[Closed] Training Upper Body, But not in the gym.

To be honest, it's mainly down to a self asteem issue. My elbow bones are wider than my upper arms when relaxed by my sides. I'm 6 2", 13st, pretty fit, but have weedy arms and shoulders.

How about a bit of manual labour - dig the garden, build some dirt tracks, that sort of thing. Keeps you motivated and develops a bit of mental endurance as well.

And pumptracks are good for fun upper body workouts.

To be honest, it's mainly down to a self asteem issue. My elbow bones are wider than my upper arms when relaxed by my sides. I'm 6 2", 13st, pretty fit, but have weedy arms and shoulders.

I very much doubt a half-arsed approach of riding a road bike and doing some gardening would do anything that you could notice.

I used to hate gym workouts before trying Stronglifts 5x5. It doesn't take up too much time and there are two workouts so it doesn't get quite so boring as doing the same thing all the time. I love squats and deadlifts... bench press and overhead press I'm not too good at yet!

See, I don't believe I need to the gym to build up my arms and shoulders. 4-5 good core exercises for each group can be achieved with dumbbells. Says the guy who still has weedy arms 😀

@ Colin

You need to be taking in a load more calories.....say 4k+ and try something like [url= http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki ]Mark Rippertoe's starting strength beginner routine[/url] or the [url= http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki ]5x5[/url] one......both basically boil down to doing big compound lifts like squats, presses, deadlifts etc.

I have an ectomorph body type.

Have you tried ringing Ghostbusters?

Dumbbells are pretty useless for size. You need basic heavy compound exercises (see _tom_'s post), and training upper body only is pretty useless for developing your upper body, perversely. Training arms is pretty pointless too.

I find my gym's 60kg dumbells quite useful. 8)

You deffo need to target the whole body though - as they all say.

Base a programme on the three basic lifts, deadlift, squat and bench/push press and add some assistance exercises for gunz etc.

I find my gyms 60kg dumbells quite useful.

Same here. I use them for wondering how the **** people lift them up 😉

...but seriously, I also disagree with dumbbells being useless.

I bet you'd struggle to build enough strength using just dumbbells to actually use 60kg dumbbells.

...but seriously, I also disagree with dumbbells being useless.

I would never just rely on dumbbells as variation is an essential part of training. I use lots of different bars (axles, Mackenzie bar, football bar, circus dumbbell etc) but dumbbells are definitely not useless for hypertrophy:

List of upper body exercises where they are awesome for size:

Bent over row, single arm row, shrugs, incline press, decline press, flat press, chest fly, pull over, tricep extension, biceps curl, kickback, pistol press, lateral raise, rear delt fly, zotterman curl, hammer curl, shoulder press, single arm strongman press......will I keep going?

any of those, performed at an appropriate intensity as part of a well designed programme (incorporationg compound barbell exercises, over a significant period of time, with the aforementioned consideration of diet (2grms protein per kg of bodyweight + ample carbs etc yada yada) will see you right.

anything which provide resistance is not futile - or rubbish. Could be a dumbbell or a horse's head, as long as it provides resistance when you lift/push/pull it it'll work. If it makes it hard to contract a muscle, it will change muscle.

No, please stop. 😆

For a beginner looking to gain mass that's a list of fluff. Bench, squat, deadlift and one of the many variations of the shoulder press are all that's needed for the beginner.

I didn't say that.

Oh you know what I meant 😀

I agree.

I always like to do olympic lifts a few times a week too...helps with the pedalling and great for upper body too.

But as with the deadlift and squat - good form is essential or you are setting yourself up to get ****ed.

My elbow bones are wider than my upper arms when relaxed by my sides. I'm 6 2", 13st, pretty fit

So are mine. It's entirely normal. If you are 6'2 and 13st then you sound absolutely fine.

I was thinking of a guy I know who is (or was) my height, 5'11 but 9 stone. He's a smart bloke and read up on the usual things, but still failed to bulk up. His frame is so tiny two of him could've stood in my shadow. He had to buy trousers too short to get a small a waist as possible (28") and he still had to cinch in loads of waistband with a belt.

Bit of a freak tho tbh. He had loads of injury problems which I think he put down to being frail.

I'm sorry - road bikes for upper body strength? Is that why all roadies are so buff up top?

He asked for definition too. Nothing shifts fat (IME anyway) quicker than doing a 4 hour brisk group road ride on a Sunday monring rather than 17 miles of stop start MTBing over the same time. Takes me untill Tuesday to get past the glycogen depletion munchies! Burn off 4500 calories, eat a mix of simple/complex carbs on the bike to keep going, then keep eating healthily, little and often to make sure you only replenish the glycogen you burnt but don't replenish the fat.

Anyway, have a look at the sprinters not all roadies are climbers.

And this being a cycling forum he's more likely to have a road bike in the garrage than a climbing harness or a canoe.

anything which provide resistance is not futile - or rubbish.

By that rationale press-ups would let you build muscle mass as well as bench press.

That's not to say that press-ups (or dumbbells) are useless, but if you're a beginner wanting to build mass they are inferior to barbells.

