How to Train Your Entire Upper Body in 20 Minutes

In the time it takes to watch a few TikToks, you can blast out an upper body workout and you'll feel a whole lot better about your life choices while you're at it.

Supersets are your saving grace for speedy workouts. For upper body, you can do a pushing exercise, then walk straight over and do a pulling exercise while your pushing muscles recover. You'll be moving the whole time with little rest. Grab a pair of dumbbells or use just your bodyweight, and get to work.

Muscles Worked in an Upper Body Workout

Your upper body includes your chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and forearms. You can work all of them with four basic movement patterns, which are horizontal pushing, horizontal pulling, vertical pushing, and vertical pulling. So, all you really need is a push, pull, press, overhead press, and pull-up or pull-down to get 'er done.

These patterns will also work your arms naturally (triceps and front delts on presses, biceps and rear delts on pulls), but you might get better muscle growth for them if you add curls and extensions. It all depends on how much time you're willing to spend and how much volume you need to grow (more advanced lifters will need more).

Benefits of a Short Upper Body Workout Plan

Supersetting is the way to hit all of your upper body muscles in just 20 minutes, and there are more perks besides saving time.

• Cuts your session time roughly in half with the same strength and muscle gains
• Burns more calories per minute than doing straight sets with long rests
• Makes it easier to train your upper body twice a week, which builds more muscle than only training it once
• Doubles as conditioning since your heart rate stays elevated the entire time

Supersets do feel harder, though, and you have to actually work hard to get results. Research also suggests pulling strength can lag slightly behind compared to training with full rests. If your main goal is a bigger max lift, you'll still want to do traditional workouts with longer rests as well.

How Do You Gain Upper Body Strength in 20 Minutes?

Here's how to structure a 20 minute upper body workout so all muscles are included.

Match Push With Pull

Combine a press and pull in a superset so your chest and triceps will be resting while you work your back and biceps, and vice versa. This lets you skip the long rest time in between sets since you'll only need about 20 to 30 seconds before your heart rate is lowered enough to get out your next set.

Pick Compounds That Share the Work

This tip has to do with exercise selection, but it's super smart. Choosing a close grip press will hit your chest, front delts, and triceps pretty equally, while a wide grip version mostly hits your chest. Likewise, an underhand pull-up (aka chin-up) works your biceps much more than a wide overhand grip. This helps you spread the muscular load more evenly so you can get away with fewer exercises.

Take Every Set Close to Failure

When you're working out this way, getting close to failure is key for results. If you're only training upper body a couple of times per week, you won't build up much fatigue, so you can work to one or two reps in reserve and recover just fine, so long as you wait a couple of days before hitting upper body again.

Add Reps Before You Add Weight

Progressive overload is still crucial for results, so try and add one rep per set each week for a month or two, then increase the weight a bit and begin again with adding a rep until you hit the top of your range. This is easier to manage than trying to go heavier every session.

The 20-Minute Upper Body Workout

For this workout, you'll do three supersets of three sets each and a finisher exercise. Go from the first exercise to the next, rest 20 to 30 seconds, then repeat. You should be able to do 10 to 50 reps on your first set with the weight you choose (you'll likely only hit 10 to 12 on later sets, that's fine).

Superset 1

• Dumbbell floor or incline press: 3 x 10-15
• One-arm dumbbell row: 3 x 10-12 per side

Superset 2

• Seated dumbbell shoulder press: 3 x 10-15
• Lat pulldown or pull-up: 3 x 8-12

Superset 3

• Dumbbell curl: 3 x 12-15
• Overhead dumbbell triceps extension: 3 x 12-15

Finisher

• Lateral raise: 50 total reps, resting 5 to 10 seconds whenever you stall

If you don't have any dumbbells, you can do push-ups instead of the press, inverted rows under a table or bar for the row, pike push-ups for the shoulder press, and chin-ups for the pulldown. Bodyweight works great so long as you're going close to failure on each set.

For other exercise options, check out our guides to dumbbell chest exercises, dumbbell shoulder workouts, and dumbbell triceps exercises.

Beginner Upper Body Workout

If you're a beginner, you can do the same three supersets with fewer sets and easier variations if you need to. You can try push-ups against an incline, or do rows and overhead presses with lighter dumbbells or a band. Two sets should be fine for the first month if you're a complete newbie, and don't worry about the finisher until you feel ready to take on more volume.

Read more: Full body dumbbell workout for beginners

At Home Upper Body Workout Equipment

To make this work for an at home workout upper body setup you can get away with just a pair of adjustable dumbbells. Having an adjustable bench for incline pressing and supported rows, and a doorway or wall-mounted bar for pull-ups will go a long way for adding variety as well.

Takeaway

Twenty minutes is plenty of time to train your entire upper body if you superset pushing and pulling moves and keep your rests short. It's best to work each muscle group at least twice a week. If you want to maximize muscle gain or get a lot stronger at a particular lift, try to keep a longer regular straight set workout in the mix.

FAQs

What equipment is recommended for upper body training at home?

The only equipment for upper body training at home that you really need are a pair of adjustable dumbbells and an adjustable bench. You'll be able to do presses, rows, overhead and arm exercises. A pull-up bar can also be handy for underhand and overhand pull-ups, and you can also use it for leg or knee raises and other moves, too. Resistance bands and your bodyweight can also work for a lot of moves, so long as you take sets close to failure.

How can I create an effective upper body workout plan?

Effective upper body workout plans should include a horizontal press, horizontal pull, overhead press, and a vertical pull. From there, you can add curls and triceps exercises if you have the time. Supersetting opposing muscle groups (like back and chest) with short rests will help you save time. Do this two to three times per week, adding reps or weight over time to see results.

Are there any specific routines for upper body endurance?

Building upper body endurance just takes doing the same exercises with higher reps and shorter rests. Try doing 15 to 25 reps per set with rests less than 30 seconds. Add a finisher like 50 total lateral raises or push-ups to failure for even more challenge. You could also try circuit style workouts with four or five moves and no break in between.

Routines for upper body endurance use the same exercises with higher reps and shorter rests. Run 15 to 25 reps per set, keep rests under 30 seconds, and add a finisher like 50 total lateral raises or push-ups to failure. Circuits that cycle through four or five moves with no break also build endurance well.