Creating upper body strength from pretty much nothing

[EJCC]

I've never been athletic. I manage to stay at a healthy weight by eating well and leading a lifestyle that involves lots of walking. I tried running, once, and I went about it completely the wrong way, so I had no fun and gave up after a few months. But as of the day after tomorrow, I'm going to try again, Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings, with my roommate. (I bought running shorts and everything!)

This anticipated change in lifestyle got me thinking about my lack of upper body strength, since my day-to-day physical activity is lower body only. I figure, since I'm making this big change in terms of lower body strength and aerobic exercise, I might as well fix this other problem too. (Maybe I could go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and pump some iron.)

So... if you have absolutely zero upper body strength, how do you go about trying to create it? I can't do real push-ups (only girl ones), and I'm pretty horrible at sit-ups too. I also have extremely limited knowledge of gym equipment, and -- most importantly -- how to use it over time, and how to check your progress with weights etc. Again, I'm essentially starting from nothing, so I have no gym experience, and, frankly, no idea what it feels like to have a fit upper body.

 

[Snuggletron]

Try the upper body exercises out of the core 7 (Bench press, rows, dips, pull-ups). These are compound exercises and hit lots of major muscles. If you're uncomfortable with these, you could try free weights. As always, try to learn and keep good form, as this is most important. Try to lift the heaviest you can in good form for 10 repetitions. I tend to do 3-5 sets with each exercise, with ~minute-long breaks in between. Eat more food with complete proteins. Also, to gain muscle you'll want to eat at least 1x your body weight in grams of protein (So, if you weigh 130 lbs you'll want to take in at least 130g of protein a day). Consider whey protein supplements, because it can be difficult getting enough protein to gain muscle mass.

 

[WALMART]

Girly push ups are still effective, fyi.


And can be done anywhere with anything!


Except maybe with dignity. Lolz. Jk. I'd make a bad (good?) trainer.

 

[Cellmold]

I think starting with those girly push-ups and then progressing onto more stereotypical ones could work.

I mean any exercise is exercise even if it isn't the most efficient and you have to start somewhere.

 

[UniqueMixture]

You want rest days between workouts. Also, weights before cardio.

 

[Andy]

I've never been athletic. I manage to stay at a healthy weight by eating well and leading a lifestyle that involves lots of walking. I tried running, once, and I went about it completely the wrong way, so I had no fun and gave up after a few months. But as of the day after tomorrow, I'm going to try again, Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings, with my roommate. (I bought running shorts and everything!)

This anticipated change in lifestyle got me thinking about my lack of upper body strength, since my day-to-day physical activity is lower body only. I figure, since I'm making this big change in terms of lower body strength and aerobic exercise, I might as well fix this other problem too. (Maybe I could go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and pump some iron.)

So... if you have absolutely zero upper body strength, how do you go about trying to create it? I can't do real push-ups (only girl ones), and I'm pretty horrible at sit-ups too. I also have extremely limited knowledge of gym equipment, and -- most importantly -- how to use it over time, and how to check your progress with weights etc. Again, I'm essentially starting from nothing, so I have no gym experience, and, frankly, no idea what it feels like to have a fit upper body.

If you feel that the social factor is going to help you stick with your new program, I should talk to your room mates and see if they want to join you for a bit of upper body work. My advice is to forget the gym, buy your own free wights for at home. They are a lot cheaper and more convinient, especially when you are just starting off. You can get together with your friends and experiment with what works. There is a lot you can do with just a set of dumbells and the variable resistance can be a good way of gaging progress. Pick a weight you handle for about 8 reps initially, keep training till you can do 12 then put the weight up a bit, taking you back down to 8 or so.

 

[Totenkindly]

I'm doing P90, which has some yoga mixed in; one day cardio, one day toning. There's push-ups in the toning set; they can be effective along with the others.... and yes I do the pushups with my knees on the ground rather than the toes right now, I can't do them otherwise. (I have trouble even with these.) But I put on muscle from it and can do more than when I started. There's a set of normal pushups, a set of wide pushups, and then a set with some wide, some narrow, and some normal. I'm also using the exercise band for all the other toning exercises and noticed improvements in capability over a month's time without putting on visually a bunch of muscle.

The bands have been effective. I think free weights are better than machines because you have to keep the weight steady when doing them, which builds additional tone in other muscles. If you don't have any strength, you should be able to buy dumbbells that are sufficient right now to tax your muscles. I think the discipline to stay on schedule with the routine is the hardest part. Self-discipline and all that.

