Exercises for the Upper Body
Saturday, December 29th, 2007Have you ever slipped on a sexy strapless dress or muscle shirt, looked at yourself in the mirror, and realized that there’s still something missing?
Like muscles. That is, a noticeable show of sinewy muscles in your back, chest, shoulders and arms. Ones that are buff, beautifully toned, and make you look healthy. If you don’t see that reflection in the mirror, then that’s reason enough to start a full body strength training workout, one that is grouped into alternating days of: back & biceps; chest & triceps; quads; and finally, shoulders, calves & abs.
Whatever your goal, be it toning or power lifting or just keeping the flab at bay, it’s time to train your body to fire (contract) a higher percentage of muscle fibers at the same time, which in turn builds strength. Men who want to add size to their upper bodies need to encourage muscle hypertrophy which they can do through a low volume program of high intensity lifting -i.e., doing few repetitions (3-6 per set) while working with heavy weights. Guys who want to firm up but not necessarily bulk up, should concentrate on doing moderate sets consisting of more reps, doing 2-3 sets of each exercise. Ladies who want to tone and firm as well as get stronger, should do a higher number of reps (15-20) using lighter weights, and working more sets (3-4 per exercise). (more…)