BTS84 Day 60 | Brian Cage Upper Body Workout

In this episode of BTS84, the F’ing Machine: Brian Cage joins Team Body Spartan for an intense, 3 hour workout. Brian puts the team through a crazy upper body workout including shoulders, arms, and chest. You’ll never guess the new toy that Gabe bought too.

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Brian Cage’s Upper Body Workout

In this upper body workout, we will start with a shoulder workout, then move to arms, and finally we’ll finish up with a nasty triple set for the chest workout. This is a great way to shock the body and completely mix up the workout. While this upper body workout doesn’t focus as much on arms and chest as it does shoulders, it’s still a fantastic way to change things up and do something different than what you normally do. Put yourself to the test, take the challenge, and give this upper body workout a shot!

Military press

Be sure to fully warm up your shoulders before starting this shoulder and upper body workout. Most of the time we will grab very light weight and do 2 sets of side lateral raises and front raises for 20 reps each. We will also warm up our biceps with light weight as well. Usually it’s 20 slow and easy curls and 20 hammer curls. This helps warm up some of the major and secondary muscle groups and joints that are used during a typical shoulder workout.

For the military press, you’ll notice that the team uses the bar both in front and in back of the neck. This is all personal preference. Make sure you use the position that is most comfortable for you and one that you don’t feel pain with. People tend to stay away from behind the neck presses if they have any spinal or neck issues. Finally, make sure that you keep your back as straight as possible, engage your core, and try not to get an extreme arch in your back. Extreme arching will utilize more of your pec muscles, rather than your shoulders. You’ll see the team do this as they start to fatigue and Priscilla actually calls Gabe out on it.

Also, for the drop set, on the first and second drops, go to total failure. Get a spotter if you need to. You should shoot for about 10 reps on the first drop and 15-20 reps on the second drop. You may also want to stack the lighter weight on the inside. You’ll see in the video, Gabe put two 25’s on the inside and the 45lbs plate on the outside of the bar. This made the first drop huge and allowed him to get more reps on the second and third sets.

Shoulder workout military press

Set Super set / Drop Set Reps Rest
1 No 20 2 minutes
2 No 16 2 minutes
3 No 18 2 minutes
4 No 14 2 minutes
5 Yes / drop set 10 / failure / failure (15-20 reps) none
6 No 8-10 2 minutes to next exercise

Medial Delt Super set

This shoulder super set for the upper body workout consists of side raises on a machine and seated machine side raises. If you don’t have the standing side raise machine like we had, feel free to do standard, standing side raises with dumbbells. They’ll still blast your shoulders. We just took the opportunity to use a machine we don’t usually use and mix things up.

 

Lateral side raises for shoulder workouts

 

Lateral side raises for shoulder workout

Seated lateral side raises for shoulder workouts

 

Seated lateral side raises

Set Super Set Reps Rest
1-4 Yes 20/20 None between super set exercises, & 2 minutes in between sets

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Rear delt super set for shoulder workout

For this super set you will be using the reverse pec deck machine and then performing standing face pulls to target the rear delts. Be sure to flare your elbows on the reverse pec deck and set the seat a little lower than usual. If you have your elbows even with your chin to ears, you’ll be hitting the rear delts more than if your arms were lower.

rear delt flies for shoulder workouts

Shoulder workout face pulls

Face pulls for shoulder workout

 

Set Super Set Reps Rest
1-4 Yes 20/20 None between super set exercises, & 2 minutes in between sets

YMCAs

This is a quad set or giant set. You will take a pair of dumbbells and perform the following motions to make one repetition in the set:

  1. Simultaneous front raise
  2. Side raise
  3. Bent over rear delt fly
  4. Clean/ upright row
  5. Shoulder press

Refer to the images below for help on this exercise in the upper body workout:

Shoulder workout front raises

Shoulder workout YMCAs

Shoulder workout rear delt flies

Shoulder press

Shoulder front raise

Set Super Set Reps Rest
1-4 Yes 10 each exercise None between exercises, 2 minutes between sets

Incline Curls

Incline curls for upper body workout

Incline curls for upper body workout 02

On the seated incline curls, be sure to pin your shoulders back and let your arms rest slightly further back than normal. You will need to keep the upper arms and shoulders locked in this position when you curl. This will help ensure you work the long head of the biceps. You can perform these simultaneously or alternating.

Set Super Set Reps Rest
1-4 No 10 per arm 2 minutes

Overhead triceps extensions with dumbbells

As we continue to move into the arm portion of this upper body workout, we will be targeting the triceps with this exercise. Good form is always crucial so pick a weight where you can just barely get the reps and are starting to fail towards the end.

Upper body workout triceps 02

Upper body workout triceps 01

Set Super set / Drop Set Reps Rest
1 No 20 2 minutes
2 No 15 2 minutes
3 No 10 2 minutes
4 No 10 2 minutes

 

Lying cable curls

You can do this by either pulling a bench up to a high cable and pulling downward towards your face, or find a low row bench and pull as shown in the photos below

Lying cable curls for upper body workouts

Lying cable curls for arms workout

Set Super Set Reps Rest
1-4 No 20 2 minutes

Weighted triceps dips

Grab a belt with a chain and strap an appropriate weight to it. You should focus on keeping your elbows close to the body to keep the tension on the triceps, rather than on the chest.

Weighted triceps dips for upper body workout

Set Super Set Reps Rest
1-4 No 20 2 minutes

Chest flies triple set

Moving on to the chest workout portion of this upper body workout, you will perform the following three movements to make one rep in the set:

  1. Standard, standing cable chest fly
  2. “W” cable chest fly
  3. Bent over cable chest fly

Refer to the video for instruction on how to properly perform each portion of this triple set

Chest flies for upper body workout

Chest flies

w-chest-fly-01

w-chest-fly-02

Bent over chest flies position 2

Bent over chest flies for upper body workout

 

Set Super Set Reps Rest
1-4 Yes 10-12 each movement None between exercises, 2 minutes between sets

 

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