Your workout routine must include various exercises that target different parts of the body. This will ensure that you get lean and strong muscles proportionally across your body and avoid any muscle imbalances. One of the first areas fitness enthusiasts focus on when working out is the upper body. The upper body consists of the chest and shoulders, back, neck, and arms. Even on those days when you can’t make it to the gym, you can engage in plenty of exercises that can help you build your upper body.
In this blog, let us look at 5 effective upper body workouts that you can do at home with minimal or no equipment.
Continue your upper body workout at home with the following five chest, back, and arm exercises.
Push-Ups
The always dependable push-ups are the most popular exercise for developing the upper body. They not only target the arms and chest but also wonderfully work the abs and are great trap workouts. They can be done anywhere and with no equipment since they’re a bodyweight workout. Here’s how you can perform push-ups to develop your upper body effectively:
- Get down into plank position with palms below shoulders
- Ensure your body is in a straight line
- Lower yourself by bending the elbows until your nose almost touches the ground
- Lift yourself back up and repeat
Dumbbell Rows
Moving on to the upper back, the dumbbell rows are an excellent workout to develop the latissimus dorsi and rhomboid muscles at the back. If you have a pair of dumbbells at home, you can easily strengthen your back using this workout. To perform dumbbell rows:
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold a dumbbell in each hand
- Slightly bend over at your hips keeping your back straight
- You should also bend your knees a bit
- Now pull the dumbbells towards your hips while squeezing your shoulder blades together
- Lower the dumbbells down and repeat
Triceps Dips
The next workout for your upper body is good old triceps dips. They’re highly effective for the triceps muscles of your arms and require only a low bench or chair. In addition to triceps, this workout also targets the chest and shoulders.
- Sit on the edge of a chair or table with your palms beside your hips
- Straighten your legs in front of you on the floor
- Now slowly lift yourself off the table and lower your body down until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle
- Return to the edge of the chair and repeat
Bicep Curls
Bicep curls using dumbbells are a staple of arm workouts and one of the best upper-body exercises. You may have seen fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders engaging in bicep curls so many times. They’re highly effective in bulking up and strengthening the biceps. Let’s learn how you can do straightforward bicep curls.
- Stand firmly with your feet hip-width apart and hold a dumbbell in each hand
- With palms facing forward, lift the dumbbells to your chest
- Lower them back down and repeat the movement
Shoulder Press
With the chest, biceps, triceps, and back worked up, it’s time to target the shoulder muscles with this simple dumbbell workout. Shoulder presses work on the deltoid muscles of the shoulders. Here’s how to perform a shoulder press.
- You can do this exercise standing or sitting
- Hold the dumbbells at shoulder height beside your ears
- Now lift both weights until your arms are extended fully
- Proceed to lower the weights back to shoulder height and repeat
You can build an enviable upper body with lean and prominent biceps, triceps, chest muscles, shoulders and back using the above home workouts. They’re easy to learn and require little equipment. Of course, visiting a gym is ideal to access all workout machines. But in the case when you’re unable to visit a gym, you can engage in upper-body workouts at home.
Is it okay to work out the upper body every day?
Fitness experts always advise against working out every day since that can lead to overuse injuries and not give enough time for your muscles to repair themselves and recover. Always set aside rest s in between your workout days to give your body sufficient time to recover.
What exercise should I do for my upper body?
You can do a plethora of exercises to build your upper body like:
- Push-ups
- Triceps dips
- Bicep curls
- Shoulder presses
- Dumbbell rows
How can I build my upper body without equipment?
It is entirely possible to build your upper body with home workouts by using minimal to no equipment. Engage in bodyweight exercises like push-ups, planks, bicep curls, triceps dips, etc.
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