Top body exercises

Hi all. I'm fairly new here but was wondering if anyone can give some advice/tips on exercises that concentrate on the upper body.

To put you in the picture, I am getting married next year and have recently bought my wedding dress. It is a full skirt so I feel quite 'hidden' with it on, but I'd love to tone my arms, and if possible, reduce my huuuuuge boobs.

Thanks in advance for any replies :)
 
Hi MariahClairey! Four of the best upper body exercises in my opinion are chin ups, pull ups, push ups and dips. All of these exercises can be performed with minimal or no equipment. There are numerous variations and progressions for each of the exercises. Using a few variations of each would give better results, allow for faster recovery and is more fun than doing the exact same thing over and over again.


Ideally, you should start at the highest progression that you are able to perform. If that is the easiest version of the exercise then so be it. Keep working at it and progress when it feels easy. The goal would be to be able to perform the normal pattern of the exercises and then progress further from there if you wish.


If chin ups and dips are out of your reach at this point, the fastest way to increase your strength enough is doing only the negative or eccentric phase of the movement. Using the chin up as an example, step on an object that allows you to grab a bar at the top position of a chin up and lift your legs up. From here, try to slowly lower yourself back onto the box. At first this might be really fast depending on your current strength but aim for 30 seconds on the lowering. Negatives are extremely taxing on your muscles if done correctly so give yourself at least 90 seconds before doing another rep. Try repeating 5 times, maybe 2-3 times a week. You might need to increase your grip strength before progressing to the negatives. The best way to do this is by hanging. Increase the time from a few seconds in the beginning to up to (or even more than) 1 minute. Make sure to take care of your hands as they could blister if you're not used to this.


I would also suggest you do some work for the lower body as well such as squats, deadlifts etc. to prevent any lower/upper body imbalances which could also lead to injuries.


Hope this helps :)
 
Hi MariahClairey, here are some effective bodyweight exercises you can do at home (without equipment):
- pushups
- squats
- lunges
- burpees
- wall sit
- plank
- bridge
- jumping jacks
- high knees running in place
- calf raises

What you can try is pick 2 exercises and do one after another without rest in between. This is a superset. When one rep of superset is done, take 1 minute rest and repeat for a second rep. You'll want to do 3 reps per superset, 3 supersets per routine.

Hope this helps.
 
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