Upper Body Exercises
Most upper body exercises have as their goal to build strength. In order to maximize the beneficial effect of the routine, you’ll want to mix in some good cardiovascular workouts – spinning, jogging, etc – and alternate the activities with lower body work.
Before starting any routine, be sure to spend at least 10 minutes warming up, including good stretching exercises. Warm, loose muscles are much less likely to tear themselves or attached tendons. Also, you’ll want to get the circulatory system activated and muscle temperature increased for good blood flow.
How much weight to use, how many reps to perform and other variables are determined by your overall goals. Do you want to build muscle mass or just tone? For more mass, use more weight. For better tone, use less weight and do more reps. Do you want to increase flexibility and overall fitness or prepare for specific events?
In any case, these traditional exercises will help you get started down that road. Some can be performed without equipment, others require only a very simple set of free weights or resistance equipment. Resistance equipment includes rubber straps with handles, springs and others that work primarily by offering resistance to tension. Weights work primarily by providing compression and/or tension due to gravity.
Warning: Never exercise ‘through the pain’. Mild discomfort – especially after a prolonged period of inactivity – is normal. But intense pain is a sign of trouble. Consult your physician.
Push-Ups
Even with all the contemporary sports science around, traditional push-ups remain an excellent upper body exercise. Start on your stomach, back straight, feet together, hands under the shoulders. Press against the floor, keeping your back and legs straight, then lower yourself back to the floor. For a little extra effort push-up, slow the action down and both raise and lower more slowly.
Try to do 20, then build up to 40, then to 80 push-ups.
More Chest Work
Start with 10 lb (4.5 kg) hand-held dumbbells. Flat on your back on a comfortable surface, such as a carpet or mat, hold the weights in each hand, palms up, arms extended perpendicular from the body. Lift slowly and bring the hands together.
To vary the action, and get the biceps a good workout, too, try bending at the elbow when the arms are raised about 20 degrees, then straighten and continue.
Lats
Stand up straight, arms at your side, grasping the dumbbells. Maintain good balance and breathe normally. At the maximum point of inhalation, thrust the arms away from the body, palms inward. Exhale as you raise your arms to shoulder height, then lower your hands slowly back to the starting position.
To vary the exercise, and get the biceps and triceps involved, rotate the weights and curl your arms up at the top of the swing. Straighten the arm, then lower as described above.
Do 10 reps.
(Note: The ‘lats’ or latissiumus dorsi’ are the large, side muscles that make men triangle-shaped.)
Biceps and Triceps
Move the weights in front of the body, with your arms hanging above the front of your thighs. Without swinging or pushing off the thighs, lift the weights toward your chest. Alternate using one arm, then the other.
Do 10 reps for each arm. If you experience lower back pain during the exercise, stop immediately. Put off the exercise until another day, or see your physician.
Exercises for the lats or biceps can be done with free weights or using a long, elastic resistance strap. Hook one end with the foot and grab the other with your hand. Proceed as described above.
Pull-ups/Chin-ups
If you have access to a sturdy bar, either in the gym or at a playground, or at home in a doorway, you can perform chin-ups and pull-ups. Chins ups are done with the fingers toward you, pull-ups with the fingers facing away, while your hands grasp the bar above your head.
This low-tech exercise remains one of the best ways to build biceps, triceps, lats and pectorals all at once.
No matter what routine you choose, don’t overdo it. Build up your strength gradually. One of the most common reasons people don’t continue workouts is pain produced from incorrect technique or excessive effort exerted too early in the process.
Fitness-Exercise After Surgery, For Women
Exercise after surgery can be part of recommended physical therapy, or a return to pre-operative routines. In either case, done properly, exercise will help create flexibility, improve balance – by strengthening muscles that help stabilize joints – and keep the cardiovascular and other systems functioning well.
When and how you can begin exercise routines after major surgery will vary with the type of treatment you had. Most physicians will recommend at least a week, sometimes 6-12 weeks, of recuperation before even attempting regular routines. Consult your physician.
Most people will want to perform some kind of toning exercises and probably induce some weight loss. Most surgery reduces the metabolic and activity level – leading to weight gain and flabbiness.
Be sure to keep well hydrated, no matter what form of exercise you perform. This is helpful in order to keep the endocrine system functioning properly and aids the process that keeps joints lubricated.
