I am just not keeping up with these at all!

I told myself that I was going to replace one of my workouts with one found around the net, every week. My initial thought was that it would be something fun for me to do and then review on my blog. I keep forgetting though.

This week, I did remember to do one. So here it is!

What and why

I chose an upper body workout from Fitness Blender to replace one of my own. It is called, Upper Body Strength With Bonus Pulses For Stabilizing Muscles. This is the third one I have reviewed from them so far in this “weekly” series.

I haven’t been very imaginative with my upper body workouts- always doing the same old, same old. This Fitness Blender workout caught my attention because of it being quite different than what I am used to.

Weightlifting moves with pulses are not something that I have done a lot of. There has actually only been one move I have done pulses on and that was probably eight years or so ago. The fact that this workout is full of pulses, really excited me!

I will never stop having weightlifting as part of my weekly routine as it is incredibly important for the body and it makes me look great too. Because of this, I need to change things up so that my muscles aren’t getting too used to the workouts and so that I don’t get bored.

Since I have been cycling through the same four or so upper body workouts for a while now, I want to add more of them to the mix. If I really like any of these workouts I try out and review, I will be saving them so that I can go back to them later.

About the workout

This is a complete workout that includes a warm-up and cool down which are each five minutes long. The weightlifting portion is 28 minutes long.

There are 14 different upper body weightlifting exercises. Each one is done twice- first set is done regularly and the second is pulsed. The sets are done for 45 seconds on with a 15 second rest until the next set.

The exercises that were chosen, provide you with an all-around upper body workout. They work the chest, biceps, back, triceps and shoulders. Adding in the pulse work is said to hit even more of the muscles which in turn will have you get a better workout.

The trainer says that the pulses can be done at any pace that works for you and at any part of the exercise move. She also suggests using a light weight for the first sets and then a heavier weight for the pulsing sets.

A difficulty rating and calorie burn estimate range are listed on all of Fitness Blender’s workout videos. This workout was given a 4/5 on the difficulty scale and may burn between 193-376 calories.

My review of the workout

As stated before, I was really excited for this upper body workout. I pretty much already knew that I was going to enjoy it.

After doing the warm-up, I decided to do 12 minutes on the stepper just because cardio is almost always something I do with my weightlifting workouts. After that, I was ready to start.

I knew that I couldn’t use the same amount of weight that I usually use so I lowered them (I forgot the exact amount I used). At first, I was thinking that I lowered them too much but when I got 20 seconds into the bicep curl pulses- I realized that I made the right choice.

Whew!

The pulses really kicked up the weightlifting to another level. I wanted to cry when I go the chair dip ones! The push-up pulses were even worse for me.

When I got to the cool down part, my arms were weak and shaky. I was not mad about that at all because it meant that they were worked hard and it was a quality workout session.

I ended up burning 328 calories as per my fitness watch (remember, I am on the smaller side so you may burn more or less).

Here are my pros and cons of the workout:

Pros-

• A different workout format than what I am used to.
• A pretty intense workout.
• A quality workout.
• I like the trainer. She has a pleasant personality and is not annoying.
• Don’t need a lot of space.

Cons-

Nothing!

Overall, I absolutely loved this workout and it will be for the upper body weightlifting day on my next 4-6 week routine. I give it 5/5 on the likeability and toughness scale.

Who I do and don’t recommend this workout for

There are certain people that I would highly recommend this workout for. They are as follows:

• Someone who has been doing upper body weightlifting already.
• Someone who has multiple dumbbell sets because you will need different weights for the two sets.
• Someone who doesn’t have a lot of space but does have dumbbells.
• Someone who doesn’t have a ton of time available but wants to get in a great workout.
• Someone who wants to train for muscle endurance.
• Someone who wants an easy to follow workout.
• Someone who likes a trainer with a low-key personality.
• Someone who wants a workout that can be printed off and taken to a gym to do.

There are certain people who I don’t recommend this workout for. They are as follows:

• Someone who is not used to doing weightlifting.
• Someone who only has one set of dumbbells of one weight.
• Someone who wants a workout that has cardio already built into it.
• Someone who only likes long workouts.
• Someone who likes to see really large numbers for calories burned on their fitness watch.
• Someone who wants a trainer with a colorful, loud personality.

In conclusion

This upper body workout from Fitness Blender is a great one to try out. It is most likely different than what a lot of people do for their weightlifting workouts and one is sure to feel it in their muscles after they complete it.

What upper body workout are you doing these days?

You can find my last workout review here: This Week’s Workout Review: Jeanette Jenkins Workout

Thanks for reading!

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