Use this routine to strengthen and tone your upper body with minimal time in the gym. It features supersets that allow you to exercise opposing muscle groups in a balanced way in as little as 45 minutes.
Who should do this workout? This workout is what I would call an intermediate-level workout, for someone who is comfortable with barbells and dumb bells and has been working out for several months. For those of you beginners, check out this routine. What makes a good workout? I've been looking for "perfect" training routines and unfortunately haven't found many that meet my requirements. It seems like many people just put a random mixture of exercises together that work different muscles, slap a photo of a well-muscled person on it and claim "get ripped in 30 days!". Here's my current definition of an effective workout:
Supersets For the in and out of the gym in less than an hour, I employ the concept of supersets. Basically you take a couple of different exercises and perform them back to back without rest for a few sets. Since you're focusing on different muscles, you're not over-fatiguing any particular group. And you're maximizing your efficiency and minimizing your time in the gym. Opposing muscle groups A few months ago I was doing a squat and unfortunately strained my lower back. As I looked into how that could happen, I learned a few things. One was to improve my form. But another was the importance of strengthening opposing muscle groups. In other words, I didn't strain my lower back because my lower back was weak, I strained it because my abdomen muscles were weak. You need to exercise opposing muscles in a balanced way in order to achieve maximum strength. This routine uses a combination of "push" and "pull" exercises to work the upper body in a balanced way (i.e. chest and lats, biceps and triceps, etc.). Other workout notes There is nothing magic about the specific exercises I chose, other than they should all be readily doable in a normal gym, and they are some of the most effective. Feel free to modify it as necessary and substitute other exercises, preferably that work the same muscle group. In terms of reps and sets, you can do anywhere from 8-12 reps for the ones marked 10. You should use a weight that challenges you - like 60% of your one rep maximum. No drop sets or anything else fancy, but you should look to gradually increase the weight for each exercise over time. I include a printable version of the workout below where you can note the sets, reps and weights you use. If you're pressed for time, you can drop some or all of the sets to 2, but keep up the intensity so you still get a good workout. Rest for about 45 seconds between supersets. Usually, that's about the time it takes to find the spot or machine and get situated. You can do this workout up to twice a week, but allow at least 48 hours between for recovery. I personally do it once a week on Monday, cardio on Tuesday, lower body on Wednesday (I'll post that later), cardio on Thursday, and a core/full body workout on Friday, with cardio again on Saturday. Sunday is a rest day for me. I wouldn't keep doing this routine for more than 8 weeks, however. The body tends to acclimate to specific exercises, so it's always good to change things up every once in a while. You can come back to this routine after doing others for a while, or just include it in your workout mix.
The workout
A 3 minute warmuup, four supersets and a 5 minute cool-down. The exercises are hyperlinked to guides and videos found on Bodybuilding.com and YouTube. Warmup
Superset (3 Sets)
Superset (3 Sets)
Superset (3 Sets)
Superset (3 Sets)
Cooldown
Here's a printable version of the workout you can download: 
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