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Upper Body Workouts

30-Minute Upper Body Push Workout (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps + Cardio)

By: Lindsey Bomgren, CPT | March 7, 2023

Chest, shoulders, triceps AND cardio; you get it all in this 30-Minute Upper Body PUSH WORKOUT for women. The perfect mix of strength and cardio at home — six push day arm exercises paired with cardio Tabata intervals to build muscle and burn calories.

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A workout “split” divides training sessions by muscle groups or body parts (typically push-pull-legs). For example, Monday might be a leg day while Tuesday is an arm day. This is my favorite way to strength train because it maximizes muscle growth while allowing proper rest and recovery time.

This push day workout focuses on your upper body push muscles — the chest, shoulders and triceps.

Push Day Exercises, women performing a lateral raise with dumbbells

Push Workout FAQs

What Are Push-Pull Workouts?

Push-pull training structures workouts based on your muscles’ movement patterns. The key difference between push workouts and pull day workouts is the order in which the muscle contracts (shortens) and extends (lengthens). During push exercises, the muscle starts short and ends the movement long. During upper body pull exercises, the muscle starts the movement long and ends shortened.

What Is A Push Workout?

A push workout isolates the major muscle groups that work in a pushing motion (when weight is being pushed away from your body). Think of how your pecs or chest muscles flex as you push the weights overhead in a dumbbell chest press. Find a pregnancy-friendly push workout here.

What Are The Benefits Of Push Day Workouts?

Push day workouts have several benefits. You’ll efficiently gain muscle since they are focused on specific large muscles in your upper body. Push workouts are all about weight lifting to build muscle (muscle hypertrophy). You’ll achieve that in this workout by working the muscles to fatigue. These workouts also include compound exercises, meaning you often work all three upper body push muscles together. For example, while the dumbbell chest press primarily works the chest muscles, the shoulders and triceps are also involved.

Woman performing a dumbbell chest press as part of a 30-minute upper body push workout at home

30-Minute Upper Body PUSH Workout

Test your upper body strength and endurance with this at-home push workout targeting your chest, shoulders and triceps.

You don’t need a barbell or fancy gym equipment — try these six upper body push exercises with dumbbells to build strength, paired with cardio Tabata intervals to raise your heart rate and burn calories.

Add an upper body workout like this one to your home training program 1-2 times a week to build muscle and increase endurance.

Workout Equipment:

Medium-to-heavy set of dumbbells (8-30 lbs). 

I toggled between 12 lb dumbbells and 20 lb dumbbells during this push workout.

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I’m using 12-20 lb dumbbells in this upper body workout.
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woman performing a dumbbell chest press in a push workout at home

Workout Instructions:

Follow along with the guided Push Workout on YouTube, led by certified personal trainer Lindsey Bomgren. 

Your Workout Looks Like This:

  • 3 Circuits (each circuit is dedicated to one muscle group — chest, shoulders and triceps)
  • 2 Dumbbell Strength Exercises Per Muscle Group (40 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest, repeat x 3 sets)
  • 2 Cardio Tabata Exercises in Each Circuit (20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, repeat x 2 sets)
Push Day Workout: 6 Moves for Strong Arms at Home!

Workout Outline

CIRCUIT ONE: CHEST
1. Alternating Dumbbell Chest Press
2. Narrow Chest Press and Chest Fly
Cardio Tabata
1. Lateral Heisman Runner
2. 4 Mountain Climbers and 1 Push Up

CIRCUIT TWO: SHOULDERS
1. Neutral Press and 90-Degree Shoulder Press
2. Reverse Grip Lateral Raises
Cardio Tabata
1. Plank Walk Out and Hop Up and Shuffle Back
2. 1 Punch and 1 Jack

CIRCUIT THREE: TRICEPS
1. Skull Crushers
2. Tricep Dips
Cardio Tabata
1. Sprinter Sit Ups
2. Army Crawl Burpee

woman performing a single arm chest press in a push workout

Prefer to Watch On YouTube?

youtube icon Push Workout

6 Essential Push Day Exercises

Alternating Dumbbell Chest Press or Bench Press

Targets: The chest or pectoralis major, deltoids (shoulders) and triceps.

woman performing a dumbbell chest press

How To Do An Alternating Dumbbell Chest Press

  1. Lay flat on your back (on the ground, on a bench, incline bench, or on a stability ball) with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold one dumbbell in each hand, elbows bent at a 90-degree angle with an overhand grip on the dumbbells.
  2. Activate your core by pressing your lower back into the ground.
  3. Exhale as you push the dumbbell in the right hand overhead, directly above your shoulders. Make sure your wrists are strong and in line with shoulders. Note, if you’re lying on the ground, the back of your arms should always hover off the mat to keep constant tension on the chest muscles. 
  4. Lower back to the starting position and repeat on the left hand, alternating the chest press.

Narrow Chest Press And Chest Fly

Targets: The chest, shoulders and triceps.