Take it slow and return to your pre-operative level gradually. Here are some specific exercises for two different types of surgery. Again, consult your physician first.
Breast Surgery
About a week after surgery, you’ll still be experiencing discomfort. But recovery will be aided by some simple arm exercises. Perform steady breathing during the following:
Lift the arm on the operative side and simulate hair brushing and eating. Do a few reps at most the first few times. Raise that same arm above the heart for an hour, two to three times per day in order to reduce swelling. With the arm raised, gradually open and close the hand, building up to clenching a tennis ball as the discomfort decreases. Alternately bend and straighten the elbow.
After a couple of weeks you may feel fit enough to perform the following exercise.
Hold a broom handle (with the broom cut off), in both hands with your palms up, arms outstretched. Lift above the head and hold for a few seconds, then lower the broom handle to the pelvis. Repeat several times.
Hysterectomy
In these exercises, you’ll work the abs, pelvic, and back muscles. As with any routine, be sure to get the advice of your doctor before beginning.
Lie on the floor, knees bent, hands behind your head. Press the small of the back gently into the floor, then more firmly. Don’t try to work ‘through the pain’.
Raise your head and shoulders slightly off the floor, paying attention to the contraction of the abs. Take care not to move the chin toward the chest. Then slowly lower the head and shoulders back to the floor. Repeat several times.
Lift the hips, hold for a few seconds, then lower them. Do 10 reps. Then, alternate with the abdominal exercises. Roll over onto the knees, making sure you have some knee pads or carpeting to soften the point of contact.
Slowly raise one arm and the alternate leg. Alternate. Right arm out, left leg out, then, left arm out, right leg out. Hold each for a second or two, switch and repeat 10 times.
Again, don’t try to exercise if you feel intense pain as distinguished from mild discomfort. Take it slow, building up strength over time.
Men and Women, Differences In Routine
Though stereotypes are dissolving with each generation, there are some that persist – in part, because they are based on real differences between men and women.
While some women can and do achieve the upper body strength of some (even very fit) men, the overwhelming majority of males have a natural advantage in this area. Male aesthetic values, the source of which isn’t clear, reinforce this and so they tend to work on upper body more than some other areas, relative to women’s efforts.
Women, in part out of a desire to be seen as attractive, will focus exercises more on buttocks and legs. But here they also have a slight natural advantage for some exercises. A woman’s pelvis tilts at a different angle than a man’s. This effects the style and efficiency of squats, for example. Women will benefit by tilting the feet outward with legs further apart, while not needing to squat so low.
Overall, (most) women have less muscle mass than men (though they have additional layers in the stomach) and a higher percentage of body fat on average. As a result, a well designed female routine focuses less on bulking up, than toning and achieving flexibility. Women are more likely to incur injuries by lifting too much, too soon as they build up.
Men are somewhat less flexible on average, partly due to natural differences in joints, partly owing to attitude. Men tend more often than women to short change their warm-up routines, including essential stretching exercises.
All these differences (and many more) are a matter of degree, of course. Both men and women can benefit by adapting some aspects of the routines of the opposite sex.
Women are more likely to be more open to trying something new or different, such as yoga or pilates. These focus more on being aware of different body parts, in order to maximize flexibility and overall fitness. They focus very little on achieving strength, though this is often (in part) a consequence of a good yoga or pilates routine.
For example, several yoga routines focus on balance. But balance is optimized when all the muscles help support the joints and skeleton at correct angles in a dynamic way. That is both the cause and consequence of improved strength in the muscles that help achieve that balance.
Pilates, in particular, is a coordinated system for achieving better strength and posture and breathing by using one to aid the other. It concentrates more on controlling muscle groups than building them.
Both yoga and pilates and many other systems popularized in the West in the last 20 years or so focus on the integration of mind and body, one helping the other. Both systems are helpful as therapy for certain spine and joint problems.
While men and women will continue to lay more importance on some exercise values – and hence routines – than on others, both can benefit by peeking over the fence to see how the other half lives.
Fitness-Exercise to Control Diabetes
Many factors contribute to the onset of diabetes, including genetic predisposition and diet. But exercise can help reduce the odds of getting and the severity of this disease.
