How to get a stronger upper body fast?

prescottgal7 wrote: »

Planks. Planks and more planks. You’ll gain good upper body strength from this deceptively simple excercise.

Planks are primarily a core exercise.

DevilsFan1 wrote: »

prescottgal7 wrote: »

Planks. Planks and more planks. You’ll gain good upper body strength from this deceptively simple excercise.

Planks are primarily a core exercise.

Not if you're doing them right.

DevilsFan1 wrote: »

stanmann571 wrote: »

DevilsFan1 wrote: »

prescottgal7 wrote: »

Planks. Planks and more planks. You’ll gain good upper body strength from this deceptively simple excercise.

Planks are primarily a core exercise.

Not if you're doing them right.

Yes, they are. The will work other muscles to some extent, but there are much more efficient exercises for arms/chest/shoulders/back than planks.

Not really-- Do 5-10 minutes as below. You'll get plenty of arm, back, chest, shoulder work.


1. Floor plank-Lay flat on your face/belly(Think Superman pose) beginning with your toes, introduce tension into your muscles maintaining tension as you go until you are tense from head to toe. Pay special attention to glutes, and abs. Hold for 15-30 seconds then release the same way.
2. High Plank-Same as above, but as the tension passes through your shoulders, begin to draw your arms under your shoulder blades and finish in a "pushup position" Hold 15-30 seconds to begin.. but no more than 120. -Lower to floor and release tension as before.
3. Low plank-Same as above, but after a brief pause at the top, lower to 90 degrees arm bend for 5-10 seconds before reversing up, and relaxing down and out. This one can be held for up to 30 seconds if desired.

Don't try the low plank until you can hold the high for 45 seconds or so. IF you don't have a timer or someone time for you, use breaths/heartbeats... 1 natural(not exaggerated) slow breath(in/out) is about 5 seconds.


Once you master the above series, incorporate knees to elbows and shoulder touches.

Once you master the shoulder touches-incorporate weights... starting with 15-25 lb dumbbell/Kbells

make sure you eat enough protein, for your arms you want to be doing bicep curls and tricep pushdowns.

your triceps are a bigger part of your arm than the biceps.

do high reps, like find a weight that you can curl for 20 / 30 reps, do that 5 times with a minute or two rest in between. when you can do those five sets comfortably, increase the weight a little bit.

J_Fairfax wrote: »

make sure you eat enough protein, for your arms you want to be doing bicep curls and tricep pushdowns.

your triceps are a bigger part of your arm than the biceps.

do high reps, like find a weight that you can curl for 20 / 30 reps, do that 5 times with a minute or two rest in between. when you can do those five sets comfortably, increase the weight a little bit.

she is looking to build muscle - why would you recommend a rep range that is for endurance, not muscle building??

J_Fairfax wrote: »

Because for a natural lifter doing high rep ranges absolutely does build muscle. High frequency and high volume works really well for hypertrophy in arms.

Plus for someone starting out with a very low base of strength, going heavy early and often can lead to injuries, especially on things like the elbows, wrists, shoulders and the associated tendons.

At the moment the OP is struggling with relatively low weights, personally I think that high volume and high frequency would be the best way to go to see quick results safely.

The high rep ranges would really allow the OP to practice the form through sheer number of repetitions and then when comfortable with the exercises and has made some progression, she would be able to push the max weight.

Speaking from my personal experience when I go heavy (for me) say 100lbs + on barbell curls I end up with really annoying pain in my wrists that lasts for a few weeks.

But if I do a high volume of cable curls or cable tricep pushdowns I am able to really work the muscle, get an excellent pump and I have seen good results in terms of my arm development and strength.

As a beginner/novice female, there's less than zero reason for her to be doing curls. She needs to develop general basic strength to include grip strength. Which means dumping the isolation/bro exercises and focusing on compound lifts.