You can build upper body muscle size and improve muscular endurance using a variety of equipment in different ways. Heavy lifting helps you build muscle, while using lighter weights for longer periods of time helps you build endurance. Whether you use free weights, calisthenics or weight machines, you can find efficient ways to build your upper body.
Free Weight Workouts
Using barbells and dumbbells, you can work your upper body in a variety of ways, through limit strength workouts and muscular endurance exercises. Using a barbell and bench, you can perform incline or flat bench presses and biceps curls to improve muscle size and strength. Use your maximum weight or near it to increase size in your chest, shoulders, back and arms. When using a barbell, experiment with and vary your hand placement on the bar to work muscles differently. With dumbbells, you can perform flyes, a variety of biceps curls and triceps extensions. To improve muscular endurance, use lighter weights and perform more repetitions. A circuit training workout consists of 8 to 12 repetitions of an exercise, moving on to another exercise after a short break, and continuing for 30 minutes or longer. This continual stress helps improve muscular endurance, or your ability to work over time.
Bodyweight Workouts
Bodyweight exercises include push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups and dips. When doing push-ups, perform them on your knees if you are just developing arm and chest strength, and experiment with hand placement to make the push-ups easier or more difficult. Pull-ups are done with your palms facing toward you, with your palms facing away from you for chin-ups. Pull-ups work your chest and biceps more, while chin-up use more triceps, back and shoulder muscles. Variations of dips include placing your hands farther forward or backward depending on whether you wish to emphasize chest, biceps, triceps or lats. When doing bodyweight exercises, make sure you do not let gravity drop you. Instead, use your muscles to "brake" you on the way down to get maximum benefit.
Exercise Machine Workouts
Machines let you perform limit strength workouts without a spotter and come in multi-exercise or exercise-specific configurations. A pec deck machine has you pull two padded bars together in front of your face to work the pectorals. Many multipurpose machines provide a pulldown bar that lets you work the lats from a standing, sitting or kneeling position. According to the website Sports Injury Bulletin, lat pulldowns are most effective when your hands are placed wider than shoulder width on the bar and you pull the bar down in front of you.
References
- NetFit: Upper Body Training
- Sports Injury Bulletin: Which Lat Pull Down Variation is Best?
- BodyBuilding.com: How Can An Athlete Increase Their Muscular Endurance?
- Peak Performance: Circuit Training for Endurance Athletes
- Unique-Bodyweight-Exercises.com: Bodyweight Exercises and What They Can Achieve
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