 

[SD45T-2]

I've never been athletic. I manage to stay at a healthy weight by eating well and leading a lifestyle that involves lots of walking. I tried running, once, and I went about it completely the wrong way, so I had no fun and gave up after a few months. But as of the day after tomorrow, I'm going to try again, Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings, with my roommate. (I bought running shorts and everything!)

This anticipated change in lifestyle got me thinking about my lack of upper body strength, since my day-to-day physical activity is lower body only. I figure, since I'm making this big change in terms of lower body strength and aerobic exercise, I might as well fix this other problem too. (Maybe I could go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and pump some iron.)

So... if you have absolutely zero upper body strength, how do you go about trying to create it? I can't do real push-ups (only girl ones), and I'm pretty horrible at sit-ups too. I also have extremely limited knowledge of gym equipment, and -- most importantly -- how to use it over time, and how to check your progress with weights etc. Again, I'm essentially starting from nothing, so I have no gym experience, and, frankly, no idea what it feels like to have a fit upper body.

Back before my health went in the crapper, I had 3 different routines that I did twice a week. For example, Monday and Thursday were for biceps, forearms, abs, back, and traps. Tuesdays and Fridays were for pecks, delts, triceps. Wednesdays and Saturdays were for leg stuff. I also did jogging a cycling for cardio. This is probably beyong what you had in mind, and I don't think you're doing wrestling either.

At any rate, I'm sure Halla would be happy to give you adivce.

 

[disregard]

Two words Free weights

And push ups

And leg lifts abs

 

[Istbkleta]

Perhaps it's best to do something you love and have a long term goal within it that would require many smaller improvements.

Like competitive dancing would provide a long-term goal, competitions would provide milestones and social factor, and a step to that would be doing weights for body strength, not for itself but as a step towards winning your next competition.

Now replace dancing with something else that you feel is worthy of dedicating the next 20 years to. Fencing? Surfing? Whatever. You are an ESTJ, you prolly would love the long-term goal and structured competitions.

EDIT: It would be kind of like a part of who you are as an individual, rather than a cumbersome routine you need to do for some fleeting goal of looking good or whatever where you'll feel like you are working instead of having fun!

 

[lauranna]

I've never been athletic. I manage to stay at a healthy weight by eating well and leading a lifestyle that involves lots of walking. I tried running, once, and I went about it completely the wrong way, so I had no fun and gave up after a few months. But as of the day after tomorrow, I'm going to try again, Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings, with my roommate. (I bought running shorts and everything!)

This anticipated change in lifestyle got me thinking about my lack of upper body strength, since my day-to-day physical activity is lower body only. I figure, since I'm making this big change in terms of lower body strength and aerobic exercise, I might as well fix this other problem too. (Maybe I could go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and pump some iron.)

So... if you have absolutely zero upper body strength, how do you go about trying to create it? I can't do real push-ups (only girl ones), and I'm pretty horrible at sit-ups too. I also have extremely limited knowledge of gym equipment, and -- most importantly -- how to use it over time, and how to check your progress with weights etc. Again, I'm essentially starting from nothing, so I have no gym experience, and, frankly, no idea what it feels like to have a fit upper body.

Hey EJCC,

If you are starting from scratch and clueless with weights, probably most of these responses don't mean a lot to you.
If you are serious about improving upper body strength, you need to take a serious approach. If you meander around a gym aimlessly doing different weights at random, your programme has no structure to it and you won't notice results.
I would advise you see a professional or someone you know who has a lot of experience with weights and knows what they are doing. It is possible to see a personal trainer for a couple of sessions to get you started, learn the basics, get them to give you a structured weights programme and then work on this programme by yourself.
It really isn't complicated and doesn't need to be just to build up upper body strength, but it would help you to have someone who knows what they are doing show you as technique is really important when working with weights so you don't injure yourself.
So get someone to show you the exercises. Probably best to work on 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps with a minute rest between each set as someone mentioned earlier.
So for example you might start with shoulder press. Pick two dumbells and figure out what is the right weight so you can do more than 8 but no more than 12. Then do 3 sets with a minute break in between each. By the third set you may be struggling to do 8 but just do as many as you can.
The important thing about improving strength is to push yourself every single time. Every time you do this programme you should try and do an extra rep. I take a little diary with me to the gym and I write down what weight i lifted and how many reps. So I know next time what i have to improve on. When you can do 12, then move up to a heavier weight and go through it all again.
If you structure it you will definitely improve your strength. Even over a few weeks you will definitely notice a difference.

Most important thing anyone ever taught me was to write it down. And keep it structured. This should be easy for an ESTJ!