Diabetes comes in two types, Type I and Type II. In either case, the body has difficulty regulating the level of blood glucose. Glucose is the primary source of energy for the body’s activities.
One basic reason is the inability to produce the proper amount of insulin, a hormone that helps transport glucose to the cells. In Type I diabetes the body can’t produce adequate insulin, so the loss has to be made up from the outside, usually via injection. This is the more serious type and control of the condition requires obtaining medical advice.
In Type II diabetes, individuals produce insulin, but it’s less effective in performing its role as a transport aid. This is the type that is more likely to occur as we age. The kidneys become less efficient and we tend to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. We sometimes worsen our odds by being more indulgent about food. The long term effects add up.
Type II can be controlled with diet and exercise and with careful self-monitoring under the care of a physician, the effects can be minimal.
Exercise helps increase insulin sensitivity. It also reduces body fat, which helps regulate the amount of glucose needed and used. Weight training helps by increasing the metabolic rate, reducing body fat. At the same time, it increases the use of glucose used by muscles and improves the ability of muscle tissue to store it. All those help achieve the preferred glucose level.
Get professional advice and start any new program slowly, particularly if you have not been active habitually. Pain from doing too much too soon is one of the leading factors that discourages people from continuing a program. Also, the body needs time to adjust to changes in hormone level, metabolic level and thus glucose and insulin levels.
Be sure to warm up for five to ten minutes at minimum. Easy stretches and low-impact, low heart rate exercise help get the muscles infused with blood and joints limber. Take care not to exercise when it is too hot. Heat stroke (from too high an internal temperature and lack of fluid) is a risk, and more so for those who are older.
Humidity levels are a factor to consider, as well. The body’s ability to regulate internal temperature is made less efficient when the moisture content of the air is high. The heat doesn’t travel out of the sweat and off the skin so readily. On hot and/or humid days, wear loose fitting clothing and reduce the time and vigor of your routine.
Walking is a great way to get started. Try to walk on grass rather than concrete or asphalt, but with good shoes you do either. An hour per day every day is best, but even 20 minutes three or four days per week will help.
Persistence is key. Reducing the odds of getting diabetes, or controlling it once you have it, require permanent lifestyle changes. But the benefits are not only the absence of a debilitating disease, but a healthy body and improved mood.
Fitness-Flexibility Training
Flexibility training involves performing a series of exercises that help maximize range of motion and muscle stability. The benefits are improved blood flow in the muscles and lower risk of injury.
There are three basic types of stretching exercises that help accomplish these goals: static, dynamic and Isometric/PNF.
Static stretches are the most traditional type, encompassing the more or less standard ‘pull to maximum end point, hold for five or ten seconds, then release’ group of exercises.
Static stretches should form part of every 10 minute warm-up routine. Every major muscle group should be given a gentle pull, hold and relax. This helps improve the circulation and readies the muscles for more vigorous activity, while decreasing the risk of tears or tendon stretching.
Dynamic or ballistic stretches are more controversial, since they involve stretch with added momentum or even using weights. They are potentially harmful and that risk-factor is one of the major elements behind the controversy. At minimum, you should seek out a knowledgeable trainer before engaging in this form of flexibility training.
As one example, rest one knee on a ball and slowly rotate the ball away from the body, giving a very moderate bounce at the maximum point. Lunges, performed by moving one foot ahead, kneeling slightly with the back straight and bouncing gently, would be another.
PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) involves a combination of passive and isometric exercise. Apart from having a fancy technical name and associated acronym, PNF actually has several useful features that should motivate individuals to investigate its value.
Performed properly, under the guidance of an experienced fitness professional or devoted amateur, PNF can maximize range of movement and best prepare the body for more strenuous exercise.
Several exercises involve using a partner. The muscle group you want to work is stretched under tension, then contracted for several seconds, and your partner applies resistance to inhibit movement.
For example, stretch your arms out and slowly move them behind you, then contract the biceps, triceps and shoulders. Have the partner gently pull your hands together a little past the 180 degree mark as you attempt to pull your arms back to 180 degrees.
As another example, lie on your back on a comfortable surface. Raise one leg vertically and have your partner grab your foot. Your partner then presses the foot gently backward until you feel tension on the hamstring (the muscle on the rear of your thigh). You then contract the muscles as you attempt to move your leg back down, with your partner resisting the movement.
