Something's Burning - 5 Minute Fit Finisher

Ready for an arm workout that'll take your shoulders to their limit?

This weeks 5 Minute Fit Finisher is a tough arm workout... focused on your shoulders.

I'll say this one is probably going to take a little longer than 5 minutes... just so you know. As you'll see... it took me longer than 5 minutes.

Something's Burning 5 Minute Fit Finisher Workout

Here's how the workout breaks down:

3 Rounds Back To Back

8 Dumbbell lateral raises
6 Donkey kicks

4 Rounds Back To Back

8 Heavier rows (alternate sides)
4 Kettlebell snatches (alternate sides)

5 Rounds Back To Back

4 Presses (alternate sides)
4 Dumbbell plank openers (alternate sides)

Have your timer set for 5 minutes... but get through this entire workout. It'll probably take you longer than 5 minutes... so first, track how far you got in 5 minutes.

This way... if you repeat this workout later... you can see if you improved.

Then keep going and finish the workout tracking the total time it took you. Try to repeat this workout in a couple weeks or maybe a month. It's always fun to see if you improve and by how much.

Let's breakdown all these exercises and I'll make sure you have modifications when you need them.

Something's Burning Exercise Breakdown

Dumbbell Lateral Raises

Kindal is at the bottom of lateral raises and her arms are already squeezing the weights ready to bring them up.

Kindal at the top of the lateral raises with dumbbells and notice how her thumbs are slightly higher than her pinkies putting her shoulders into a good position.

Grab two light dumbbells. Don't go heavy with this exercise... form is more important than going heavy.

Step 1

Stand up straight and hold each of the dumbbells at your sides.

Make sure you pull your shoulders back slightly so you have really good posture.

Step 2

With a slight bend in your arms... raise your arms out and up to the side to just below your shoulder level.

Make sure your thumb on each hand is a little higher than your pinky... to think about this differently... your hands are rotated back slightly.

This rotates your shoulders back and opens your chest. This position ensures you're hitting your delts with property shoulder position.

Make sure you're not shrugging your shoulers up as your arms come out... focus on only on lifting your arms laterally.

Step 3

Once you stop short of your shoulder level...

Slowly (with control) bring your arms back down to your side. Don't just let them fall down.

Tips For Lateral Raises

Lightly squeeze the handles of your dumbbells. This will turn your muscles on so they are ready to work.
At the top of the raises... hold for a second and squeeze just a little harder. This is a good isometric contraction.
On the way down... go slowly... maybe 6 seconds or so. This is called a negative rep and it's great for building strength and muscle mass.

Donkey Kicks

Kindal extending her legs during the donkey kick as she gets ready to lower them and explode up into the donkey kick where her shoulders will take over the work.

Kindal at the top of the donkey kick. This is a mid-height kick. You can go much lower and you can even go higher if you have the strength and stability.

This is a dangerous exercise. But it's also a lot of fun.

There is jumping in this exercise... and if you know my coaching... I don't like jumping for over 90% of women. It's too dangerous and not worth the risk.

I'll show you the modification in just a second. Keep reading.

Step 1

Get on all fours with your hands directly below your shoulders.

Lift your knees off the ground about 5 inches. So you're essentially in bear position.

Lean back towards your feet just a little and pump your knees up and down just to get a feel for this.

Step 2

The idea is you're going to do a small jump into the air as you press your arms into the ground hard.

You want your upper body to hold your bodyweight for a breif moment... a slight pause.

Step 3

You'll come back down and land back in the bear position. Accept the landing so it's soft and you're not slamming into the ground.

As you get stronger and more comfortable... you'll be able to go higher into the air and hold for a little longer. But again this is an advanced exercise.

Bottom line... this exercise is a great shoulder strengthener... both with isometric and stabilizer strength.

Donkey Kick Modifications

Kindal at the top of pike pushups which are a great shoulder exercise and one of the best modifications for donkey kicks.

Kindal at the bottom of the pike pushup with her head trying to slightly tap the ground and her legs are straight so her weight is as much over her upper body.

Rather than doing any jumping... do pike pushups instead.

This hits the same muscle group and it's far safer.

Check out the pictures and to learn the details of how to do pike pushups from our exercise database.

Bent Over Rows

Kindal at the top of the bent over row and over a solid base of her legs with good spine position.

This is one of my favorite exercises for Fit Women's Weekly LIVE because it's the only pull exercise every woman with a dumbbell or kettlebell can do.

Let's take a look at it.

Step 1

Take a wide stance with your legs.

Bend one leg to just about 90 degrees. Take the arm on the same side and lean into the thigh of that leg.

