Hey all,

Ive read some posts on here before where it sounded like a few of you are quite into fitness, so wondered if you might be able to give some advice please?

Im looking to improve my upper body strength, but fairly quickly.
The reason is im may be going into a new job and would benefit from more strength (dont want it to be short lived due to being seen as too weak to keep up the work)
My aim is to see some change in the first 2/3 month (the quicker the better), then to keep on top of it (the results will hopefully encourage me to do so).

The problem is i will be doing this from home with weights/dumbells for now then maybe gym/home gym.

So what sort of excersises/movements would people recommend and what to avoid (ie things that dont really work like people think).
It would mainly be the shoulders, chest, bicep/tricep and forearm.

Also, are these creatine powders etc actually worth it? Do they make any difference?

All comments/suggstions welcome

Be honest, do you want strength or do you want to look good?

Chest:

Flat / incline / decline barbell & dumbell press, dumbell flyes.

Back:

Deadlifts, dumbell pullovers, barbell & dumbell row, pull ups (find a bar and hang it off something!), barbell & dumbell shrugs.

Legs:

Squats, lunges, stiff leg deadlift, sissy squats, donkey calf raises (have somone sit on your back and use some steps - google it for pics)

Shoulders:

Military press, dumbell press, side laterals, rear laterals.

Biceps:

Barbell & dumbell curl, seated dumbell, incline dumbell, hammer curl.

Triceps:

Narrow grip bench press, lying barbell extension, overhead barbell & dumbell extension.


Don't leave out your legs, if you do start to build your upper body you'll look a right tit with no legs.

Don't get too het up with supplements yet, use food first.

paulbfd said:

Don't leave out your legs, if you do start to build your upper body you'll look a right tit with no legs.

Don't get too het up with supplements yet, use food first.

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:yeahthat:
Plus working your lower body gives you 50% extra testosterone release for gaining muscle mass So effectively working half your body you're only getting half the resources.. Plus what use is haveing strong arms and not being able to carry anything becuase your legs will give way..

If you're at home, you dont neccessarily need to have any weights... You can use your own bodyweight. As you grow, so will the resistance

Pressups are great for the chest / shoulders / triceps. Varying the width of grip has effects the bias of shoulder/tricep to chest effort. Also vary the angle of your legs - ie place them on a chair or table. This has the effect of bench pressing on an incline bench. If resistance gets easy, have someone sit on you whilst doing it

The home equivilant of a military press - do a handstand against a wall. Lower your arms then push back up. Thats a nasty one but very good for the shoulders.

For upper back and biceps/forearms, lift yourself up from a door frame / get a chin bar. If its too easy with 2 arms, work one at a time... Vary grip width and try palms facing you and then palms away - to affect different parts of the muscle.

Situps / crunches / leg raises all easy to do, and well worth doing.

And remembers, its not the amount and weight that matters, its the form you do it in. Do too many wrong and you'll hurt yourself. Control each rep. Take your time on each (do it slow) and you'll really feel it

Then when you're ready, get to the gym to use the proper weights. IMO, the home multigyms are a waste of money and no substitute for proper seperate equipment. If you insist on staying at home, get a bench that the angle varies (from flat to upright) and a good set of dumbells (which lock - the york ones arent good enough for proper workouts as the weights fall off the end when doing some exercises). Not alot you cant do with a good set of dumbells

I wouldnt bother with creatine. Your body produces it naturally, and found in foods if you eat properly. Any excess is wasted (expelled) so theres no point in overloading with it One thing that you should get alot of is protein. At this stage you may not need powders / bars - just eat lots of meat and fish etc. Oh and take vitimins and cod liver oil, look afer your joints

cod liver oil = :worship:


greasy wastage though

I'm 19 and I NEED IT to get thru the winter (knee still bad from bad bike accident).

You say you need upper body strength, but you will find that most heavy lifting is using thigh muscles for the initial lift.

So as said above do an all over workout.

Cheers guys, much better response than i expected :slayer:

The reason i say upper body first is my legs have always been strong. All the sports i used to do were driven from the legs so my upper body kind of got left behind (now its getting tubby ).

Think ill get meself a bench in the jan sales (argos always have a sale on fitness stuff after crimbo cos every puts weight on + new years resolutions) and some more weights.

Are there better places to buy from than Argos? Would have thought they will have a markup on them.

And as some of the excersises above im not familiar with, is there any site that would be usefull for me to find out what they all are?


Cheers again peoples.

You havn't said what this new job may be.. are you planing on becoming a male gigalo?

Hellcat said:

You havn't said what this new job may be.. are you planing on becoming a male gigalo?

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Rent boy

Its basically industrial abseiling. I know people who do it and they say it really takes it out of your arms.

sweet..!

washing windows and installing signage?

Hellcat said:

sweet..!

washing windows and installing signage?

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Well hopefully ill get on the rigs, but i may end up doing that stuff yeah.

Will eventually do NDT, but when money permits.

Woah some of the rigs we get on the headland are masssssive!

Ive worked on the contstruction of a couple that were built on the headland.
But they are babies compared to some.

Technically that one was built at the main shed, but they all get floated from the headland quay!