The combination of a narrow grip chest press and wide fly hits the chest from two different angles while the narrow grip chest press also engages the shoulders and triceps.

woman performing push day exercises, dumbbell chest press and chest fly

How To Do A Narrow Chest Press And Chest Fly

  1. Lay flat on your back (on the ground, on a bench, or on a stability ball) with one dumbbell in each hand, elbows glued to your sides, dumbbells at mid-chest point, and palms facing in toward one another. Press your feet firmly into the floor.
  2. Activate your core by pressing your lower back into the ground.
  3. Exhale as you push both dumbbells up in a straight line until arms are straight overhead, wrists over shoulders. This is a narrow chest press.
  4. From the top of your chest press, inhale as you slowly open your arms, lowering the dumbbells in a wide arc until they reach shoulder level (or the ground). Your elbows should remain soft and not over-extended.
  5. Exhale as you pull the dumbbells back to starting position. Keep your chest puffed out and your elbows slightly bent. This is a chest fly.

Neutral Press And 90-Degree Shoulder Press

Targets: Shoulders; mostly the anterior head of the deltoids, but the overhead press also hits the lateral head of the deltoid. Also engages the abs and core muscles as you press overhead.

woman performing an overhead shoulder press with dumbbells in an upper body push workout

How To Do A Neutral Press And 90-Degree Dumbbell Shoulder Press

  1. Start standing with feet shoulder-width apart, slight bend in your knees. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, elbows in line with your shoulders, palms facing in towards each other (neutral grip).
  2. Press the dumbbells straight overhead, keeping elbows narrow. This is a neutral press.
  3. Lower the dumbbells, bringing them in line with your shoulders. Then “goal post” your arms to 90 degrees, elbows going wide. Keep your elbows in line with your shoulders, rather than letting them drop down.
  4. Push the dumbbells overhead, then lower the dumbbells back down with control, elbows at 90 degrees. Rotate the palms to face each other to return to the start of a neutral press.

Reverse Grip Lateral Raises

Targets: All three heads of the shoulder muscles — primarily the lateral head of the deltoid, but also engages the anterior and posterior heads (or rear delts).

The abs and core work to stabilize the body during this shoulder exercise.

woman performing alternating shoulder raises or lateral raises with dumbbells

How To Do Reverse Grip Dumbbell Lateral Raises

  1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, slight bend in your knees, holding a dumbbell in each hand at hip level, palms facing out.
  2. With a slight bend in each arm at the elbow, squeeze to lift the dumbbells, in an arc shape. Lift just to shoulder height. Option to lift both dumbbells at the same time or alternate reps on the right hand and left hand.
  3. With control, return to the starting position, palms facing outward.

Skull Crushers

Targets: Both the long head and lateral heads of the tricep mucles from the elbow up to the latissimus dorsi of the back muscle.

woman performing skull crushers tricep exercise with dumbbells

How To Do Skull Crushers

  1. Lay flat on your back (on the ground, on a bench, or on a stability ball).
  2. With one dumbbell in each hand, fully extend your arms so the dumbbells are directly overhead.
  3. Bending at the elbows, slowly lower the dumbbells towards your head (just bending at the elbows).
  4. Then push the dumbbells back overhead to return to the starting position.

Tricep Dips

Targets: All three heads of the tricep muscle, shoulders and core.

One of the best exercises to increase arm strength and build lean tricep muscles.

woman performing tricep dips or best tricep exercise

How To Do Tricep Dips

  1. Grip the edge of a chair or bench, fingertips pointed towards your butt or toes, elbows bent. Note, you can also perform tricep dips sitting on the ground with your knees bent at 90-degrees and your hands behind you (fingertips facing your butt).
  2. Keeping your back close to the chair, lower yourself, bending at the elbows until your elbows reach a 90-degree angle.
  3. Press through your palms, using your triceps to push you back up to starting position.

More Workouts

Upper Body Workouts

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12 comments

  1. Looking forward to this push workout tomorrow for the March challenge! P. S you really should come out with your own line of merch! I’d definitely buy workout tops that say some of your frequent mottos lol. Or even just decals/stickers for a water bottle that says NML on it etc. Just a thought! Love all your stuff you put out into the world, don’t ever stop! You are a blessing to so many!

    • Katie – you are so awesome! So glad you are excited and loving the new March challenge! Love the merch idea (something to potential to consider)! Keep coming back to sweat with us!

  2. Lindsey this workout was fantastic!! I definitely need to incorporate more chest! Thank you so much!

    • Leah! I’m so glad you’re loving the workouts! This is a great one for building that chest strength (so important and often under-trained in women)! Keep up the great work! -Lindsey

  3. Hi Lindsey!

    Thank you so much for your great workouts! I love the variety and how challenging you make them. Do you know where you got the top you are wearing in this video?

    Thanks again!
    Sara

  4. I do your workouts every week! Love them. This one killed me. So weak in my arms. Love the encouragement and direction you give! Thanks for helping me get strong!!

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