Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 80 total)
  • Best way to improve upper body strength
  • Conqueror
    Free Member

    OK so I’m thinking I could do with improving my upper body strength, don’t want to pay for gym particularly

    was thinking

    -go swimming loads (my fitness is quite lame atm as well – so it would help that too)
    -get some cheap weights, which ones?

    any suggestions

    ta

    DrP
    Full Member

    Dumbbells and a bench…
    About £60 for a bench, about £20-30 for the weights..

    Do you have an android phone? If so, get Jefit as it’s an incredible free weights workout guide, otherwise google ‘dumbbell exercises’..

    DrP

    qwerty
    Free Member

    use bodyweight resistance exercises (chin ups, tricep dips, press ups) find a Royal Marine to show you all manner of variety

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

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    DrP
    Full Member

    Or the real cheap option is to do press ups (and variations on those), and chin ups (and the variations on THOSE!)

    DrP

    EDIT – too slow – curse my bulging biceps limiting mobility….

    Conqueror
    Free Member

    Bench is a reasonable idea but don’t have space

    What rough kg value of weights to start with?

    Keef
    Free Member

    ride a Singlespeed,up lots of techy climbs,a lot……

    mooman
    Free Member

    press-ups are an easy option.

    Alternate then by doing them flat on floor one day and legs on a chair the next.
    You will be surprised how quickly you can build up to a hundred.

    BenHouldsworth
    Free Member

    Get kettlebells. A 16kg and a 24kg. Too much to tell you here but go to CrossFit.com for videos and Dragon Door.
    I SWEAR TO GOD, I’ve done it all but kettlebells, body weight squats and push ups will see you right.

    SurroundedByZulus
    Free Member

    Take up bouldering.

    DrP
    Full Member

    Get a “starter” 20kg set (so 10kg each side). For MOST exercises (except bench press) that’s a good start, as if you’re focussing on TECHNIQUE (not just ‘wanging’ weights all over the shop) then you’ll struggle with 10k at first.
    The next step would be to get 2 10kg plates (as above, 20kg is a good lift for a starter)

    There you go..

    DrP

    DrP
    Full Member

    The crossfit site looks good too.

    CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.

    Interesting how they fail to mention tubby middle managers and lazy students wishing to impress the fit bird in their class…..

    DrP

    chutney13
    Free Member

    http://hundredpushups.com/

    this is surprisingly effective.

    seanoc
    Free Member

    Press up’s, dorsal raises, heaves, chin ups, dips. you’ll be strong in no time….that’ll cover shoulders, chest, back, arms.

    Swimming is only good exercise if you actually know how to swim…it’s all technique and you’ll get put off when some fat knacker with good technique just floats by when you’re on max revs.

    paul4stones
    Full Member

    Surrounded By Zulus – Member
    Take up bouldering.

    Yep

    DrP
    Full Member

    Buy a fixie and figure out where all the gurt big hills in your area are (for me, they are ALL on my commute)….

    Have a 10kg baby who is a real challenge to hold, yet wants you to pick him up all the time…

    Both the above seem to have increased my biceps somewhat!

    DrP

    5thElefant
    Free Member
    dafunkphenomenon
    Free Member

    Don’t worry about a bench, though if you do have room I would recommend getting an exercise ball. Can do loads of stuff with that complimented by the weights DrP put above. Also push up bars are good for press ups, protecting your wrists and allow you to get down further.

    scott_mcavennie2
    Free Member

    Past few months I’ve been doing a lot of press ups, chin ups and sit ups. Noticed a hell of an improvement to my bike fitness through doing it.

    We got one of those Powerbar chin up bars that sits on the door frame (no drilling required) for a tenner off ebay. Great investment.

    scott_mcavennie2
    Free Member
    Keva
    Free Member

    agree with scott. press ups and chins etc…

    these are good…

    Hindu Press Up
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcW61Bb8uOo

    Kev

    wpuk
    Free Member

    Go to the pool

    At the end of your swimming session go to the deep end and hang on the edge underwater, raise yourself out and keep going till your upper body is out the water and your arms are straight (basically from a pull up position into a tricep press)

    Not quite fit enough, do it in water shallow enough so when you hang on the edge (with straight arms) your feet just touch the bottom, give a small push with your legs and let your momentum and strength finish the move

    Getting better at it, do a length underwater and then crack straight into the exercise, once your exhausted, sprint swim back to the shallow end

    Getting fitter still, when your doing the exercise, pull and push with enough force that Shen your arms go fully extended into the tricep press you fling yourself in the air a bit

    Also do press-ups and sit-ups at home

    themanfromdelmonte
    Free Member

    You need a montage.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU9Uwhjlog8

    😆

    I registered just to post that.

    SurroundedByZulus
    Free Member

    There is a lot of nonsense being spouted as usual in one of these threads.

    Getting stronger is an incredibly simple thing to do. It gets complicated by people who don’t know what they’re talking about.

    I have a guy in my class spends around 3hrs/day in the gym doing all manner of weird and wonderful exercises and he is built like the proverbial brick outhouse. The other day he was trying to show off by holding a medicine ball out to the side at shoulder height with one straight arm and seeing how long he could hold it for. I whooped his arse – my strength comes from riding my bike and a wee bit of climbing and bouldering. I am skinny and have puny arms, but see to be really strong. 😀

    wpuk
    Free Member

    Nonsense … as opposed to ego stroking? What you have is a developed lactic acid tolerance, something to train for in an all round package but under no guise is it strength

    Konastoner
    Free Member

    I am skinny and have puny arms, but see to be really strong

    Surrounded By Zulus, I dare say the other guy would bench press a lot more than you. Don’t get confused by strength and endurance.