These examples are to serve only to give a general idea of the exercises. PNF exercises should only be attempted after you have received proper, hands-on training. Done incorrectly they can lead to muscle sprain or joint damage.
Whatever your workout routine, be sure to precede it by good flexibility exercises. That will maximize your performance during the more strenuous part of the total workout.
Stretching Exercises For Any Sport
Being flexible – having well lubricated joints and stretchable muscles – is one of the best ways to reduce the prospect of injury and give you the basis for a wide variety of workout routines.
Your overall goal is to attain good range of motion, while gradually extending that range to a degree appropriate to your fitness level and body type. There are several different ways to accomplish that goal, and you should use at least a few of them before every workout.
Warm-ups are fundamental. Cold muscles are much more likely to tear and lead to stretched or torn cartilage and other harmful results. Warm-ups and stretches help produce the fluid that lubricates the joints, and it helps the muscles become more elastic. Those both lead to safer, higher performance workouts.
Ten to fifteen minutes is the minimum for most people. This can be done by low-impact jogging in place, simple stretches and other techniques.
Static stretching, for example, is the old-fashioned stretch and hold for 30 seconds. This should be done with the arms, trunk, legs and neck. Dynamic stretching and ballistic stretching involve more active, bouncing-style or weight-assisted stretching, sometimes with extra force applied. Both types are helpful.
Some dynamic stretches involve holding the arms out to the side, then swinging them back and forth across front of the body, repeating for 30 seconds. Another technique involves using a short bar across the neck, lying on the shoulders. Place your hands on the bar, then bend slowly left, then right, moving the head toward the outer edge of the foot.
Abdominal muscles can be prepared by lying backwards on a large rubber ball. Push back slowly and raise the arms above your head. Repeat 10 times. Loosen your hamstrings by lying on your back, and raising one outstretched leg using a large towel wrapped around the foot. Grab the ends and pull up slowly. Switch legs, then repeat for 10 reps.
A full back stretch is accomplished by lying on your back and bringing both knees to the chest, hands clasped behind the knees. Roll forward until your feet hit the floor, then roll back until the head touches. Do 10 rolls.
Groin stretches can be done safely by using a large rubber ball. Place one knee on the ball and slowly rotate the ball a few inches away from your body. Move the ball back toward your body, then switch legs. Do 10 movements.
Both the legs and back muscles can get a good warm-up stretch by doing toe taps. Stand up straight, feet apart about shoulder width. Lean forward, touching the big toe on one foot with the opposite hand – left hand to right foot, and vice-versa. Those with lower back problems should consult a trainer or physician before attempting these.
For maximum flexibility, stretching routines should be carried out at least a few times per week. This will help maximize the range of motion and decrease the potential for injury.
Tips For Choosing Equipment
If your workout consists of more than just jogging, at some point you’ll want to invest in some fitness equipment. Which you select will, naturally, depend on lots of things – budget vs price, quality vs needs, type and interests and so forth.
Fitness equipment can run anywhere from $50 to $5,000 or more. You may be satisfied with an exercise ball or you may want a complete gym. That depends, of course, on your budget, your commitment and your desired workout routine.
A few free weights might be a good start if your preliminary goal is to tone and build muscle mass. A quality bar for chin-ups and pull-ups would be a good addition to a basic set. Between floor exercises and some elementary weight lifting, combined with chin-ups or pull-ups, you can design a varied workout.
It’s always a good idea to have a longer-term plan, though. Buy higher quality today, equipment that lasts and that will continue to be part of your routine for several years. If you’re considering an exercise bike, for example, in order to do some spinning for a great cardio workout, get something solid and reliable. You want the bike to be good for at least five years.
Make sure you take into account how much space you have, and how much you’re likely to have for the next few years. For a bike you need only about 10 square feet, but a treadmill will require 30 square feet. A multi-station weight machine may take up to 100 square feet or more, depending on the design.
If you’re just starting out, test a variety of equipment from different manufacturers at multiple outlets. Several companies make high quality gear, but every person is an individual. That means that a machine that works great for one person may be unsuited for another.
A rowing machine that fits your tall friend may be useless, or actually harmful, for you. Get equipment that’s adjustable to fit your body size and type. That also helps when and if you share the equipment with a partner. Make sure the adjustments – for tensions, lengths, weights, etc – will travel through a wide range. As you build strength and endurance you’ll want equipment that continues to test you as you develop.
