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It is the quintessential strongman physique-the built upper body. While it might seem like a matter of bench pressing a few hundred pounds a couple thousand times, building the arms, shoulders, neck, chest, and abs to have a truly strong upper body takes work and focused effort.
Upper body strength provides health benefits like better posture, greater stamina, and of course, especially for men, added self-confidence. To gain greater build or definition, for men or women, takes two specific efforts-an organized weight training program and a healthy diet heavy in protein.
Beginning with the latter, try to cut fats, other unnecessary carbohydrates and sugars out of your diet and add about one to two grams of protein per pound of body weight. This protein will not build muscle on its own. It is fuel for exercise and for muscle development.
Weight training is the core to building upper body strength. Using either a machine or free weights, focus on exercises that emphasize the upper body-the bench press, arm curls, and pull ups. To build size in the muscles create a regime that has around three to five sets of eight to ten reps. In order to ensure strength and muscle development, watch your weight amounts carefully to verify their resistance. Your last rep should feel like all you can take. With this in mind, emphasize the increasing the weight over increasing the amount of reps.
Don't, however, overwork your muscles. To truly increase in size and tone, muscles require at least a twenty-four to forty-eight hour rest, so make sure you're not working a particular more than three times in each lifting session or more than two days in a row.
While the chest and the arms are usually the focus of fitness magazines and such, make sure to consider your lower back and abs as well. Building and toning these muscles will not only look good, but they will also support the increased strength of the rest of your upper body, allowing you to build more of the key muscle groups as well as helping to prevent injury. Crunches are the most direct way to work on these muscles and you can increase resistance by holding a weight tightly to your chest while performing them.
If you've been out of training for awhile, start small with pushups, either regular or on your knees, in addition to crunches. Once you can do these comfortably, move on to weights and onto to a better upper body.
