Good morning and happy Monday out there! It’s a stressful Monday over here because my poor little pup Jackson may be heading in to neck surgery today. He has an MRI scheduled for later this afternoon and if the vet finds something wrong (which he believes he will), he will be heading straight into surgery from there. So scary and so crazy. But since there is nothing I can do and I won’t be able to see him today, I will be keeping busy! And I’ll be starting my Monday morning off with an upper body workout! Which reminded me of one I did the other day when I had hardly any time to spare. Brian and I were taking shifts at home while we took care of Jackson and I was able to sneak out of the house for a hot minute to get a workout in. I didn’t have time to waste and I wanted to get the most bang for my buck. So I made this workout up as I went, I was done in under 30 minutes, then I was SO SORE by the next day.
A few things about getting a good workout done in under 30 minutes:
- Keep the warm-up short. Since you have limited time and the upper body muscles are near as big as the lower body ones, you won’t need near as much of a warm-up. All I do on these limited-time days is jumping jacks, arm circles, bench dips, push-ups, and a quick plank. This gets me warm enough that I know I won’t pull or strain anything once I go into the workout.
- Push the weights. If you want to get the most bang for your buck (why do I keep saying that?), you gotta push it in the weight department. I want you to feel like you can barely do your last reps. I want it to burn and your muscles to saying NAH BITCH. Of course it needs to be a weight that you can keep your form with, but if it’s not burning, it’s not heavy enough. And if it’s not heavy enough, you’re not going to get the same results you would if it was! Get it, girl. Push those weight, see those results.
- Keep the rest to a minimum. If you want to get in and out of the gym in under 30 minutes, you can’t fuck around. I rest about a minute after every round, just until I can feel my arms again, then I get back into it. Not only will this keep your heart rate elevated to get a little bit more from your workout, but then you’ll be done quicker!
Now let’s get into the workout I did the other day!! My biceps were POPPIN’ after this workout, and that’s usually an area I have trouble getting sore in! Here’s what the workout looked like:
3 rounds of:
20 Total Alternating Single Arm Dumbbell Bicep Curls straight into 5 Bilateral Hammer Curls
10 Cable Tricep Push Downs
3 rounds of:
12 Total Alternating Single Arm Seated Dumbbell Press straight into 5 Bilateral Dumbbell Press
10 Lat Pull Downs straight into 10 Total Alternating Single Arm Lat Pull Downs
3 rounds of:
10 Incline Chest Flyes straight into 5 Incline Crush Press
12 Seated Cable Rows
If you’re looking for weight recommendations, remember that you gotta do the weights that work for your body! Play around with it – you can always increase each round if you didn’t feel challenged enough. But remember that it should BURN and it should feel like your muscles are going to exhaustion, meaning you almost can’t finish the last few reps. Here are the weights I used, just for reference!
- Dumbbell Curls – 17.5lbs
- Tricep Push Downs – 45lbs
- Dumbbell Press – 22.5lbs
- Lat Pull Downs – 60lbs
- Chest Flyes & Press – 15lbs
- Seated Rows – 60lbs
If you’re a person that thinks 30 minutes isn’t enough to get a great workout in, I’m here to show you that is NOT TRUE. And no, I did not do any cardio after this workout. I haven’t been doing much cardio whatsoever lately and my body has felt so much better inside and out. I leave my lifting days just simply lifting then once every couple weeks, I add in a cardio day just for a fun and to confuse my body a bit. If you only have 30 minutes to spare, USE IT! And get the most out of it by pushing the weights. Increasing your weights will increase your metabolism and will help you burn more calories in the long run. Lifting is the best!
Speaking of lifting, I have an upper body class I need to head to to keep my mind off Jackson during his crazy day. Keep him in your thoughts for me!!
Sending you positive vibes for Jackson. My dog had surgery a couple of weeks ago and the waiting is stressful for all.
it’s brutal. i hope your pup is doing great now!
Keep us posted on Jackson💙 Thanks for the workout!
thank you for the love Michelle!