Make sure you, and anyone who shares it, can use the equipment safely. Multi-station weight machines have safety features that vary in style and effectiveness. Pick equipment that suits you, not the salesperson.
From some advisors, ‘no pain, no gain’ can mean ‘you should feel some pain’. Some mild discomfort the day after is normal and expected. But if it hurts you to use the gear, either you’re doing something wrong – and should get guidance about proper technique – or the equipment isn’t right for you. You should feel comfortable using it.
For example, walking machines should have rails that suit your height. They should also have rollers and settings that you can operate properly while in motion. Weight machines should have a chair and handlebars that you can sit in and grab without straining and don’t produce back or neck aches.
Shop around, ask a lot of questions and don’t buy until you are satisfied that you’ve found something that will last and suits your unique style.
Fitness-Back Flexibility and Strength Exercises
Anyone who has ever suffered from a major backache knows how central the back is, even in times you might think it isn’t important. Even something like squeezing a tennis ball, an action that involves a focus on the fingers, forearm and bicep will involve the latissimus dorsi and other back muscles.
The lats are the large ’side’ muscles that make a man triangle-shaped. To demonstrate how they are used during squeezing a tennis ball, try it! You’ll quickly feel a tensing of the muscles on the side of the arm you use. It’s especially noticeable if you have back pain.
Any sport will require strong back muscles, for speed and coordination, for balance and movement and for providing a strong ‘pillar’ for all the limbs to move off of.
Here are some simple exercises to help stretch and strengthen those all-important back muscles. Most of them are better performed on a firm, but not hard surface. While you work the muscles, you don’t want to cause undue, painful pressure on bony parts of the body.
Knee to Chest
Lie on your back and clasp your hands behind one thigh. Pull slowly toward the chest, keeping the other leg flat on the ground. Vary the action by flexing the ankle – first pointing the toe, then pulling it back toward the knee – at the same time as you stretch the leg.
Hold each position for 5 seconds, then switch legs and repeat. Do 10 reps.
Rotations
Lie back, knees raised and together, feet flat on the floor. With your arms extended and near the body, and your palms flat on the floor, lift the feet off the ground slightly and rotate your trunk by moving the knee. Move the knees slightly left, then right.
Over time, as you become more flexible and build strength, you can increase the range of motion. Ultimately, you should be able to touch your knee to the floor.
Alternate the action by crossing your arms over your chest, then repeat.
Pelvic Press
Lie down on your back, knees raised and feet flat on the floor. Push the small of the back into the floor, feel the tension in the lower abdominals. Vary the action by moving your feet together and performing the exercise, then slightly apart and repeat.
As you press into the ground, hold for 5 seconds, but continue to breath slowly and normally.
Pelvic Lift
Lie on your back, knees raised and feet flat on the ground, arms crossed over your chest. Keeping the legs and knees together, raise the buttocks up slightly and hold for 5 seconds. Lower slowly, count to two, then repeat.
Remember to breathe normally through the exercise, in and out slowly.
Dog Stretches
On all fours, raise your head, eyes forward. Lower your arms and arch your back, hold 2 seconds, then resume the starting position. Slowly extend one leg, as near parallel to the floor as you can. Hold 3 seconds, then put the leg back into starting position. (If this produces back, hip, or leg pain stop immediately.)
Switch legs and repeat. Vary the exercise by extending the leg with toe pointed, then flex the ankle perpendicular to the leg. Hold for 2 seconds and repeat. Do 10 reps for each leg.
Never perform these exercises if they produce back pain. Mild discomfort from inactivity is natural. Pain is a signal that something is wrong. Consult your physician.
The Body’s Energy System
Some of the major goals of exercise are to improve muscle tone, strength, and endurance. All of this is made possible by, and requires, the body’s energy production-and-use system. Central to that system is a complex molecule called ATP, Adenosine Triphosphate.
ATP is a core element of a process known in biochemical studies as (ready for it?): the tricarboxylic acid cycle, or the Kreb’s cycle. But don’t worry about the complicated names. The basic ideas are very simple.
Carbohydrates are broken down into sugars which produce ATP. Simple sugars break down more easily and therefore, on average, more quickly. Complex carbohydrates take longer – and therefore supply the body with a longer lasting storehouse of compounds needed to produce ATP.
