10-minute Upper Body Strength Workout (Advanced Beginner Level)

This video is part of the 30-Day Couch-to-Fit Challenge designed to help you improve strength, cardio, balance and flexibility. Start the challenge here: aarp.org/CouchToFit

Get strong with only body weight exercises.

Key takeaways

• Boost muscle and confidence at home with Kirstin Schell’s body weight upper-body routine.
• Target shoulders, back and arms while promoting better posture using accessible at-home workouts.
• Progress your strength journey with Kirstin’s 30-Day Couch-to-Fit Challenge — no gym membership required.
  

Summary

Upper-body strength workouts can be highly effective without any equipment, and AARP Online Fitness coach Kirstin Schell specializes in helping adults build muscle and confidence at home. Using simple body weight exercises like high-low planks, V-arm raises and resistance band pull-aparts, Kirstin targets shoulders, back and arms while supporting good posture and daily functional strength. This advanced beginner routine is a great way to gain stability and tone your upper body — no gym required.

Consistency is the key to seeing results, and integrating upper-body strength exercises into your weekly routine can help improve bone health, balance and overall energy. For those looking to progress, Kirstin’s workout is part of the 30-Day Couch-to-Fit Challenge, a friendly program designed to boost your strength, cardio and flexibility  — one step at a time.

The key takeaways and summary were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Full Transcript:

[0:00:00] AARP Online Fitness powered by LIFT session.

[0:00:07] Hi, everyone. My name is Kirstin. We’re going to spend the

[0:00:09] next 10 minutes together working on upper-body strength.

[0:00:13] We’re going to do this without any additional weight.

[0:00:15] We’re going to use our own body weight and gravity to get the job done.

[0:00:18] So we’re gonna start by warming up our upper-body muscles,

[0:00:21] so we’re a little bit more ready for our upper-body movements that are coming.

[0:00:24] Let’s start with some shoulder rolls. Nice big circles.

[0:00:27] Kind of shrug those shoulders up towards your ears and circle them back.

[0:00:32] Fantastic. Then do the same thing,

[0:00:34] just take them around the other way. Just roll it out,

[0:00:38] roll it out. Good stuff, good stuff.

[0:00:41] Let’s reach those arms above the head and just alternate trying to touch the ceiling

[0:00:45] above you, little side stretches, and let’s level that out and pull down.

[0:00:50] I want you to imagine you’re hanging from a bar and you’re trying to pull yourself up.

[0:00:56] Fantastic. When you’re doing this,

[0:00:58] I want you to think about your back muscles contracting, gaining strength,

[0:01:02] your shoulders are getting warmer. These are all muscles we’re gonna be using in

[0:01:06] the workout today. All right, great.

[0:01:10] Let’s drop those arms. I just want you to circle back, pretty much like

[0:01:14] you’re doing a backstroke. Same idea, same idea.

[0:01:17] Nice and relaxed.

[0:01:18] Now, we are gonna be spending a little bit of time today on our bellies,, in plank position, on

[0:01:23] our hands, on our knees, but I’ll show you options along the way so that this workout is

[0:01:29] what you need it to be. OK?

[0:01:31] Let’s just wrap the arms around our body a couple times.

[0:01:35] Nice and loose. Let’s come on down towards the floor.

[0:01:39] We’re gonna set our hands up under our shoulders, and welcome to plank.

[0:01:44] This is called a high-low plank. So I want you to drop down to one forearm and

[0:01:49] then the other one. Up and up. Now let’s change that lead arm. Down, down.

[0:01:55] Now, an option is to put the knees down and do the exact same thing, trying to keep your body

[0:02:02] as calm as you possibly can.

[0:02:06] Ah, OK. Now  you know some options. Good work.

[0:02:10] We get to slowly lower ourselves down onto our bellies, and I want you to bring your hands out.

[0:02:17] Your arms make a V-shape with your thumbs up towards the ceiling.

[0:02:21] And now let’s just squeeze our thumbs up.

[0:02:25] Our chin is just lifted off the floor. Not much more, and right away

[0:02:30] you should feel the upper back muscles working to lift your arms off the ground.

[0:02:35] A great back exercise. Great for our postural muscles that keep us

[0:02:41] standing tall.

[0:02:42] Good stuff. Good stuff.

[0:02:45] Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Amazing. Tuck those hands underneath, bend your

[0:02:50] knees, push yourself up, and we’re gonna stay on all fours.

[0:02:54] OK? Let’s lift the one leg in the air, extend the

[0:02:58] opposite arm, and we’re gonna pull that arm in. Now

[0:03:02] switch, lift, pull the arm in, switch, lift

[0:03:09] and pull. Good work. I want you to try to keep your midsection nice

[0:03:15] and stable.

[0:03:17] And if it’s feeling like a little much, why don’t you just do the upper-body part?

[0:03:21] That’s a great option.

[0:03:23] It’s a great option.

[0:03:26] So as long as you’re moving, as long as you’re feeling your muscles active,

[0:03:31] you are succeeding. Great stuff, great stuff.

[0:03:40] Love it. Let’s make our way back up, standing, and we’re

[0:03:43] gonna see one more exercise. Nice, stable position,

[0:03:47] hands out front. I want you to imagine you’re pulling an elastic

[0:03:50] band back, and then squeeze it back center. Squeeze.

[0:03:57] Fantastic. Pull and squeeze.

[0:04:02] Great work. Now, I want you to try to avoid letting your

[0:04:06] knees drop in. So it’s almost like we’re separating our upper

[0:04:10] body from our lower body.