After a weights session, your muscles need protein, so either eat some form of protein as soon as possible after the session (preferably within 20 mins) Or buy a tub of Whey Protein powder and mix with water and drink after your session. It is the easiest way and if you buy plain whey protein, it is just like eating a chicken breast, it isn't like some kind of get massive body building supplement. And your muscles will need protein to get stronger.

Overall though, I would suggest you get someone to show you how to use weights as it can be kind of scary the first time and there is a risk of injury if you don't get the technique right. Once you know what you are doing though, it is very straightforward and addictive!

Good luck!

 

[wolfy]

Push ups off the knees are still effective, you're only reducing the load by changing leverage. I don't understand what your limits are in terms of equipment and time. Tell me that. But anyway, one effective trick is to lower slowly to build up strength, increase reps over time and then try moving to the next level.

Here is an example,
Push ups off the knees. Steady tempo, 4 beats down, 4 beats up.
Push up off the knees. Slow down, quick up.
Push ups off the knees. Push up off the knees, 3x3 holds on the way down and quick up.
Push ups knees off the floor down, on the floor up.
Push ups, steady tempo
and so on, changing leverage all the way up to feet elevated.

 

[Hyena]

I had a pretty weak upper body pretty much through all of high school. I didn't get into lifting until college started (fall 2009), and I had a pretty weak frame back then at 5'11" 155. I'm around 6'1" 180 right now thanks to training hard and smart. So I can level with you (I think!).

I don't know what your specific goals are, but based on personal experience...

What's going to get you a stronger upper body quickest is heavy compound lifts. It's a great place to begin. Start with the key ones - bench press, rows, military press, push ups, pull ups, squats, dead lifts, etc. The last two I mentioned are obviously more focused on the lower body, but they'll increase your body's natural GH output faster than anything else because they recruit muscle fibers like none other. Programs such as Starting Strength are terrific resources for people who are just getting started with strength training.

And sprints are your friend too. High intensity interval training allowed me to cut fat while putting on lean muscle.

 

[Thursday]

push ups while you hold in the up and down position for as long as you can. You can do this after a small set of push-ups to gain leaner but more enduring muscles.

 

[scienceresearcher]

I think a great introduction to upper body strengthening will come from going to the gym on the Tuesday and Thursday mornings as you said and go to the machine section of the weight room. Often times you'll see a human picture with muscles highlighted to show which area of the upper body is being targeted. To me, those are the best methods to getting started for a few reasons;

1.) You can easily change the weight by pulling out a pin and sticking it into the desired resistance.
2.) It usually emphasizes good form because it's more isolated.
3.) It's really easy to keep track of how much weight you are doing for future reference.
4.) The roid dudes will never be found on the machines and will leave you alone.

Chest:

Tricep:

Lateral Pull Downs (Back):

Seat Rows (Back):

The max number of videos allowed for a post us 4 so I have to end it here. Good luck!

 

[Randomnity]

I'm doing P90, which has some yoga mixed in; one day cardio, one day toning.

Yeah, I like to pick and choose the P90x videos (or I would, if I was actually still motivated enough to do them lately). There's a shoulders and arms workout and a chest and back workout (or something along those lines). Some of them involve pullups but those could be replaced with resistance bands or even an unrelated exercise.

Girl pushups are better than nothing, and if you stick with those regularly, you should be able to get to regular pushups eventually (and even if not, you'll still build some muscle, even though it likely won't be visible).

I should really put more effort into this sometime too, since everything I do activity-wise is mostly lower body, like you.

 

[Totenkindly]

Girl pushups are better than nothing, and if you stick with those regularly, you should be able to get to regular pushups eventually (and even if not, you'll still build some muscle, even though it likely won't be visible).

Yes, I could actually feel some strength building up when I was doing the pushups regularly.

I should really put more effort into this sometime too, since everything I do activity-wise is mostly lower body, like you.

So far I haven't really gotten much upper-body mass developed from doing the workouts (with resistance bands), which is good... but I'm definitely getting stronger. I just have a little concern about it, I don't want mass up there, so we'll see what happens.

 

[Randomnity]

oh, in my head I was aiming that more towards EJCC, but I can see that I didn't really do that effectively, haha.

But yeah, it seems pretty common for women to have low upper body strength, even compared to men who don't exercise at all (grr). It's annoying.

 

[Lark]

You want rest days between workouts. Also, weights before cardio.

Really? Weights before cardio? This is interesting.

 

[Totenkindly]

If you burn all your energy before you try to lift, you won't have the energy to lift -- I assume.

So you lift, then use cardio to burn whatever energy you haven't used.