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Beginner

Upper Body Toning Tool #02

By Sander KersSeptember 24, 2025 2 minNederlands 🇳🇱

BUT SERIOUSLY...

This plan is the serious successor to 1.0. Once again, strength exercises form the basis of a strong variety of circuits. From week 4 we increase the intensity so that you continue to develop seriously. Only increase your weight when your technique allows you to and divide your rest days over the week for serious results. It’s toning time!

Workout highlights

Upper Body Toning Tool is one of our favorite schedules for 'dry training', focusing on the muscles of the upper body. Emphasis always means a 60-40 to 65-45 ratio between exercises for your upper body and lower body. Good luck!

Featured exercises

A great combination of compound exercises and isolation exercises. With this schedule, you do everything possible to maintain as much muscle mass as possible and lose fat mass. This is of course dependent on your nutrition plan, but it will certainly not be due to the exercises in the schedule!

Push up

De grote klassieker! Niet voor niets vind je de push up nog steeds in mening trainingsschema terug. Je hebt enkel je eigen lichaamsgewicht nodig om je borst, schouders en triceps flink aan het werk te zetten.

  • 1Lower your chest between your hands (not your head between your hands).
  • 2Your hip and shoulders always move up and down simultaneously.
  • 3Your elbows point outward approximately 45 degrees (0 degrees is along your body and 90 degrees is parallel to your shoulders).

TRX row

Een hele sterke oefening voor je bovenrugspieren. Je kunt de weerstand eenvoudig aanpassen door verder naar voren of juist naar achteren te staan.

  • 1Start with your chest between your hands.
  • 2Push your buttocks up and create a straight line from ankle to shoulder.
  • 3Perform the exercise in a controlled manner. Extend your arms fully each repetition.

Basic principles of your workout plan: weight loss

Your body won't change until you seriously challenge it. This workout schedule certainly does that, but only if you commit to it. All you need to do is commit to the following three things:

  1. Try to perform the exercises to the best of your ability. Technique is more important than weight.

  2. Unless another weight is indicated, choose a weight that allows you to finish the number of repetitions prescribed. Moreover, make sure you can do every final repetition safely on your own. Does it say 10 reps and you find that you can only do 8, or go as high as 12? Then do 8 or 12 reps and adjust the weight for the next set. This sounds trickier than it is. You’ll have found the right weight after a few tries and after that, the app will remember it for you.

  3. When you are losing weight, it will be difficult to add more weight to the bar. In that case, set a goal to lift at least the same weight as the previous work out every week. That way, you are sure to maintain as much muscle mass as possible. If you've only 'weakened' a few kilos by the end of your workout plan, rest assured you've done great! Stay realistic, understand your goal.

Just to eliminate any doubt; when doing exercises with your own body weight, just do the number of reps indicated. Do you see 'max reps'? Then that literally means as many reps as you can do.

How serious are you really?

Let’s be serious. No one loses fat and maintains muscle mass without a strong nutrition plan. If you want to get more toned, you will have to eat a little less than your body requires. Although there is no best ‘diet’ for everyone, the basics are usually the same:

  • Create a small calorie deficit (250-500 kcal less than maintenance per day).

  • Try to consume about 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. This will make you feel satiated and will make your muscles happy.

  • Focus on natural nutrients rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre.

  • We know this is a toughie but, avoid high-calorie, ultra-processed foods whenever you can. These include candy, cookies, savoury snacks, chips, pizza, chocolate, pastries, sweet dairy drinks, sodas, and sweet breakfast cereals.

  • Drink plenty of water, black and green tea and reduce your coffee intake.

  • Make sure that you are able to stick to your diet!

For specific questions, or to create a personal nutrition plan, we always recommend that you contact a qualified (sports) dietitian. Never change your entire nutrition plan by yourself. Seriously. 

START TRAINING SERIOUSLY

Discover new training methods based on scientific knowledge, improve your form and technique and seriously track your fitness goals.

Scan the code on your phone to download the app in the Apple appstore.

Or use seriousfitnesslab.com/download

Serious Fitness Lab - Upper body toning tool - droog trainen voor beginners