    Conquerer, I have some good PDF’s that used before. Send me a PM and i’ll let you have them.

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    I have a guy in my class spends around 3hrs/day in the gym doing all manner of weird and wonderful exercises and he is built like the proverbial brick outhouse. The other day he was trying to show off by holding a medicine ball out to the side at shoulder height with one straight arm and seeing how long he could hold it for. I whooped his arse – my strength comes from riding my bike and a wee bit of climbing and bouldering. I am skinny and have puny arms, but see to be really strong.

    You seem to have confused strength and endurance.

    paul4stones
    Full Member

    My wife says I always feel really strong when we strip the willow at ceilidhs.

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    I do squats in the front garden with 150% of my bodyweight held straight-armed above my head – teeth clenched and screaming “who’s the daddy?” in a Frank Sidebottom voice. I don’t think the screaming’s necessary but stops me having to make conversation with the neighbours

    TheBrick
    Free Member

    This worked for Mick Murphy, and he even won a bike race.

    Mike Murphy’s victory in the 1958 Ras Tailtean has the whiff of a movie script about it. He was a poor labourer who dreamt of winning Ireland’s toughest cycling race . In keeping with the best traditions of Hollywood the 26-year-old underdog, after completing an epic journey, crossed the finish line in Dublin as champion.

    The myth that has grown up around Murphy and his exploits is captured in the following quote from documentary maker Liam O’Brien.

    In the case of the Kerry cyclist Mike Murphy, ‘The Iron Man’, the truth exceeds the legend and the legend… Well the legend goes a bit like this: he trained with weights made from stones, he made a living as a circus performer, on one stage in the 1958 Ras, after his bike had broken down, he stole an ordinary bicycle from a farmer and chase down the leading pack. It’s said that he rode for three days with a broken collarbone, that he would cycle for forty miles having completed a grueling stage just to cool down, that he drank cow’s blood and ate raw meat .it said he was indestructible.http://irishcycling.wordpress.com/2007/01/17/mick-murphy-cycling-hero-2/

    SurroundedByZulus
    Free Member

    Haven’t confused anything with anything. He was shaking all over the place right from the start, I wasn’t moving.

    There were a number of other tests that we did where I beat him by a mile. This is leading him to radically change his training and include much more in the way of core stability and also to develop his ability to recruit specific muscles – so he’s going climbing and taking up yoga.

    franciscobegbie
    Free Member

    Haven’t confused anything with anything. He was shaking all over the place right from the start, I wasn’t moving.

    There were a number of other tests that we did where I beat him by a mile. This is leading him to radically change his training and include much more in the way of core stability and also to develop his ability to recruit specific muscles – so he’s going climbing and taking up yoga.
    It sounds like the guy is more of a bodybuilder than anything else.
    While bodybuilders are big, they aren’t necessarily strong.
    Have you looked at Strongliftsyet?
    Very simple, very basic, very effective. You need access to a gym though.
    I started following the stronglifts programme at the start of January and am finding it great. Hard work though!

    trickydisco
    Free Member

    Turkish get up

    Great way of improving functional strength (i’m told)

    SurroundedByZulus
    Free Member

    Nah, he’s a rugby hooker.

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    While bodybuilders are big, they aren’t necessarily strong.

    I’ve never met one who isn’t strong. Endurance is another thing…

    wpuk
    Free Member

    Sounds like he’s still stroking his ego, whilst at the same time joining in with the nonsense he quoted from other posters, bloke trains 3 hours a day I’m not surprised he was shaking from the off, if your going to post crap at least make it believable. And I’m a little curious what muscles are you “specifically” recruiting by climbing, apart from if it’s upper body leverage your lats, your traps, your delts, biceps/triceps, brachorad….. and on, same goes for your legs.

    I’m not buying the fact that some bloke trains 3hours a day, even if it’s crappily and is now gaining more strength from climbing and friggin yoga

    The OP post asked for suggestions to improve his upper body strength and overall fitness, he mentioned swimming, so you could assume he likes doing it, if your climbing to improve your strength your climbing badly, if your advocating yoga as a strength builder over 3 hours in the gym, that’s some friggin smashing yoga routine you’ve got going there, not knocking yoga, if it floats your boat great, but it’s not 3 hours strength building in the gym

    To sum up, your talking nonsense

    fontmoss
    Free Member

    decent thread gets mired in nonsense. classic.

    SurroundedByZulus
    Free Member

    I’m glad that you’re not buying it because you have completely missed my point.

    My point being that you can lift weights until you are blue in the face, but if you don’t do anything to help you recruit those muscles and use them functionally around a solid core then you will never gain any usable upper body strength.

    Climbing is about control as is yoga. You need to be able to control your muscles or there is no point in having them.

    Konastoner
    Free Member

    This :-

    Or this: –

    I know which one my moneys on! 😀

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    My point being that you can lift weights until you are blue in the face, but if you don’t do anything to help you recruit those muscles and use them functionally around a solid core then you will never gain any usable upper body strength.

    Google “squat” and “deadlift” then have a look at some videos of olympic lifters. You might know your yoga but you don’t appear to know the first thing about weight lifting.

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