Upper A Workout: Full Session Walkthrough

What Upper A is for

Upper A is the horizontal-press day of the split — flat bench as the anchor lift, a heavy row to balance it, then incline pressing, a second row, and shoulders and arms to finish. If you only had one upper session a week, this would be it.

The whole thing runs 40-60 minutes: one lift gets warm-ups, everything gets two working sets to failure with a drop set after the second, and you log every working set as you go.

Flat barbell or dumbbell bench press — 6-8 reps

This is the first lift, so it's the only one that gets warm-ups. Two light sets, building toward your working weight — enough to feel the bar path and wake up your shoulders, not enough to fatigue you.

Working sets: two, both to failure at 6-8 reps. Failure here means the bar slows and stalls, not the rep where your chest starts to burn. Elbows tucked to roughly 45 degrees, not flared to 90 — that's the difference between a shoulder that feels fine tomorrow and one that doesn't. Feet flat, a slight arch, bar path in a straight line down to the lower chest.

After the second working set, strip 20-30% off the bar immediately — no rest, no re-racking to chat — and grind out a drop set. If you're on dumbbells, just pick the next size down and keep going.

Picking your starting weight

If you're new to this session, load a weight you're confident you can hit 8-10 reps with, do that as your last warm-up, then load your actual working weight a notch heavier and go to failure. You'll land in the 6-8 range on the first working set more often than not.

If the first working set gives you more than 8 clean reps before it slows down, the weight was too light — add 5-10% next time. If you can't get to 6, drop it. This isn't a big deal either way; the log is what fixes it, not guessing perfectly on day one.

Chest-supported row or lat pulldown — 6-8 reps

No warm-up needed here — your upper back is already primed from bracing through the bench. Go straight into two working sets to failure.

On a chest-supported row, pin your chest to the pad and pull to your lower ribs, not your chin. Squeeze for a full second at the top of each rep instead of yanking and dropping. On a pulldown, lean back slightly and pull to your collarbone, elbows driving down and back.

Same protocol: two sets to failure, drop 20-30% right after set two, no rest, run it out.

Incline dumbbell press — 8-12 reps

Set the bench to a 30-degree incline — steeper turns it into a shoulder press, flatter turns it back into bench. Two working sets, 8-12 reps, to failure.

Press the dumbbells up and slightly in toward each other at the top without letting them clang together. Control the lowering phase; don't let your shoulders bounce off the stretch. Drop set immediately after set two.

Cable row or one-arm dumbbell row — 8-12 reps

If you did a machine row earlier, go one-arm dumbbell here for variety in the angle. If you did pulldown earlier, a seated cable row balances things out.

Two sets, 8-12 reps, to failure. On the one-arm version, brace your free hand on the bench, pull the dumbbell to your hip, and resist the urge to twist your torso to finish the rep — that's momentum doing the work your back should be doing. Drop set after set two.

Lateral raise — 8-12 reps

Light weight, strict form, no swinging. Raise to shoulder height, lead with your elbows rather than your hands, and pause briefly at the top. Two sets to failure, 8-12 reps, drop set after the second.

This is the exercise where ego costs you the most. A lighter weight done strictly builds shoulders; a heavier weight swung from the hips just fatigues your traps.

Superset: biceps curl and triceps pushdown — 8-12 reps

Finish with arms, paired so you're not standing around. Curl set, straight into pushdown set, that's one round.

Two working sets of each, 8-12 reps, to failure, drop set after the second set of each exercise. Keep your elbows pinned to your sides on both — swinging the curl or leaning into the pushdown just borrows from your shoulders.

Common mistakes on this session

Resting too long between the bench working sets and the drop set is the biggest one — the whole point of the drop set is that your muscles are already fatigued, so a 60-second gap to strip plates defeats it. Have your drop weight ready before you finish set two: know which plates come off, or which dumbbell you're grabbing next, before you rack the bar.

The second mistake is flaring elbows to 90 degrees on bench to move more weight. It'll let you load more plates for a while, but it's the fastest way to a shoulder that aches on push-up days. Keep the tuck even when it means the number on the bar is smaller.

If the bench or a machine is taken

At 5am this is less likely, but if the bench is occupied, do the row first — the order between bench and row isn't sacred, and swapping them still gets you a full session. Just make sure whichever lift you do first is the one that gets your warm-up sets.

If a cable station is tied up for the row, dumbbell rows on a bench work as a straight swap and need no warm-up either, since your back is already primed from pressing.

Logging and pacing the whole session

Six exercises, two working sets and a drop set each, warm-ups only on the bench. That's roughly 12 working sets plus six drop sets — very doable in 40-60 minutes if you rest 2-3 minutes on the compounds (bench, rows) and 60-90 seconds on isolations (raises, arms).

Write down weight and reps for every working set before you move to the next exercise. Next time you see this session, you're not guessing at a starting weight — you're trying to beat a number you already know.

If you're pressed for time, the superset at the end is the easiest place to tighten things up — you're already moving between two stations back to back, so there's little slack left to cut anywhere else in the session.