Last week we had ourselves a killer lower body workout so I thought this week it would be good to change things up and have ourselves a short, sharp 20 minute upper body workout are you ready?

Here’s what we are going to do –

5 basic exercises – Bench Press – Lateral Raise – Bent Over Row – Bicep Curls and Triceps Dips – 10 reps each and we will repeat for a total of 3 rounds, sound good?

Nothing complicated, basic movements done with good form for a hard and fast upper body workout.

We will move from one exercise to the next with minimal/no rest in between then once we have completed 10 reps of each exercises we will take 1 full delicious minute of rest/recovery before repeating for a total of 3 rounds.

Grab yourself a weapon of choice – a set of dumbbells, a barbell, kettlebells, some resistance bands or any combination you like. Make sure you choose something appropriate for your strength but, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.

I want you to really push yourself, the final rep of each exercise should be a challenge!!

Although, we want quality not quantity, always! Never compromise your form, ever! If your form starts to fail your done, got it?

Take your time, concentrate, focus and breathe through each and every exercise. You are strong, you are amazing, you have big energy! You’ve totally got this!

And because nothing makes a workout challenge more fun than getting a buddy to join you. Why not grab your BFF or a family member or your fave workmate and have them join you, power in numbers baby!

Don’t forget to come back and let me know how you did once you’re done. Either leave me a message in the comments below, or you can give me a shout on the Facebook page or tag me (@EmSwanston) on Twitter , or Instagram (@emsswanston) . I mean it, I wanna hear how you did!

Ok enough chit chat time to work –

20 minute Upper Body Workout

As always make sure you are nice an warm before you start your workout – Run on the spot, do jumping jacks, jump rope, dance around your living room, anything to get you warm then it’s time to get serious.

Finish with a nice little cool down and stretch, maybe take a walk or something anything to help bring your heart rate down. Finish with a few of your fave stretches. Please don’t skip the stretch people, its like dessert for the body.

Now for our post workout refuel –  Smoothies are a great option for your post workout refuel, they are so quick and easy to prepare and a great option for those of us who don’t have much of an appetite post workout.

It’s so important to nourish and re-energize your body post workout, you want to make sure  you give those muscles some fuel so that they can rebuild and repair themselves after working so hard.

I thought I would share a bonus smoothie recipe for us to enjoy – how does a nice tall, ice cold, delicious, nutritious, banana-berry smoothie sound?

This bad boy is packed with protein, low GI carbs which will help refuel and re-energize that beautiful body of yours plus, it’s downright delicious.

Banana-Berry Smoothie
Makes 1 large or 2 small delicious, nutritious, pretty pink super smoothies

Ingredients –

1 cup of mixed berries (fresh or frozen will work, I use frozen)

1/2 Frozen banana

1/4 cup Greek or coconut yogurt

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk of choice (or milk of choice)

1 Tablespoon of rolled oats or cashews if paleo

1 cup of ice

Method –

Place all ingredients into your blender and process until smooth.

Enjoy xo

Don’t forget to give me a shout out when you’re done – hit me up in the comments below via the Facebook page on Twitter or on Instagram

Now go have yourself a killer day xoxo