Upper Body and Ab Shred

Equipment: Weighted Object (water bottles, household objects, dumbbells), Optional Elevated Surface

Format: Perform each move for the prescribed time and repetitions and repeat food 3 rounds.

Superset 1

Move 1: Slow Burpees w High Knees (1:00)

• Begin standing with your core engaged and chest up tall.
• Bend your knees and plant your hands on the floor or mat in front of you (hands stacked directly below shoulders) and jump or step your feet back into a tall plank position, holding your belly button in and up to keep your core engaged.
• With your core engaged, perform a push up by lowering yourself down to the ground (keep your lats engaged and your shoulders away from your ears) and then press yourself back up to a tall plank.  
• Jump or step your feet back to the outside of your hands, loading your weight in your heels and use your momentum to stand or jum to standing.
• Once standing, run your knees in toward your chest and back out one at a time and repeat the burpee to high knee complex back and forth.
• MOD: Perform this movement with your hands on an inclined surface, like a chair, couch or ottoman. You can also take the impact out entirely by stepping back and forth rather than jumping, and coming up to a body squat rather than a jump.

Move 2: Overhead Triceps Extensions (8-12)

• Begin standing or kneeling, holding one weight overhead with both hands so your arms are straight overhead.
• Slowly lower the weight behind your head by bending your elbows, being careful not to flare your elbows out too much.
• Once your forearms move beyond parallel to the floor, bring the weight back up to the starting position. 
• Your upper arms should remain in place throughout the movement so that your elbows aren’t moving too far forward or backward. 

Move 3: Bent Over Row to Reverse Fly (8-12)

• Begin standing with your core engaged, chest up, shoulders rolled back, and weights in hand.
• Hinge forward at the waist to be at 45 degrees, and engage between your shoulders, so they’re not rounding forward, allowing your dumbbells to hang beneath your chest and keeping your gaze neutral.
• Lift both arms out to the side, maintaining a slight bend in the elbows and squeezing your shoulder blades together.
• Return to center and perform a row by pulling the weights up to your sides while keeping your elbows close to the body and squeezing your back muscles.
• Return to center and repeat. 

Finisher: 5 Negative Rows to 5 Push Ups x2

• Hinge forward at the waist to be at 45 degrees, and engage between your shoulders, so they’re not rounding forward, allowing your dumbbells to hang beneath your chest and keeping your gaze neutral.
• Pull the weights up to your sides while keeping your elbows close to the body and squeezing your back muscles. Hold the weights in your row position and let the weight slowly bring your arms down. 
• After 5 repetitions, bend your knees to set the weights down and perform 5 push ups focusing on engaging your lats and repeat

Superset 2

Move 1: Squat Thrust to Knee Drive (0:45)

• Begin standing with your core engaged and chest up tall.
• Bend your knees and plant your hands on the floor or mat in front of you (hands stacked directly below shoulders) and jump or step your feet back into a tall plank position, holding your belly button in and up to keep your core engaged.
• Jump or step your feet back into your hands and come back to standing, loading your weight in your heels and using your momentum to power you up into a jump.
• Once standing, drive your left knee up and across your body as you drive your elbow down to crunch in the middle. Repeat with the other side and then repeat entire sequence. 
• MOD: Perform this movement with your hands on an inclined surface, like a chair, couch or ottoman. You can also take the impact out entirely by stepping back and forth rather than jumping, and coming up to a body squat rather than a jump.

Move 2: Superwoman Lifts to Trap Activators (0:45)

• Lie on your stomach with your arms and legs extended.
• Lift your legs and arms off the mat together, using your lower back and glute strength.
• As you lift your body off the mat, draw your elbows back towards your ribcage, focusing on the squeeze between your shoulder blades.
• Re-extend your arms, and lower both arms and legs back to the starting position.
• MOD: Begin by isolating your upper body only, leaving your legs on the mat for stability. Perform several upper body isolated lifts. Then perform several lower body isolated lifts. Work on isolated upper and lower body lifts until you feel comfortable putting them together.

Move 3: Curl to Press (8-12)

• Begin standing with your core engaged, chest up, shoulders rolled back, and weights in hand (palms facing each other).
• Keeping your shoulders pulled back, curl the weights to your shoulders and then press straight up over head keeping your palms facing each other. 
• Slowly lower the weight back down to your chest and reverse the curl with control. 

Finisher:

Max Push Ups (modify as needed)

• Perform as many push ups as you can from a challenging position where you can maintain good form. 
• Once you can no longer keep good form or perform any more, move to a more modified position and do as many as you can from that position.