No Equipment Workout
Photography via Instagram/@victoriabeckham. Design by Kayleen Dicuangco.

9 Upper Body Workouts to Add to Your At-Home Workout Schedule

Here's how to strengthen your shoulders, back, chest and arms with the little space and equipment at your disposal.

Home has long been a place dedicated to resting and kicking back. For most of us, however, shifting to being quarantined in tight quarters has been a lesson in division. We are portioning out parts of our environment for different moods and activities, allotting certain hours of the day to each. This pertains to getting our much-needed exercise, too. With gyms and workout studios across the country temporarily closed, there’s no other option than to get creative at home. If upper body workouts are your focus of the day, think laundry detergent jugs, canned foods or your 15 pound dog in lieu of gym machines and weights. As for the exercises, here are nine no equipment workouts that will guide you through working shoulders, back, chest and arms at home:

No Equipment Workouts for Arms

Beverley Cheng from Toronto uses her own body weight for a complete arms and abs workout—and uses approximately 12 square feet of space while doing so.

15 Minute Full Upper Body

Maddie Lymburner guides this 15 minute, quarantine-focused bodyweight workout. All of your upper body muscles will feel the burn.

24 Minute Full Upper Body

Trainer and health coach Jeanette Jenkins regularly posts workouts to Instagram, which is followed by the likes of Alicia Keys, Zendaya and Yara Shahidi. Here is her complete upper body workout that tones arms, shoulders and back, with core strengthening throughout.

30 Minute Cardio Fusion

This mix of cardio and upper body training with celebrity trainer Kit Rich will make it hard to type on your laptop the next day. But for good reason.

Dumbbells… Or Cans of Beans

Joe Wicks, whose celebrity client list includes Adele, leads an upper body workout with dumbbells. If you don’t own any, this is your chance to get creative, like we mentioned earlier.

For Beginners!

The ever-enthusiastic Whitney Simmons is quite gifted in training (and tricking you into thinking you’re having fun). If working out is foreign to you, this is a great place to start.

ADVANCED Upper Body Workout

L.A.-based personal trainer Massy Arias is followed by Toronto natives Winnie Harlow and Donté Colley. Here, Arias provides an equipment-free workout for anyone who already has excellent upper body strength and balance.

View this post on Instagram

Get ready for this full body strength at home workout [tag, save, and share with friends] let’s get creative and teach you new ways to challenge your bodies. Workout details: perform each movement 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps. Supported handstand shoulder taps: if you’re unable to support your body inverted, get into a high plank and perform the shoulder taps. Inverted toe taps: if you’re unable to support your body inverted, turn this into inch worms to develop strength on your upper body. Pike push ups: to modify this move, perform the pink push ups on any elevated surface to decrease the range of motion of the push up using maybe your couch. Wall alternating plank outs: if you’re unable to do this, turn this into a high plank alternating arms reaching forward one at a time. Wall linear lunge: press the back heel onto the wall or door. Wall sit leg extensions: regress this by holding the wall sit pushing your body onto the wall for 30s My at home program/challenge starting April 15 for all fitness levels is now available for pre order. Use code MAS10 for a discount. [link in bio] __________________________________________________ Listos para este entrenamiento de fuerza de cuerpo completo en casa [guarda la rutina, etiqueta a un amigo, y compártela con tus seres queridos] El entrenamiento: realiza cada movimiento 3-4 series de 8-10 repeticiones. Toques de hombro con soporte de manos: si no puedes sostener tu cuerpo invertido, haz una tabla alta o en tus rodillas, y realiza los toques de hombro. Toques de pies invertidos: si no puedes sostener tu cuerpo invertido, conviértelo en un “inchworm” para desarrollar fuerza en la parte superior del cuerpo. Pechada pike: modifica este movimiento, haz las pechadas en cualquier superficie elevada para disminuir el rango de movimiento de esta usando tal vez tu sofá. Toques de pared en plancha: modifica haciendo una tabla alta alternando y levantando un brazo a la vez en frente tuyo quedando en una plancha con un solo brazo. Zancada lineal en la pared: presiona el talón trasero contra la pared. Extensiones de pierna de pared: modifica haciendo la sentadilla empujando tu cuerpo contra la pared. Dale!

A post shared by WWW.MASSYARIAS.COM (@massy.arias) on

Time Crunch

Only have 5 minutes to spare? Here’s a workout you can do in that time, featuring celebrity trainer Astrid McGuire.

Upper Body Stretches

Stretching is super important both prior to and after working out. Here are some great stretches that focus on the muscles used in upper body workouts.