Increasing Upper Body Strength

[KYFireWire]

I am female and I want to increase upper body strength. I have been lifting weights but I have not seen much increase in upper body strength. I am not really experienced in this area (kind of ignorant) and would appreciate any tips. Thanks in advance.

Melanie

[Steamer]

Mike Stefano has a series of really good conditioning related articles here at FH.com. This link is for the last article written. (http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?id=8711&sectionId=11)

He also has a website (http://www.firefightersworkout.com/) that has some really good information as well.

[Darcyf5g]

Hi Melanie,

I'm curious to see what responses you get. I had planned to ask the very same question. I have the same concerns. I'm doing a lot of weights as well, but is it enough?

Darcy

[KYFireWire]

Thanks for all your help.

This article is helpful.

http://www.firefightersworkout.com/fitbyte53.html

It looks like I'm doing too many reps and less weight. I need to increase weight and do less reps.

[EricCSU]

If you want to build strength, there are a few hard and fast rules:

1. Use heavy weights
2. A set should never last for more than 8 reps
3. Only do multi-joint exercises
4. Stay away from machines

For upper body, this means that your best friends should be (listed in priority, i.e. #1 is best):

Back:
1. Pull-ups (palms facing away, hands shoulder width apart)(if you can do more than 8, use a dip belt and add some weight)
2. One arm dumbell rows
3. Bent over barbell rows
4. Dumbell shrugs

Chest/Shoulder/Triceps:
1. Dips (if you can do more than 8, use a dip belt and slap some weight on there)
2. Barbell Bench Press
3. Dumbell Bench Press
4. Incline Barbell Bench Press
5. Incline Dumbell Bench Press

A few words on these: If you are hitting your chest hard, there will be no need to do any shoulder exercises (presses and side raises). If you do, you will probably be overtraining. Unless you have an injury or significant weakness, your shoulders will respond to all of the above exercises.

Triceps:
1. Close grip bench press
2. Overhead dumbell press
3. Dumbell kickbacks (the one exception to the rules above; these can be very beneficial if done correctly).

Biceps:
1. Barbell curls
2. Barbell reverse curls
3. Dumbell curls

Obviously, don't do all of these exercises. Here is how I combine mine:

Dips 1x8, 1xfailure
Pullups 1x8, 1xfailure
Incline Dumbell Press 1xfailure
One arm dumbell row 1xfailure
Close grip bench press 1x8, 1xfailure
Kickbacks 1x8, 1xfailure
Barbell Curls 1x8, 1xfailure
Dumbell Curls 1xfailure

The failure set is a test to see if I'm doing the correct amount of weight. If I can get 10 or more, I increase the weight. If I can't get 7, I decrease the weight.

This program is working very well for me because I know what my body needs very well after 10 years of weight lifting. For most people, they would need more sets of the chest and back exercises and less of the tricep and bicep exercises. I've just learned (trial and error), that my arms need to be hit with a lot of sets to grow.

If you are not sore, you need heavier weights.

Send me a private message if you have more questions.

Eric

[allamericankid]

Hey Ladies,
A great way to increase strength is through pyramid training.

Push-Ups - 2 reps
3 reps
4 reps
5 reps
6 reps
5 reps
4 reps
3 reps
2 reps
You can see that you start with the lowest number of reps and then increase by a certain number of reps and then decreasing reps. You can this same training with weights!

[supremerddragon]

AllAmericanKid is right you trick your body by doing a certain weight one week but the following week do less weight than your max than increase your max weight by about 5 lbs.

my max butterfly (pectorials)is 25 lbs.
pyramiding i do 10 reps of 20 lbs.
than 8 reps of 25, than finally 6 reps of 30 lbs.

just a suggestion but it works...

ryan

[jessek60]

have you ventured the thought of supplements?

i was very pro all natural, til my lifting buddy went on creatine
he added about 40 pounds to his bench in 2 weeks and dramatic gains after that, i took it myself and being bigger i think it affected me more i added 50 pounds to my bench

i also now do a different work out, i inquire them all in one
i gear all the way up,(scba) i run like a lil it not alot then i do 10 push ups then, run 15 push ups, and so on and back down, i like the work out alot i get use to the gear i get stanima and strength, good deal in my eyes

[sbfd289]

Be careful with creatine. I am in no way an expert in the subject, but as it stands, I don't believe anyone is on the effects long term. There are many discussions that I have found pro creatine and anti creatine. I myself have been toying with the idea of using creatine, however after seeing the articles I have chosen not to use the product. For more info, do a net search on the long term effects or anything. One discussion board I saw that had alot of different opinions can be viewed here:
http://www.nutritionalsupplements.com/creatine14yearold.html

although it pertains to a 14 year old, alot of the information there pertains to the use of it.

Hope this helps...

Take care stay safe...