A woman's upper-body strength can be increased and measured with free weights, cable machines and body-weight exercises. The American Council on Exercise defines strength as your ability to do a one-repetition maximal (1RM) lift on the bench press. For beginners, however, a push-up test is sufficient. You can increase your strength by doing bench presses, flies, pull-downs, rows, raises, curls and extensions to work your chest, back, shoulders, biceps and triceps. Include abdominal exercises to help stabilize your body during your upper-body exercises. Write down all your exercises, weights, sets and reps to monitor your progress.
Step 1
Complete a strength test so you'll know your starting point. Do a regular push-up on your toes. If you are unable to do this, do push-ups on your knees and record how many you do. You may instead do a 1RM test. Warm up with a 25-lb. barbell, doing 10 reps. Use a 45-lb. bar to do three reps, then rest for three minutes. Add 5 lbs. to each side of the bar. Complete three reps. Rest for three minutes and add 2.5 to 5 lbs. to each side. Continue this process until you can do only one rep. Record the maximum weight you lifted.
Step 2
Exercise your chest and back muscles. Do the following pairs of exercises (see Resources), alternating one set of each for four to five rounds per pair: flat bench presses with one-arm dumbbell rows, incline dumbbell presses with lateral pull-downs, incline dumbbell flies with seated cable rows, and flat dumbbell flies with dumbbell pull-overs. Do 10 to 12 reps per set. Increase the weight you are lifting once you can do 10 to 12 reps. Stay at the new weight until you reach the 10- to 12-rep level. Rest for one to two minutes before starting a new round. These long rest periods enable your muscles to recover in preparation for the next set. Do reverse crunches and bicycle crunches during your rest periods to engage your abdominal muscles.
Step 3
Work your biceps, triceps and shoulders. Do the following pairs of exercises (see Resources), alternating one set of each for three to four rounds per pair, as these muscles are smaller than your chest and back muscles: Pair dumbbell curls with two-arm dumbbell triceps extensions, pair cable curls with triceps rope press-downs, then pair concentration curls with triceps dips. Do 10 to 12 reps per set, increasing the weight once you can perform the 10 to 12 reps for at least three sets. To work your shoulders and abs, pair regular crunches with dumbbell shoulder presses, then pair oblique crunches with lateral raises.
Step 4
Get some rest. You need to rest your muscles for them to grow and get stronger. Make sure there are two days between your upper-body workouts. For example, do chest and back exercises on Monday, then biceps and triceps on Thursday. Work each of these muscle groups only once a week.
Step 5
Eat properly. Consume protein and carbohydrates (carbs) 30 minutes before your workout, such as a protein shake with half an apple. Eat fast-digesting carbs and protein immediately after a workout, such as a turkey sandwich on white bread.
Tips and Warnings
- Change your workout every four weeks by substituting two new exercises per muscle group or increasing the number of sets per exercise. Get a partner to spot you so you can do a few sets of only two or three reps on the bench press. Rest for five minutes when you do these heavy sets.
- Consult your physician before starting this exercise program.
Things You'll Need
- Paper
- Pencil
- digital watch
- Barbell
- Bench press
- Weight plates
- Dumbbells
- Weight machines
- Protein shake
- Apple
- White bread
- Turkey slices
References
- "Personal Trainer Manual"; American Council on Exercise; 1997
- "Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning"; National Strength and Conditioning Association; 2000
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