Your upperbody is straight and your spine is angled at 45 degrees. Take a look at the pictures... it will help make the setup a lot easier.

Grab your dumbbell or kettlebell with the other hand.

Step 2

Push into your thigh with your arm as you pull on the weight and get it as high as you can.

Try not to rotate your torso too much. It's okay to rotate it a little.

Step 3

Lower the weight with control. It can be tough to remember this when you're really tired.

Just repeat the reps with a smooth pace.

Kettlebell Snatches

Kindal in the loaded position of the kettlebell snatch ready to explode out of it and get the kettlebell over her head in one smooth motion.

Kindal in the middle of punching through the kettlebell as she gets it up over her head.

Kindal at the top of the kettlebell snatch fully extended and balanced over her feet ready to go back down into the loaded position.

If you've been a reader of Fit Women's Weekly ... you know I love kettlebells... and we love to do kettlebell snatches.

They are perfect for this workout because you'll still work your shoulders... but it's fast so you won't over fatigue them.

Go read my post about how to do kettlebell snatches .

Step 1

Get into your loaded kettlebell position.

Step 2

Fire from your hips hard and as the kettlebell come through your legs... tug up on it hard.

This will redirect the kettlbell straight up.

Step 3

Keep your elbow close to your body and as the kettlebell moves in front of your chest... punch around the kettlebell.

Step 4

As you punch around the kettelbell... you can extend your arm straight up to the sky and you'll end up in the final kettlebell snatch position.

Make sure during this whole process you keep really good balance across your whole foot.

Single Overhead Presses

Kindal with the kettlebell racked before she engages her arm and presses it overhead.

Kindal pressing the kettlebell over her head to full extension and she remains balanced the entire time.

I hope you're ready for more pure shoulder strength... by now you're probably thinking... something's burning 🤣

Step 1

Stand straight up with your dumbbell or kettlebell in rack position.

Step 2

Try your best for this workout to not push press the weight over your head. A push press is when you bend your knees slightly and use your legs to heave the weight up.

Try your best to strict press... use only your arms and shoulders.

Step 3

When you're in rack your thumb is pointing behind you.

As you press up and over your head... you rotate your arm and at the top of the press your palm is facing forward... your thumb is pointing across your body.

Step 4

Bring the weight back down to rack with control. Try not to let if fall down... this is tough when you're tired. Keep that in mind.

One last tip...

As you press the weight over your head... you can rotate your torso ever so slightly. This will help provide a little more strength to this exercise.

Plank Openers

Kindal in the top of the pushup plank before she rotates and goes into the side plank.

Kindal is rotating through her shoulder and getting into a very solid stacked side plank.

This exercise becomes crazy hard:

Arm exercise
Core exercise
Balance exercise

For this workout we are NOT going to use a weight. But you can use a light weight to make it a lot more challenging if you want.

Step 1

Start in a top of pushup plank.

Step 2

Pick which ever side you want to go to first.

You are going to end up in a side plank. So lift your arm up off the ground as you rotate over on your feet.

Step 3

Try your hardest to stack your feet. This makes it considerably harder.

If this is too difficult... start with your feet wide. As you rotate over... stager your feet to give yourself better balance.

Reach your free arm all the way up to the sky as you push hard into the ground with your other arm. Keep your body straight.

Step 4

When you return to the top of pushup plank... make sure you land softly.

Before you know it... your shoulders are going to be burning like crazy. This is the cherry on the top of the workout cake.

Go Do Somethings Burning And Share Your Time

Remember, this is a hard workout. This workout will take you over 5 minutes... so don't let that discourage you. It took me over 5 minutes!

Enjoy this workout!

It's a great arm focused Fit Finisher. Most workouts women do don't focus on arms... so this is a good workout to keep in your back pocket.

Have you always wondered if a fitness coach and trainer could help you achieve the fitness results you want?

A trainer will make a huge difference in the results you can achieve by:

Keeping you accountable...
Designing a program that progresses and has purpose...
Helps course correct when you need it...
Plus get you involved in a fit family so you're not alone...

I'm talking about Fit Women's Weekly LIVE... my private online personal training group .

Every day I custom design and lead structured workouts for my members. What's really cool is the fact that... even during LIVE workouts... my members can talk to me.

I can talk right back. It's almost exactly like me giving you a private training session in your house.

It's actually better because you're hanging out with a bunch of other women doing the same workout together. And you can talk to all of them too.

It's a blast and I want you to come try Fit Women's Weekly LIVE for free .

Now go do this Something's Burning and share you're time. Tag me on social and speaking of social... go follow me on social. I'm sharing a lot everyday and I want you to be part of the FWW family... if we're right for you.