How to Build Upper Body Strength

Last Updated on December 28, 2022 by marcyproignite

When most people think of building upper body strength training, they tend to focus on the biceps and triceps. However, the upper body is made of so many more muscle groups that need attention too! Exercising all your chest, back and shoulder muscles makes a huge difference in your appearance, strength, and muscle growth.

So why focus on building strength in the entire upper body?

The muscles in the chest and back are super important for many reasons, including:

•         Maintaining proper posture
•         Preventing lower back pain and injury
•         Increasing speed and stability
•         Growing muscle mass

Furthermore, working your upper body has benefits for the abdominal muscles as well. Keeping your core tight is often needed to maintain the proper form necessary for these exercises.

Beginner or expert, these exercises can help you build muscle in your upper body quickly and effectively.

Exercises for Upper Body Strength

Most upper body exercises can be divided into two different types: pushing exercises and pulling exercises. Doing a combination of both types of exercises ensures you work out different muscles and helps with increasing strength and size.

Pushing Exercises

Pushing exercises cause muscular contraction when pushing weight away from your body. When moving the weight towards your body, muscle lengthening occurs. Muscle groups that are usually included in this group of exercises are your chest, triceps and deltoid muscles.

Here are some examples of pushing exercises:

1.      Barbell bench press: Lie back on a flat bench with a barbell (with weight) on a squat rack or cage system.

   Grab the bar with your hands shoulder width apart. Your arms should create a 90-degree angle at the elbow joints as you raise and lower the weight.

   Lift the bar off of the rack and hold it above your chest with your arms locked. Slowly bring the bar down to your middle chest, pause and raise it back to the starting position. This is one repetition. An average repetition scheme recommendation would be 3-5 sets of 6-10 reps, depending on your fitness level.Getting comfortable with bench presses? Look into more variations such as overhead press and military presses to target your shoulders in slightly different ways. Additionally, incline chest presses and decline chest presses will target the upper and lower sections of your pec muscles.

   The following blog from our friends at exercise.co.uk. They dive deeper in to 5 key exercises to specifically build a stronger lower chest.
   

2.      Tricep dips: Sit at the edge of a chair or workout bench. Place your hands at about shoulder width apart on the bench. While keeping a slight bend at your elbow, push up until your arms are fully extended. Then, bend them back down until your elbow makes a 90 degree angle.This is one repetition. An average repetition scheme recommendation would be 3-5 sets of 6-10 reps, depending on your fitness level.
3.      Push-ups: Push-ups are an oldie, but certainly a goodie. They are the one of the most basic, yet effective workouts for your upper body.  They work each of the major, upper body pushing muscles.

   Remember: It’s important to go slow and focus on form. Make sure that your back remains straight and that your wrists stay under your shoulders. Perform each movement slowly and deliberately. An average repetition scheme recommendation would be 3-5 sets of 6-10 reps, depending on your fitness level.
   

Pulling Exercises for Upper Body Strength

Pulling exercises contract the muscle when pulling the weight towards your body and lengthen as you push the weight away. Muscle groups that are exercised when performing pulling exercises include your biceps, abdominals, forearms, trapezius and latissimus dorsi muscles.

Here are some examples of pulling exercises:

Bicep curls: To best isolate the bicep muscle, sit on a bench or weight bench with a preacher curl attachment. Make sure your feet are firmly on the floor. Place the back of the right arm on the inside of your right thigh. Your left hand will be on top of your left knee.

For preacher curls, place your upper right arm on top of the preacher pad. Hold the dumbbell in your right hand and slowly curl the right arm. Pulling the weight up towards the shoulder, pause for a second and slowly release the curl.

Finish the desired repetitions and repeat on the other side. An average repetition scheme recommendation would be 3-5 sets of 6-10 reps, depending on your fitness level.

Pull-ups: Pull-ups work all of your major back muscles and are great for all your pulling muscles. Hang from a pullup bar with your hands shoulder-width apart and palms facing away from you.

Pull yourself up until your chin goes above the bar, and then slowly lower yourself down again. This is one repetition. An average repetition scheme recommendation would be 3-5 sets of 6-10 reps, depending on your fitness level.

Barbell row: Barbell rows work multiple muscle groups in your back and arms. Start with the bar on the floor. Bend over and firmly grasp the bar. Make sure to keep your arms approximately shoulder-width apart and your palms facing the floor.

Keep your back straight as you lift the bar to your lower chest and return it back down to the floor. Go through the motions slowly and focus on using the muscles in your upper back to lift and lower the weight. An average repetition scheme recommendation would be 3-5 sets of 6-10 reps, depending on your fitness level.

Getting Started

You’ll want to dedicate one workout to pushing exercises, and another to moves that work the pulling muscles. Separate your workouts by at least a day or two in order to promote rest and recovery for your upper body. Between upper body workout days, you may even consider fitting in a lower body and/or an abs routine. Getting a total body workout throughout the week is key to overall body strength.

Don’t forget to shake up your routine a bit too. Changing exercises helps keep muscles from becoming stagnant and unchallenged by the movements. If you do not want to purchase different equipment to change your routine, consider body weight exercises.

Finally, don’t forget to make time for cardio. Whether you run, swim, or do something else, cardio will help you shred extra fat. For an efficient cardio workout, try ending your sweat session with a quick sprint on the treadmill to save some time.

There are many benefits to breaking up your upper body workouts this way. By using the same group of muscles for several, different exercises, your workout regimen will be much more efficient.  You can split up your upper body into two sessions a week if you go by muscle group alone.

As always, before beginning any exercise program, consult your physician if you are not 100% sure you are able to.