How I Design 30 Minute Upper Body Workouts

What's up, bros?!

Here's how I design 30 minute upper body workouts for the goal of more muscle and might. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/cVs7DNZwH8Y?si=PuQxPLRzen_kc0al

First up, warm up. I like to do 1-2 sets of an ab exercise and then do 1 set of rear delt flyes or band pull aparts or bodyweight face pulls with gymnastics rings.

I do the rear delt flyes with scapular retraction so that while I'm hitting rear delts, I'm not doing so in isolation. I'm also targeting the rhomboids and lower traps each rep. This is more efficient, covering more muscle groups – including ones that I think are often ignored --> rhomboids and lower traps – while also warming up my upper posterior nicely.

Great! Now that we're warmed up, let's move on into the workout. 

Again, this is my preferred 30 minute upper body workout, so if you don't like a particular exercise variation I say, simply replace it with a similar variation (same movement pattern, different exercise) that tickles your fancy.

Ex 1: incline dumbbell bench press or flat dumbbell bench press or pushups variation-2-3x6-12 (2-3 x as many reps as possible if pushups)

Ex 2: pullups or single arm rows (alternate every other session)-2-3x5-10 reps per set when pullups. 10-15 reps per set when rows

Ex 3: overhead presses or chest supported lateral raises (alternate every other session)-2-3x5-10 reps per set when overhead presses. 10-15 reps per set when lateral raises.

Ex 4: incline dumbbell curls or concentration curls (alternate every other session)-2-3x6-12

Ex 5: single arm cable pushdowns or cable overhead extensions (alternate every other session) or dumbbell skull crushers-2-3x10-15

Done. 

Increase the resistance (ie, add weight) to an exercise when you're able to do 2 sets for the upper end of the rep range.

Remember, the goal of training is not to puke and feel like crap the rest of the week. The goal of these 30 minute sessions is to create a stimulus that will trigger muscle growth while nudging up our strength within moderate rep ranges over time. Repeatability and consistency are the keys to maintaining a long term training habit. I encourage you do this by showing up, doing 8-15 total working sets for each session, pushing yourself hard on those sets, but stopping before death's door step, walk away with an appropriate level of soreness and fatigue, and feel good about yourself so you're semi-excited to show back up and train upper body again within 3-7 days.

That session I shared above should take right around 30 minutes. 

30 minute workouts make it easy to train frequently with high efforts so you'll make great gains without sacrificing lots of time or other areas of your life.

Stop wasting time with excessive volume and exercise variations. Pick 4-5 exercises. Do 2-3 hard sets per exercise. Don't mess about between sets. Finish your training in around 30 minutes but leave enough juice in the tank for tomorrow's workout (which should be a different part of the body) and allow the upper body to recover so you can hit them again in a couple days or even a full week later. Consistency and progressing reps and weight over time are the true keys for making serious body composition gains along with making serious lifestyle gains. 

I hope this is helpful.

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