If You Want to Work Out Three Days a Week: Upper-Body Routine 1

The workout below is for 6 Weeks to Stronger, SELF’s new six-week workout plan geared toward building serious strength. Check out the full program right here for the rest of your workouts and more important info!

We hope you enjoyed your lower-body-focused day; now we’re going to flip it to show your upper body some dedicated love. Your second weekly workout will be a routine that focuses on the bigger muscles like your back, chest, and shoulders and provides some targeted exercises to hit your arms separately.

This workout will follow the same pattern as your first. You’ll start with your big main move, which will be the chest press, an upper-body staple that really strengthens your pecs, the muscles that help when you do pretty much anything that requires you to push. Again, your rep range will be relatively low here, and your rest period pretty substantial, so really challenge yourself to choose a weight that feels heavy for you. (For more detailed info about the program, check out our primer here.)

Then you’ll follow it up with a three-exercise circuit that homes in on your upper body a little more, and you’ll alternate among moves that work the front side (overhead press, which hits your shoulders), backside (single-arm row, which targets your lats), and the side (the lateral raise, which hits the medial, or side, head of your shoulders). The reason for this: You’re not working the same muscles back to back, which gives them more time to recover before they’re put to work again. The rep range and rest periods will be shorter here than with your main move, but it’s still nicely targeted to help you build strength and muscle.

Finally, you’ll end with a superset that’s all about your arms. Because you have a specific “upper-body day,” you have a little extra “room” to add some isolation exercises. With this superset, you’ll alternate again between opposing muscle groups—your triceps (with the skull crusher) and biceps (with the cross-body biceps curl) so they don’t get too fatigued.

With that, check out the specific workout below for more deets and get ready to get started!

The Workout

What you need: Dumbbells (or a barbell if you prefer). A weight bench is optional. You may also want an exercise mat for comfort.

Exercises

Straight Set:

• Chest Press

Circuit:

• Overhead Press
• Single-Arm Row
• Lateral Raise

Superset:

• Skull Crusher
• Cross-Body Biceps Curl

Directions

• For Straight Set, complete 5 to 8 reps. Rest for 2 to 3 minutes. Complete 4 sets total.
• For Circuit, complete 8 to 12 reps of the first exercise; rest for 6src to 9src seconds before going on to the second exercise. Rest for 6src to 9src seconds before going to the third exercise. Rest for 6src to 9src seconds after all three are done, and then repeat from the top. Complete this circuit 3 times total.
• For the Superset complete 12 to 15 reps of the first exercise. Rest for 3src to 6src seconds before going on to the second exercise. Rest 3src to 6src seconds, and then repeat from the top. Complete this superset 3 times total.