Useful extras

July 02, 2008

Up your upper-body strength

By Kashi Read more 30 day challenge, daily challenge, strength, toning up, and workouts
Challenge Yourself for: 30 days

There are numerous health benefits associated with strength training. Yet many people neglect their biceps, triceps, lats, deltoids, and pecs. Upper body strength has many rewards: a leaner, more defined physique and a higher total muscle mass (leading to increased metabolism). Better still, you have more applied strength – which means your shopping bags will feel lighter. This month, challenge yourself to start building up your upper body strength by doing some form of training at least 2 days per week. _Always consult a physician before starting any exercise routine._ _(When logging progress for this challenge, only log as many days as you participated the activity within the 30-day time frame.)_

Track Your Progress

My Progress: Join this challenge and start watching your progress grow!

Community Progress: 88% success

Community Stats

60 participants 151 entries logged

Have something to add? Share it here.

  1. 48_christmas_2007_006
    imrose2u commented on this. over 2 years ago

    I use 5 pound weights, and I work on my arms first for about 20 minutes.I do this at least 5 days a week. My problem is staying motivated. It gets boring after a while.I lve to take walks, but it’s getting too hot, so I’m now using my mini trampoline. It’s fun when I have the energy, but sometimes I’m too tired after a long day at work.I’m like a yoyo. My weight is up and down.

  2. User_48
    shellp commented on this. about 3 years ago

    This was done with a 4 lb. weight loss & 3 inches in 3 wks doing the New You, New Year 2009 Sparks Boot Camp at SparkPeople.com- & it was all ‘free’.

  3. User_48
    marthagarriga commented on this. about 3 years ago

    I joined today, looking forward to tomorrow to start the programs. I have tried to loose weight for the last 5 years and i have not been able to loose ,well i would loose 3or 5 pounds and would not loose anymore, no mather what I did. I have tried expensive diets that left me tired. I have hypothyroidism and in order to loose pounds i must get up and move, this is were the problem starts,i also have osteoarthritis , I would love ideas on how to work around this. I do love the way this progam is helping people.

  4. 48_stress
    Beautysparkle commented on this. over 3 years ago

    I do push ups and crunches in my dance class at school.

  5. User_48
    pjoy17 commented on this. over 3 years ago

    On Saturdays I do a Ball class, Monday is Yoga and body sculpt, Tuesday is the band blast class and yoga, Thursday is cross training and pilates, Friday is yoga and pilates

  6. User_48
    tdiprincess commented on this. over 3 years ago

    So I started adding pushups to my routine.. Right now I can only do about 3 set’s of 4.. but with time I’d like to increase that! I also right now instead of weights have been using milk jugs filled with water.. I’ve been using that for arm workouts.

  7. User_48
    tdiprincess commented on this. over 3 years ago

    I have done push ups off and on for a long time. This will motivate me to do them regularly. I workout 3x’s a week, I think I’ll incorporate push-ups in!

  8. User_48
    TnT73 commented on this. over 3 years ago

    I hated pushups for the longest time.I have been lifting for 20 years now and as akid I would see these guys in the gym with huge upperbody and want to build like them.Thats when one of them told me the best advice ever. He said he always starts and ends his workouts with pushups and crunches.Especially on his chest days.

  9. User_48
    queendd commented on this. over 3 years ago

    I have been lifting with two of my friends at the local gym for the past year. We were meeting just once a week until this summer. Now we meet twice a week and have added yoga once a week. I am adding an additional yoga day to my week starting tomorrow. I do cardio 3-5 times a week also.

  10. 48_golfrrgrrl
    golfrrgrrl commented on this. over 3 years ago

    I golf and a big part of that is an entire body workout. You work your entire bopy on every shot but especially out of the tee box. I also have a practice area at home I can use any time.

  11. 48_embracing_my_baby
    Kristopher commented on this. over 3 years ago

    My favorite toys are my Elite Rings. They’re portable gymnast rings and make any floor exercise brutal. Push-ups are tough because not only do you have sideways movement to worry about, they can also travel forwards and backwards! This means you have to keep constant tension the entire time. I usually do sets of 20. Dips are even harder. I usually do around 8 on my sets.

    A great exercise to build upper body strength, particularly in the shoulders, is to do handstands against a wall. Stand about a foot, foot-and-a-half away from a wall and kick up into a handstand, allowing your feet to rest on the wall (keep proper technique- straight body, straight legs, etc.). Try to hold it for as long as you can. If you feel strong enough, try doing Handstand Push-Ups!

    I have to do chest and biceps today, so I’ll post that workout when I finish it!

  12. User_48
    mmaclellan commented on this. over 3 years ago

    I hate push ups! Actually, I hated them. Then I saw how efficiently and effectively they’ve strengthened and toned my triceps, shoulders, back and how they’ve helped me improve my core stability. I do three sets of 15 a day. They’re kind of a one-stop upper body workout and it’s completely worth the few minutes it takes to do them each day. My new goal is to tweak the push up each week to target new muscle groups and continue challenging my body.

  13. 48_kashi_dot_com_pic
    roryatkashi commented on this. over 3 years ago

    Even without handles, pushups are on of the best overall toning exercises you can do. By keeping your body rigid like a plank and moving it as one unit (as opposed to keeping your pelvis up in the air or near the ground), you can work out your arms, shoulders, chest and core all at once. My goal for this challenge is to do pushups at least 4 days a week all summer. If you want motivation to do pushups, consider this: even the strongest people have difficulty doing pushups for more than two consecutive minutes, meaning that even if you try, it will be hard to make your set of pushups last longer than a commercial break. Of course pushups aren’t for everybody, but they work well for me.

  14. 48_p6240201
    Makeithappen83 commented on this. over 3 years ago

    I just got these new push-up assistant things, called the “Perfect Push-up)—as seen on tv—they’re basically these strong handles that you set on the floor & hold onto while doing push ups, it helps you to keep better form and works more muscles cuz they swivel on a base under them and you are twisting your hands back and forth as you go up and down, just wanted to let people out there know that its a great piece of equipment for the upper body and not a gimmick