Nothing shifts fat (IME anyway) quicker than doing a 4 hour brisk group road ride on a Sunday monring

Apart from the iDave diet (from personal experience 🙂 )

Just buy a smaller t-shirt

He asked for definition too.

I'm responding to this:

My elbow bones are wider than my upper arms when relaxed by my sides. I'm 6 2", 13st, pretty fit, but have weedy arms and shoulders

[url= http://www.v-tapershaper.com/barsaccessories.html ]one of these powerbars[/url]

and the "Complete Assisted Pull-up Station" it mentions on the page - which is a knee-strap and different strength bands to offset your weight to let you do a full set of reps on the bars,

[url= http://www.v-tapershaper.com/vtschinpullupassist.html ]also shown on this page[/url]

and...

[url= http://www.v-tapershaper.com/flexstraps.html ]some of these flexstraps[/url]

which you can hang down from the powerbar.

they also have kettlebells which are good for core strength.

5thElefant - you know what I meant!

And press-ups would build bulk if you had a sandbag on your shoulders.

The 5x5 protocol with whey protein is a simple route, if you put the work in.

5x5 is basic and good for strength but a lot of the gains will be neural as opposed to musculoskeletal.

For maximum hypertrophy you want to up the reps slightly 8- 12ish.

A good approach is to go heavier and lower reps on the primary lift (one of the big 3) and lighter with more reps on the assistance stuff.

Best of both worlds.

5thElefant - you know what I meant!

And press-ups would build bulk if you had a sandbag on your shoulders.

The 5x5 protocol with whey protein is a simple route, if you put the work in.

It's easy to make this stuff too complicated. 5x5 and powerlifting lifts may not be everything there is to it but if that's all you do for the first year you'll certainly see results.

I seem to have hijacked the OP's thread, hopefully it helps them too.

Going and lifting dead weights isn't something I considered. But is that something I can do at home on my own? A good friend has been going to the gym for years, big strong guy. I went along for a couple of months. He basically had me lifting weight I could barely move, and I found it seriously uncomfortable. Put me off. Can;t bench press more than about 20kg, and I'm not joking.

But is that something I can do at home on my own?

Yes.

bench press 20kg then

then a few weeks later bench press 30kg....

As a side, this could present a problem. I currently play football 3 times a week (2 training, 1 match), cycle around 3 times a week (1-3 hours depending), so fitting in weight training could be tough. I don't mind training every day, but can't see me lasting too long if I do.

Thanks for all the posts btw.

You only need to train twice a week for 30 mins max each time

It strikes me that given the OP said he wasn't very keen on the gym, all these suggestions for press ups, pull ups and exercises with weights aren't really all that useful. None of those are really all that much more exciting - not even if you're following some special programme to try and make them more interesting.

The suggestions for climbing and swimming are far more helpful (though it's kind of hard to build much muscle just from swimming - the resistance isn't high enough). However one nobody has mentioned is canoeing/kayaking. I've done weights a handful of times in my life, and very rarely even done stuff like press ups, but I don't think anybody could suggest I have a lack of upper body muscle - all from canoeing (with a bit of XC skiing thrown in).

can;t bench press more than about 20kg, and I'm not joking.

Don't forget the bar weighs 20kg, so assuming you had weights on it then you were doing more than 20kg.

Jamie, from memory, bar was 10kg, 5kg on each end. Goes back about 4-5 years though.

Going and lifting dead weights isn't something I considered. But is that something I can do at home on my own?

A good friend has been going to the gym for years, big strong guy. I went along for a couple of months. He basically had me lifting weight I could barely move, and I found it seriously uncomfortable. Put me off.

Can;t bench press more than about 20kg, and I'm not joking

When my lad started training with me he could only lift the bar (bench press). Two years later he was lifting 120kg.

If your serious about it, take a month or two of all other exercise. Do the weights as recommended. Lots of rest in between sessions. And eat eat eat...

You could always read the Four Hour Body. Skim read it though, you can ignore all the motivational stuff 🙂

I've done weights a handful of times in my life, and very rarely even done stuff like press ups, but I don't think anybody could suggest I have a lack of upper body muscle

That can be genetic too though. I lived with a guy who did no exercise but looked like Michaelangelo's David.

but looked like Michaelangelo's David.

He had a very small penis?

Genetics, eh?

I'd go all body building forum here and post an upper body photo, but I'll save myself the embarrassment 🙂

Small terrace house, no garage, not much space.

Which one?
[img] [/img]
Both look like they need to get in the gym.

He had a very small penis?

Possibly, judging by his track record with women.

I'd go all body building forum here and post an upper body photo, but I'll save myself the embarrassment

Come on - I posted my 'before' photos.. you can do it!

Here is me:

[img] [/img]

😉

As you can see, the perfect physique for mountain biking.

So that's who nicked my tin of Ronseal!

and I found it seriously uncomfortable

You're going to have to push yourself to build muscle...no pain, no gain and all that.

Sounds like you're too busy with the other exercise to give it a try. Quit playing football one night a week or something.

Is MTFU what you're all looking for as the answer? 😉

I know that I need to make time for it, and 30-45 minutes is all that is required 3 x week.