Hybrid Upper-Body Workout

To properly warm up for this routine, you simply need to warm up the muscles around the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints by moving them around with intent or doing some named mobility movements. Then, do some warm-up sets for your primary/earlier exercise. Later exercises generally do not need warm-up sets as you're most likely warmed up enough from prior exercises. For example:

Light Mobility Drill: Shoulder Circles -> Shoulder Corkscrews -> Elbow Circles -> Wrist Circles for a round or two with enough reps for you to feel them working.

Warm-Up Set/s: You can either do an easier variation or modified version of your first exercise, or do your exercise with some reps far from failure.

Just make sure that whatever you do is just enough to work and warm up your muscles, not tire them, so you can perform your best in your working sets.

Place the exercise targeting the muscle group you want to develop most first in the session — when your energy and strength are at their peak.

Within pulling, lead with the vertical pull (pull-ups/chin-ups) if back width and lat development are the priority, or lead with the horizontal pull (Australian pull-ups or rows) if upper back thickness — trapezius and rhomboids — is the focus. For push exercises, lead with an overhead press if shoulder development is the priority, or a bench press if chest is. For optional work, order arms isolation by priority: elbow flexion first if biceps are the goal, extension first if triceps are.

That said, these are guidelines — your needs and preferences always take priority.

The template recommends 2 to 4 sets per primary exercise. Leaning toward the higher end — 3 to 4 sets — tends to be more beneficial if you are relatively new to training. Research shows that less-trained individuals voluntarily activate a smaller percentage of their available motor unit pool — even at maximal effort — leaving more motor units unstimulated per set.

Additional sets provide more high-effort recruitment opportunities before fatigue accumulates and begins limiting motor unit recruitment. As neural efficiency improves with training, each set becomes more effective at reaching higher-threshold motor units, and 2 to 3 sets may be sufficient.

While it is okay to go until failure — especially when you're new to training and haven't yet developed a feel for what near-failure actually is, making it useful to calibrate — it's generally recommended to use it sparingly and instead leave 1–2 repetitions in reserve (RIR).

This matters most when you have more exercises later in the session. Fatigue from going to failure on an earlier exercise carries over and reduces execution quality in the exercises that follow, reducing how effectively you can train them. Leaving 1–2 RIR on earlier exercises means you arrive at each subsequent one with more capacity. If you only have one exercise in the session, this concern does not apply and you can push closer to or until failure more freely.

Once you can consistently reach the upper end of the rep range across all sets with standardized technique and ROM, it's time to progress.

For free weight exercises, add weight in small increments. The right amount scales with your current strength level — the more weight you're already lifting, the larger the increment will naturally feel appropriate.

For bodyweight exercises, the approach depends on whether the exercise allows external loading. Pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips can all be loaded with a dip belt and weight plates — if this is available to you, it's the recommended path. It replicates free weight progression exactly while keeping the bodyweight movement pattern intact: the mechanics of a bodyweight exercise with the measurable overload of free weight training. Add reps first while staying within the range, then attach weight once you consistently hit the top end.

For bodyweight core exercises and other movements where external loading is impractical, progress by moving to a harder variation.

Depending on your recovery rate, you can perform this routine 2-3 times a week with at least one day of rest between sessions.