I feel women do not do enough floor presses (or bench presses for that fact).
And this is what you're going to do a lot of in today's 5 Minute Fit Finisher workout.
This workout focuses on floor presses... and I'd prefer you to stick with floor presses too. However, you can do bench presses with dumbbells or kettlebells... but we'll get into this more below.
Are you ready for a rough dumbbell chest and arm workout?
Dumbbell Chest Press Workout Breakdown
This is a simple AMRAP workout... as many rounds as possible.
You will need two weights of about the same weight. Keep them within 5 to 10 pounds of each other if you don't have the exact same weight.
There are a few wrinkles that will make this workout really tough and effective.
Here are the exercises:
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3 double chest press
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4 alternating chest press
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5 Negatives chest press
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8 Rows per side
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6 Lu raises
Again... you're going to go straight through and get as many total rounds as you can.
Chest Press Exercise Series Goal
The workout starts out with three different types of chest presses...
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Double...
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Alternating...
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Negatives...
Choose a weight that will allow you to get through all reps and exercises without putting the dumbbells down.
I choose 35lb dumbbells. (Remember you can choose kettlebells if you prefer.)
Once you read about the exercises... you should be better set to choose the right weight.
Dumbbell Chest Press Workout Exercise Breakdown
Double Floor Chest Press
The hardest part of doing double floor press is getting the weights up for the first time. Read my dumbbell floor press exercise database post to help you accomplish this.
Step 1
Get your weights up. I prefer to start with them over my chest. Lower them down until your elbows barely touch the ground.
Don't go too fast. Don't let your elbows hit the ground hard.
Step 2
As you make the change of momentum back to the top of the chest press... don't bounce or let your hips come flying up off the ground.
Make the transition nice and smooth with as little momentum as possible.
Alternating Dumbbell Chest Press
Step 1
Start on your back of course... but unlike double dumbbell floor press... start with only one dumbbell up in the sky.
The other arm is holding the dumbbell but you're resting on your elbow with the weight pointed up towards the sky.
Step 2
As you press your lower dumbbell up to the sky... at the same time... you'll lower your other dumbbell back down.
Right when the elbow hits the ground... reverse and continue alternating the weights up and down with a good pace.
On the last rep... make sure you finish with both weights up and over your chest.
intensity tip
Alternating floor presses and alternating shoulder presses are some of my favorite exercises. They are so tough but the alternating style is a lot of fun to do.
I highly encourage you to add these into a different workout you'll do later this week.
If you need help with workouts... go learn about FWW LIVE for a personal strength training touch ... or Habit for workouts you can do at your own pace .
Negative Dumbbell Chest Presses
Read my post about negatives for more... but a negative is just a slow rep while you're going down. For floor presses... going down is the eccentric phase of the exercise.
Step 1
Start with the weights high over your chest.
For a relatively fast negative... lower the weights at the same time for a count of 3 to 4 seconds.
If you workout with me in the video... try to stay with my pace.
Step 2
When you get to the bottom... press the weights up fast.
Only the down (eccentric) phase of the exercise is slow.
As you near reps 4 and 5... this will get pretty tough and you're muscles will start to burn out.
This is when you want to squeeze the handles and flex your chest muscles more. It will help to give you that little extra.
big idea
You can increase the time under tension by going slower during your negative. Don't do this during this workout. But try it outside of the workout... going slow is really hard and really fun.
By the time you finish your dumbbell floor press negatives you're upper body should be burning and swole like crazy.
So let's switch gears and do some pulling to counteract all the pushing we just did.
Bent Over Rows
Step 1
We will start with left side rows. Take a wide stance and point your right foot out.
Bend your right leg and lean your forearm on top of your thigh. Take a look at the pictures... this will make a lot of sense.
Step 2
Grab your weight with your other arm. Your spine should be angled about 45 degrees.
Keep your upper body and lower body quiet as you pull the weight up as high as you can.
Make sure you pull from your lats and at the top your rhomboids.
Step 3
Lower the weight with control. Don't let it fall down... this is the eccentric part of the exercise. And now you know now how important the negative part of each exercise is.
.But you don't want to go slow... just don't let if fall down. Keep control.
Really focus on these rows because most of this workout is pushing... so we want to offset some of the push with this pulling exercise.
Lu Raises
This is such a cool exercise named after gymnast, Lu Xiaojun . This is a lateral full range of motion exercise.
Grab light weights... I suggest only 5 pounds.
Step 1
Hold a dumbbell in each hand in front of your body. Your palms are facing toward your body.
Keep your torso standing tall and your shoulders pulled back slightly.
Step 2
Keeping your arms straight... locked out straight...
Start to rotate your arms out laterally and as your hands get to about waist hight... rotate your palms so they are now facing forward.
Make this rotation smooth. You don't have to be jerky.
Step 3
Keeping your arms locked out and reaching out... keep rotating your arms until they are above your head.
Make sure you reach the entire time. The act or reaching... stretches your range of motion and puts your shoulder joint through what you're personally capable of.
You can see in the images I need to work on my shoulder and upper arm mobility.
Step 4
Keep your arms straight as you bring your arms back to the start position.
Remember to rotate your hands inward as they near your waist.
Lu Raises are not only amazing for shoulder mobility... they're great for endurance strength.
Your delts and rotator cuff muscles will get worked hard. After you finish this workout... try three sets of Lu Raises doing 16 to 20 reps total. Keep the weight light.
You'll really feel this exercise with high volume reps.
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