Sugar, per se, is NOT bad, only excess sugar, consumed in unhelpful forms, can lead to poor health effects.
ATP is broken down into ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate) and releases energy in the process. ADP later in the process then picks up the needed molecules to produce more ATP. That’s why it’s known as a cycle, since the process ‘cycles around’ to the beginning and starts over. That energy is used to maintain and repair cells, fuel respiration and organ systems and – more to our purpose here – produce the energy needed to fuel muscle contractions.
As byproducts of the cycle, heat and carbon dioxide are produced. The heat is eliminated by a number of means, including respiration and sweating. The carbon dioxide is carried through the system and some of it is expelled during respiration.
In order to carry out exercise, one essential element of which is muscle contraction, ATP must be produced continuously over varying stretches of time. In order to carry out this task, the body actually has three different ATP producing systems, with different production rates.
The phosphagen system replenishes ATP quickly, but only for short periods. That aids sprinters, fast-twitch fibers and other short-term uses. The glycogen-lactic system produces more slowly, but lasts up to 90 seconds or so. Aerobic respiration (normal oxygen breathing) makes ATP the most slowly, but can continue indefinitely.
As you exercise, ATP is consumed. That’s one of the chief reasons you have to eat – in order to replenish the building blocks that can produce more ATP. Once you have more ATP, you have the basic molecule needed to engage in exercise and we’re back where we began.
The body is an amazing, self-regulating complex of interconnected systems. None is more fascinating or central than the way it produces and consumes energy, an essential component of life itself.
Fitness-Avoid Workout Injuries
From some trainers ‘No pain, no gain’ really means ‘you should feel some pain’. While mild discomfort is to be expected, especially for those just beginning a new fitness routine, pain is a natural warning sign. Pay attention to it.
A good workout routine will test you, but shouldn’t damage you. As muscles get used, especially somewhat beyond their usual range, lactic acid, micro-tears and other physiological changes occur that result in muscles being built up stronger than before.
But if you are experiencing back pain, neck aches, knee joint soreness and other symptoms, you should consult with an expert. Your technique may be wrong, you may be trying to do too much, too soon, or you may have a medical problem that should be addressed.
Work up to any vigorous routine slowly. How slowly will vary from person to person, depending on age, experience, prior exercise routines and overall fitness. Get muscles warm and limber before cranking it up. Most strains and rips result from being too cold and not stretching, or extending more than you’re ready for.
Warm-ups should take at least 15 minutes and include very gentle jogging in place or jumping jacks to get the cardio and lung systems working well. They should include some slow, gradual stretching to get joints lubricated and muscles relaxed and gently lengthened. Warm-ups that are too short can easily lead to stretched or torn cartilage that takes a long time to heal.
Don’t let inexperienced trainers, or so-called ‘friends’ embarrass you into believing you have to get out and run five miles two weeks after an injury, surgery or other debilitating condition. Physical therapy and exercise sometimes requires that you work against discomfort, but you don’t leap over tall buildings the first day out.
Every person committed to fitness will want to push him or herself to achieve excellence. But an attitude that leads to overdoing it is counter-productive to your goal. You’re working to improve or maximize health and overall body tone and strength – not proving you are ‘mentally tough’.
Before you begin a new routine that involves activities that are unfamiliar, get guidance from an expert. Next to bad warm-ups or overdoing it, incorrect technique is the leading cause of injury. If you don’t know how to use a station at the weight machine correctly, don’t be embarrassed to ask. No one is born with this knowledge. Anyone who mocks you for ignorance, isn’t someone whose opinions you have reason to heed.
Be aware of your environment while you go through your routine. It’s easy to get into a rhythm, get concentrated on your workout and end up crashing into a wall or a nearby person. Jogging especially requires that you pay attention to the surface you run on and the people and cars around you. No shoe in existence will keep you from slipping on a muddy patch. Only awareness and good reflexes can help.
Stay within your comfort zone as you gradually expand it. One of the foremost reasons people give up on workouts is injuries produced by working beyond their capacity. That makes working out no longer fun. Building up, while you build out, to increase your ability to do more, faster will keep you going for years to come.
Your health will thank you for exercising common sense, while you exercise your body.