[0:04:16] Nice, smooth, steady breathing. Just holding our arms up for this long is challenging.

[0:04:23] Good job. Shake it out.

[0:04:24] So now you’ve seen all there is to see. We’re gonna repeat those movements again.

[0:04:29] You can do any movement we saw in the warm-up, whatever relaxes you.

[0:04:33] All right, you can grab a sip of water, shake out, give it a couple shoulder rolls, and let’s

[0:04:40] make our way back down to the floor, because we’re gonna see those high-

[0:04:42] low planks again. Hands underneath the shoulders, spread those fingers wide.

[0:04:49] We lift up or we stay on our knees, and let’s begin again.

[0:05:02] Almost there already. Great job.

[0:05:10] So this proves that you do not need to hold weights to challenge your upper-body muscles.

[0:05:20] Way to go. Stay down, lower yourself, control. Let’s reach our hands out

[0:05:27] again in that V-formation. Chin is just off the floor,

[0:05:32] and we squeeze.

[0:05:34] Now, if you need a little rest, you can put your hands down fully in between each one or

[0:05:39] you can try to keep them up in the air and just squeeze a little higher.

[0:05:47] Let’s try to give a little exhale as we squeeze up, and it might

[0:05:54] sound counterintuitive, but I want you to try to actually keep the shoulders relaxed as you

[0:05:59] go through this action.

[0:06:05] Almost there. Almost there.

[0:06:13] All right, carefully, push ourselves up onto all fours.

[0:06:18] And here is where we’re going to see the opposite reach, and pull in,

[0:06:24] changing sides every time.

[0:06:27] And again, the option here is to just do it as an arm exercise. By adding in the

[0:06:34] leg, we bring the abdominals into play a lot more.

[0:06:39] It is just an option.

[0:06:44] Good work. Good work. Squeeze.

[0:06:48] You got this. You got this.

[0:06:55] And we have one more. Amazing work to you. Let’s make our way back

[0:07:01] up standing. Nice deep breath.

[0:07:04] Do you remember the final movement?

[0:07:06] Nice, steady legs. We reach that arm up and we pull back and

[0:07:11] squeeze together. Open and squeeze. Open and squeeze.

[0:07:20] Imagine you’re squeezing a huge ball, a weighted ball in.

[0:07:24] You’re creating tension in the upper body.

[0:07:31] You feel all your upper-body muscles active here. They’re working hard.

[0:07:36] Fantastic. Fantastic. Let’s finish this last one and shake it out.

[0:07:41] Guess what? You’ve finished two rounds now.

[0:07:43] You are doing great. What do you say, one more round?

[0:07:46] I think so. All right.

[0:07:47] So once again we shake it out. Do whatever feels good for you. Loosen everything up.

[0:07:51] Shake, shake. shake. Let it go. Let all that tension go, and let’s mentally

[0:07:55] prepare for one final round.

[0:07:58] We make our way down to the ground. You know how this goes,

[0:08:01] right? We got our plank. OK.

[0:08:03] Are we ready? And let’s do it. Down, down, up,

[0:08:09] up. Oh, sometimes that third set.

[0:08:12] Oh, it’s tougher than the others. So we might need to take an option that we

[0:08:16] haven’t had to take yet today.

[0:08:18] That is A-OK. Let’s just keep those bum muscles nice and

[0:08:21] tight. Good work. Good work. You could toggle back and forth. Totally up to

[0:08:27] you.

[0:08:34] All right. Stay down, lower those knees down,

[0:08:39] lifting your chin ever so slightly. Nice deep breath. Circle those shoulder blades down and

[0:08:44] back. Our arms are in the V-formation, thumbs to the ceiling, and let’s squeeze.

[0:08:54] So we’re not lifting, we’re not swinging.

[0:08:57] We are controlled, contracting those upper back muscles.

[0:09:07] Nice, calm, steady breathing. Great work. Great work. Almost there.

[0:09:16] Amazing job, team. Let’s tuck it up, and here again.

[0:09:21] Nice deep breath.

[0:09:23] And we lift, and we pull in that upper arm. In you go.

[0:09:29] Fantastic.

[0:09:33] Extend. Imagine you’re pulling a band towards you. Feel that resistance.

[0:09:41] Do you remember the option?

[0:09:43] Here’s the option. Squeeze.

[0:09:46] And out. Reach. Squeeze.

[0:09:51] And what if you’re getting even more tired? It can be just a very simple lift,

[0:09:55] right? Just got to choose what works for you.

[0:09:58] As long as you’re moving, you are doing a great job.

[0:10:09] You got it, team. Let’s make our way up.

[0:10:12] All right, we have one movement left. All right.

[0:10:15] Nice strong base of support.

[0:10:17] Arms are up, and let’s start pulling. Squeezing around.

[0:10:23] Squeeze, squeeze.

[0:10:30] It’s possible that your arms feel like they’ve gotten heavier through this workout.

[0:10:35] That is a super normal feeling.

[0:10:38] They haven’t gotten heavier, but the muscles are tired so they feel heavier.

[0:10:43] OK. That’s a good sign that your muscles have been

[0:10:45] challenged. So let’s call that a good thing.

[0:10:48] Squeeze. Squeeze. Excellent. Excellent.

[0:10:54] Last one. Let’s reach those arms up, let them go, shake them out.

[0:11:00] You did an amazing job. We worked the entire upper body in some unique

[0:11:04] exercises. I hope you are challenged and you feel stronger

[0:11:07] because of it. Have a great rest of your day.