curls 3, 2, and 1.
I'm switching legs, 4, 3, 2, 1, bicep curl, stand tall. Control it both directions. Back to your back row. So again, don't let your back round, keep that length through the spine. Breathe. Nice and tall, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and go into your back row for 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and into your bicep curl. So we are doing compound motions here. So, now, let's change it up. Let's do a deltoid raise and a triceps kickback. Lift it up. 2 deltoid raises - for the shoulder, 2 tricep kickbacks for the back of the arm. 3 deltoid raises, and 3 tricep kickbacks, Chest lifted. 4 deltoid raises, and 4 triceps. Let's go to 5 here. 5,4,3,2,1 and 5,4,3, really kick back, 2, and 1. Back to our deltoid raises, you may have to go lighter. Really lead with your elbow and not your hands. I don't want to see you rotating up like that. And kick back for 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. So, now we will go down and do some chest presses here. Down to the mat. Ok, so we are going to start presses. It's 8 singles. You want to keep the shoulder down. I'm digging my heels down into the ground. Now, let's slow it down a little bit.
Lift up for 2 and down for 2. Lift 2, down 2. Up 3, down 1, up 2, 3, down 1. Now reverse it, lift up 1, come down 2,3. Lift up, come down 2,3. Now, pump out 8 more singles - very controlled. Stay in line with your chest. I tend to see people go overhead in line with their eyes, but don't do that. Stay in line with the chest. Breathe. If you have a bench here, this is a good time to use that bench, cuz then you can go down further. But, since I'm outside, I'm working with what I have, right? 3,2 and 1. From there, lose your weights. So, what we are going to do is...a modified downward dog. It's dolphin pose, really. This works the shoulders - the stabilizers of our shoulder. Bring the elbows down, and have the elbows directly under the shoulder. So, you should be able to grab your elbows. So, abs are engaged, knees are wide. You start here, you can interlace the fingers, don't grip real tight. Keep it loose. You do have to push your shoulders down away from your ears. Keep your knees bent and push your butt up in the air. From here, all your going to do, is your going to come forward, try to kiss your hands, and then come back. You want to keep the knees bent, so that you really keep your back straight. I know it looks stupid, but it really works the shoulders.
So, if that's too much for you, just stay here in this position and come down to your knees whenever you need to. Again, take it down and lift up. Down 2 and lift up. Do one more. Down 2 and lift up. Now, you can shake that out. If you can get in a good 30 seconds to a minute of that, that would be great! From there, if you do forearm stands, you could take it up into a forearm stand (headstand) if you want. But only do that if you have the control (strength), alright? So, we will go over headstands later. From there, let's go into hands flat, with the fingers out, push your shoulders down, abs in, and again, your pushing your butt up in the air. It's gonna look kinda silly - your gonna look like a grandma . But, you're gonna extend your spine as much as possible. Don't straighten those legs out - not today.
Hold for 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2, and 1 and release. The next one is going to be sphinx. All we are doing is opening the chest here. Roll the shoulders back and down. Lengthen the legs out long. Your really want to still pull the abs in. Think, chest stays open and just lengthen. Don't jam your spine. I have a 7 year old, and he fell out of bed last night. And so, it was like 1:00 in the morning and holey smokes, I was up forever after that! I had a hard time getting to sleep after that, so, I might be a little dingy. From there, you are going to take it down. We are going to do a chest opener. What you are going to do, is take your back arm straight out and when you look at it, you are looking at your first finger. Scoot over to the side and then open up away from it.Just take your time with this. If you want to have a yoga block for your head to rest on, it's usually good to do that, cuz you want to keep your neck in a neutral position if you can. So, you can keep opening up. You will feel this through the shoulder, and in through the chest. I just want you to hold it here. You are going to hold about a minute on each side. Let me check my time. Just breathe. So, building strength is important when it comes to weight loss.
Cardio is important too, because that's how you are going to burn extra calories and strengthen your heart. Your heart is what keeps you alive, so I tend to put a lot of focus on that. You know, go outside and do something active outside. Hike. Go for a walk. Go for a jog or a run. But if you aren't use to running, don't start with running. Build up to it. Ok, focus on your breath. Breathe. Now, if you can keep opening up, do it. If you need to back off, that's fine too. I'm going to try and take this other arm back. Hold another 10 seconds. When I started doing these - you should of seen me, I was like this because my shoulder was sooo tight. So, now I can get back a little more. Usually I bend my knees up a little more too. So, just do what feels good to you. This is a spinal twist here, so never force it or go to the point of pain - ever. I want you to be able to breathe. Alright, release that and let's go to the other side. I'm going to turn around here. Do the same thing. Arm is going to be straight out and then I'm going to open it up. I'm getting all dirty for ya. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Focus on your breath. Feels so good. I love being outside.
Something about being out in nature, you know? Nothing like it! Especially when you live in the Pacific Northwest! Alright, now if you can, you are going to open up this top arm. Breathe. Keep holding. We are going to try and hold the same amount on each side. I'm going to look at my timer. Got another 20 seconds. Again, back off if you need to. Just listen to your body. Never force it, it's not worth it. You're not in competition with anybody. Get out of it slowly. Push yourself up. From there, let's take it forward. I'm going to have you bring the legs straight out, and we are going to lift up and over. If you would rather sit cross legged, that's A-Okay with me. And then switching sides, same thing. I'm keeping my hip down as I do this. It's really important to do that. Then what we are going to do is bend your knees, come down all the way, open up the arms, and just relax. You want to have your feet wider than your hips, bring your knees together, and take a few nice, deep breaths. Inhale through your nose, and exhale out through the mouth. Take your head side to side. Relax. Breathe into it. Really focus on getting that oxygen in. Inhale again, exhale. Relaxing the shoulders and one more time, inhale, and exhale. Take yourself up, you can roll yourself to the side and push yourself up. Cross the legs, sit tall, and today, if you will do me a favor and if you are watching this before dinner - cook dinner tonight.
