Upper Body Workout

Before one starts with the upper body workout routine, one should know about the major muscle groups one should be focusing on. For arms one should include exercise which help to build the deltoid, the biceps, and the triceps. For chest you need different exercises, similarly for abs, you need to focus on a particular set of exercises.

For back, focus on the upper as well as the lower back muscles. To start with your back muscles, you will need to have strong abs. Hence, many times the instructor advice to first workout on the abdominal muscles and then on the back muscles.

Many people ignore the love handle muscles, which are at the sides of the abs. Make sure you include 1 or 2 exercises that focus on the love handle areas.

If you are a beginner then starting an exercise program at home is not advisable, as one needs to follow a proper posture and use certain amount of weights when performing the weight training exercises. To be on the safer side, it is better if you either hire an instructor or join a gym. Once you know the right way to work out, and the appropriate number of sets and amount of weights, you can perform the workout at home.

Chest: There are many exercises for building the chest muscles. The most commonly used chest exercises are incline push ups, push ups, and the press ups. Other exercises like chest fly and pec-dec are also used to build muscle mass faster. Push ups and press ups can also be done at home. You can also include the resistance band chest press in your workout.

Abs: The most effective ab-building exercise is the bicycle crunch. This exercise focuses on both the upper and lower abdominal region. Other abdominal exercises like floor ab crunches, reverse crunches, ball ab crunches, etc., should also be included.

Arms: To work out on your bicep muscles, you can use either pulley or free weights. You can perform the incline bench dumbbell curls, seated cable curls, and the reverse curls. To work out on your triceps, use exercises like the machine triceps dips, cable pull downs, swiss ball close grip press ups, and the single arm triceps pullover.

Back: To perform the back exercises, you can include shoulder shrugs with dumbbells. Exercises like deadlifts, bent barbell rows, and one arm dumbbell rows also greatly help to build and strengthen the back muscles.

Exterior Obliques (Love Handles): To focus on the waist region, you can do quick squats and the waist turn exercises. Squats will help to focus on the waist and stomach, and help to burn calories from the waist region. The bicycle crunch exercise will also help to build these muscles. To especially focus on these muscles, perform the waist turns regularly.

Most people focus on building the upper body, but that leads to building muscle mass only on the upper portion of the body, while the lower body remains thinner and less toned. Hence, make sure for at least two days in a week you concentrate on the lower body muscle groups too.