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The objective of most upper body exercises is to build strength and
one important thing to remember is that exercises aimed at your upper
body should be just one part of an overall routine. It’s a good idea
for example to alternate upper body work with lower body work and also
include some general cardiovascular work, such as jogging.
Before starting your upper body workout, or indeed any other
exercise session, make sure that you spend at least ten minutes
warming up, including good stretching exercises. Warm, loose muscles
are much less likely to sustain injury and it’s also important to get
your circulatory system working effectively and warm muscles will help
with good blood flow.
Before starting any upper body workout you must also define your
aims. Are you, for example, trying to build up your muscles, or are
you simply looking to tone up your muscles. If you want to build
muscle then you will need to work with reasonably heavy weights and
complete a relatively small number of repetitions of each exercise.
For tone, on the other hand, you should be looking at lighter weights
but exercises involving a higher number of repetitions.
Whatever the case, these traditional exercises will help to get you
going. Some don’t require any equipment, while others require either a
simple set of free weights or some resistance equipment. Here,
resistance equipment would include things like handled rubber straps
or springs which work by providing resistance when placed under
tension.
One note of caution before you start: Ignore the commonly heard
saying that “exercise is not doing you any good unless you can feel
the pain”. Some mild discomfort (particularly if you haven’t exercised
for some time) is normal, but pain is your body telling you that
you’re pushing it too hard.
Push-Ups
Despite what many contemporary sports scientists might say,
traditional push-ups are still an excellent upper body exercise.. Lie
on your stomach with your back straight, feet together and hands under
your shoulders. Push up against the floor, keeping your back and legs
straight, then lower yourself back down to the floor again. To make
the exercise a little harder, simply slow the action down and raise
and lower yourself more slowly. Try to start with about twenty
push-ups and gradually increase this with each workout.
Chest Work

Grab a 10 lb (4.5 kg) pair of hand-held dumbbells. Lie flat on your
back on a carpeted floor (or a hard floor with an exercise mat) and
hold the weights in each hand with your palms uppermost and your arms
straight out to each side of your body. Slowly lift the weights and
bring your hands together high up above your chest. To vary this
exercise, and give your biceps a good workout, bring your arms up to
about twenty degrees and then bend and straighten your arms at the
elbow before continuing to raise them above your chest.
LATS

Lats is the commonly used term for the latissiumus dorsi muscles
which are the large muscles that run down the side of the upper body
and which give men their ‘triangular’ shape.
Still with the same pair of dumbbells, stand up straight with arms
and dumbbells at your side. Make sure that your body is well balanced
and breathe normally. Breathe in and, at the maximum point of
inhalation, thrust your arms away from the body, palms inward. Breathe
out as you raise your arms to shoulder height and then lower them
again slowly to your sides. Start with about ten repetitions of this
exercise and then build up gradually with subsequent exercise
sessions.

Biceps and Triceps

To exercise the biceps and triceps, move the weights in front of
your body, with your arms hanging above the front of your thighs.
Then, without swinging or pushing off the thighs, lift the weights
toward your chest using either both arms together or alternating
between your right and left arm. Again try ten repetitions of this
exercise to begin with and build up slowly.
If you don’t have any dumbbells to hand then the exercises for the
lats and biceps can be done using a long elastic resistance strap,
holding one end in your hand and hooking the other under a foot.
Pull-ups or Chin-ups
This exercise will require access to a bar slightly above
head-height, perhaps at your local gym or in a nearby playground.
Alternatively you could use a ‘removable’ bar which can be fitted into
a door frame at home.
This exercise is simply a case of taking hold of the bar with both
hands and then pulling yourself up until your chin comes level with
the bar and then lowering your body back down again. Chins ups are
performed with your fingers curled toward you around the bar and
pull-ups are carried out with your fingers pointing away from you.
This is an excellent exercise for building biceps, triceps, lats and
pectorals all at the same time.
Regardless of the exercise routine you decide to follow, don’t
overdo it. Build up your upper body strength slowly and gradually.

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