The upper body has a number of major muscles, such as the pectorals, latissimus dorsi, triceps, biceps, trapezius and deltoids. Your goal with a five-day upper body workout is to target all of these muscles. By gaining strength in your upper body, you will not only improve your sport and daily functioning ability, but you will also have more self-confidence.
Warmup Before Workout
Stepping into the gym and lifting weights without first warming up can be dangerous to your muscles and connective tissue. If you are tight, you run the risk of pulling a muscle and getting injured. Before your workouts, spend five to 10 minutes doing light cardio, then perform a series of dynamic stretches which are performed in motion. These simulate exercising movements and can prevent injuries. Incorporate stretches like alternating toe touches, arm crossovers, arm circles, spinal rotations and neck rolls.
Exercise Selection
Compound exercises work more than one muscle at a time which boosts your size and strength gains. Mix compound exercises into your routines to make the fastest progress. Isolation exercises work one muscle at a time and are best left for the end of your workouts.
Chest Day
The chest contains the large pectoral muscles. Your goal with this muscle group is to target the middle, upper, lower and inner portion for full development. The best way to achieve this is by doing incline, flat and decline presses, along with flys. All of these exercises are compound except flys. Use an incline bench for incline presses and a decline bench for decline bench presses. Free weights, such as barbells and dumbbells, work better than machines for overall muscle fiber recruitment. Use them for the majority of your exercises. Aim for 10 to 12 repetitions and do four or five sets of each exercise.
Back Day
The back contains the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids and erector spinae. Your goal with this workout is to target all of these muscles. The lats are the "V" shaped muscles, the rhomboids sit between the shoulder blades and the erector spinae is in the lower back. Perform bent-over rows, lat pulldowns, pullovers and stability ball back extensions to fully tax your back. Aim for 10 to 12 repetitions and do four or five sets.
Abs
The abs are technically part of the upper body because they are above the hips. Although you contract your abs with other exercises to produce force, spend one day focusing your attention on them completely. Instead of doing just one exercise, perform three different exercises that target the lower abs, upper abs and obliques. This will ensure you achieve full development. Perform hanging leg raises, Russian twists and stability ball crunches. To increase the intensity, do these exercises back to back with no rest. Once you finish, take a 30-second rest and repeat the circuit three more times. Aim for 15 to 20 repetitions with each exercise.
Shoulder Day
The trapezius and deltoids make up the shoulder muscles. The trapezius runs across the top of the collar bones. The deltoids sit on the outside of the shoulders and they have a posterior, medial and anterior head. Back rows target the lower fibers of the trapezius, so include shrugs to work the upper and middle fibers. Include shoulder presses, lateral raises, front raises and reverse flys to target all areas of the shoulders. Aim for 10 to 12 repetitions and do four or five sets each.
Triceps and Biceps Superset
The triceps sit on the back of the upper arms and the biceps are on the front. Work these muscles with a superset format. Supersetting involves doing consecutive exercises back to back. Perform barbell curls with lying EZ bar triceps extensions, seated dumbbell curls with overhead dumbbell triceps extensions, and hammer curls with triceps kickbacks. Perform 10 to 12 repetitions with each superset and do four or five sets.
Full Plan
Staying on track every week is going to create the best progress with your workout plan. Follow the workouts in order for five days, then take two days off. Start again and continue to follow the plan. An easy way to remember this is to work out Monday through Friday and take Saturday and Sunday off. Feel free to integrate cardio, yoga or some other form of activity on your off days.
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