Today’s question: What are the best upper body weight training exercises? Before I get into this one I want to make a very important point. You should train your whole body all the time, don’t just hit the upper body weight training moves. I could write a whole post about the importance of training legs, but we’ll save that for another day. Just know two things…1. you don’t want to get the “ostrich look” (skinny legs and big upper body, and 2. big leg exercises help release natural testosterone while helps build muscle in your ENTIRE body.
Upper Body Muscle Groups
Upper body weight training involves the following muscle groups:
- Chest
- Back
- Shoulders
- Biceps
- Triceps
- Abs
So what I’m going to do is list my top exercises for each body part. There’s two general rules I like to follow when selecting weight training exercises for my workout routines. Here they are:
- Compound exercises build more muscle
- The harder the exercise the better results you’ll get from it
Now those rules aren’t set in stone, but they’re good general guidelines to follow when selecting your exercises. And when you see the exercises I have selected below, you’ll see they meet both those criteria.
Best Upper Body Weight Training Exercises
Chest
- Dumbbell Bench Press
- Incline Bench Press
- Weighted Dip
Back
- Wide Grip Pull Up
- Deadlift
- Barbell Row
Shoulders
- Military Press
- Dumbbell Press
- Upright Row (the works both the traps and middle delts)
Biceps
- Preacher Curl
- Decline Curl
- Dumbbell Hammer Curl
Triceps
- Close Grip Bench Press
- Skullcrusher
- Dips (close grip to emphasize the triceps)
Abs
- Decline Leg Raise With Hip Thrust
- Weighted Decline Side Taps
- Weighted Hanging Knee Raise
The exercises listed above are my top picks for upper body weight training. If you need some tips on technique when using these exercises please post in the comments below and I’ll be more than happy to help you out.
Before I end this post I just need to hit on this point again, TRAIN LEGS! If you start doing heavy squats, stiff leg deadlifts, lunges etc. you’ll notice the gains across your whole body. Not only that, your physique will look balanced. Leg training is hard, but 100% worth it.