What is the best upper body exercise?The best upper body exercise for strength, size, general fitness or sports performance has to be the chinup and pullup variations. They really are unbeatable as an exercise. The fact that most people do not do them means that you should. The best upper body exerciseWhat criteria do I use when selecting the best upper body exercises? It is quite simple, I want an upper body exercise that does not involve being artificially stabilised by a machine. I want an upper-body exercise that is challenging, creates a sense of achievement and has plenty of variations to keep me entertained all year. I also want an exercise that has good transfer to everyday life and sports performance. For me the best upper body exercises are pullup and chinup variations.What is a pullup?Pullups are an exercise done using a fixed bar overhead. Grip the bar with palms facing away from your body (pronated grip) and pull yourself up by driving your elbows towards the floor. Keep your chest out and shoulders back. Look up and attempt to squeeze your shoulder blades down and back. It is vital that you do not let your shoulders drift forwards, or your scapula wing. Also make sure the arms fully straighten at the bottom of the lift (although maintaining a very very slight bend to maintain muscle tension) and try and keep your body still. The bonus is you will get an ab workout at the same time.How is a chinup different to a pullup?In a chinup the palms will face towards you (supinated grip). This will allow your biceps to be in a more advantageous position for assisting with the movement. Chinups are easier than pullups. It would be easy to argue that the naming is just semantics – they both involve pulling yourself towards a fixed bar aiming to get your chin over it. From a fitness professional point of view it is nice to be have different names to differentiate between the two variations. There are other variations of this exercise such as towel grip pullups, mixed grip, round the world and neutral grip.What makes pullup and chinup variations the best upper body exercises?I mentioned a few reasons earlier; however I will clarify my rationale a bit further here:The best upper body exercise is one that does not require artificial stabilisation by a machine – Many people have seen the lat pull down machine, it usually has a foam bar going across the knees to keep the body fixed in place. I am not against using cable resistance machines such as this for upper body exercises; I just would not put lat pull-down as one of the best upper body exercises. Also many people do not have the luxury of a gym membership so these machines are not even an option for upper body training. A pullup can be done on any overhead bar such as those found in parks and sports fields. The different diameters of bar will provide a lot of variety in your training; a thicker gripped bar will make these exercises tougher! The good thing with this is your pullup strength on a thinner bar will be greatly improved. Chins and pullups can also be done using the various pullup contraptions that can go on backs of doors or in door frames. If you have a TR or jungle gym again you can use any overhead bar or tree for training pullups. The work your muscles have to do to stop your legs from swinging underneath you cannot be replicated on a machine.The best upper body exercise is one that is challenging –When I first got the buzz for pullups and chinups at best I could do about 4 or 5 maximum. That made it challenging. I can use fat gripz with this exercise, I can rap a towel around the bar, I can pull with weights hanging from a chain around my waist – all this can make it a challenge. One could argue that any upper body exercise is challenging if the intensity and volume of training is high enough yet there is something about pullups that makes it even more challenging. We can all do dumbbell bicep curls and lat pull downs but we cannot all do pull ups. That makes them significantly better and more challenging than other options.The best upper body exercise creates a sense of achievement – Why a sense of achievement from pull ups? Quite simply it is being able to do something that most other people cannot do. It is knowing that first goal of 10 pullups is going to be tough, but the next goal of 15 pullups will be even tougher! It is an achievement to do the exercise that nobody else in the gym is doing.The best upper body exercise has plenty of variation and allows for some fun experimentation – I can use a whole range of grip placements on the bar, I can use towels to grip or fat gripz, I can try and pull my body up at different angles perhaps trying more gymnastic influenced movements and really have fun with this exercise. Variation at the right time in training is good to keep progress moving forwards and reduce the chance of fatigue (which if neural can really halt or decline your progress). I can add isometric holds to this exercise easily. I can increase the volume in one session quite simply by finishing a set of pullups with a set of chinups (Remember chinups are easier so you will get a few out after your pullups).The best upper body exercise has applications for sports performance and everyday life –I enjoy grappling within my MMA training. Being able to pull myself towards someone, pull them into me, and to grip and hold on tight is vital. Any other exercise just does not have the specificity that this one does. There are so many sports that this exercise can help improve. Let us not forget how this can help in life. If you need to climb over a wall you can, if you need to pull yourself out of a swimming pool you can, or if you need to stop your child running into the road you can. If you’re a police officer just think what this exercise could do for your strength when restraining someone.The video below shows me just “playing” on the bar after a training session. I was attempting to try and create a movement called the “front lever”. Now I don’t have anyone to coach me on the technicalities of this movement but training chin ups and pull ups has given me the strength and control to see what I can get away with!I will write a piece sometime soon about training towards your first pullup, until then have a look at what the calisthenics kingz can do on the bar...Bridgeman fitness training aims to provide top quality fitness training advice, exercise information and educational resources for all fitness enthusiasts.Expert fitness advice
What is the best upper body exercise?
The best upper body exercise for strength, size, general fitness or sports
performance has to be the chinup and pullup variations. They really are
unbeatable as an exercise. The fact that most people do not do them means that
you should.
The best upper body exercise
What criteria do I use when selecting the best upper body exercises? It is quite
simple, I want an upper body exercise that does not involve being artificially
stabilised by a machine. I want an upper-body exercise that is challenging, creates a
sense of achievement and has plenty of variations to keep me entertained all year. I
also want an exercise that has good transfer to everyday life and sports
performance. For me the best upper body exercises are pullup and chinup
variations.
What is a pullup?
Pullups are an exercise done using a fixed bar overhead. Grip the bar with palms
facing away from your body (pronated grip) and pull yourself up by driving your
elbows towards the floor. Keep your chest out and shoulders back. Look up and
attempt to squeeze your shoulder blades down and back. It is vital that you do not
let your shoulders drift forwards, or your scapula wing. Also make sure the arms
fully straighten at the bottom of the lift (although maintaining a very very slight
bend to maintain muscle tension) and try and keep your body still. The bonus is you
will get an ab workout at the same time.
How is a chinup different to a pullup?
In a chinup the palms will face towards you (supinated grip). This will allow your
biceps to be in a more advantageous position for assisting with the movement.
Chinups are easier than pullups. It would be easy to argue that the naming is just
semantics – they both involve pulling yourself towards a fixed bar aiming to get your
chin over it. From a fitness professional point of view it is nice to be have different
names to differentiate between the two variations.
There are other variations of this exercise such as towel grip pullups, mixed grip,
round the world and neutral grip.
What makes pullup and chinup variations the best upper
body exercises?
I mentioned a few reasons earlier; however I will clarify my rationale a bit further
here:
The best upper body exercise is one that does not require artificial stabilisation by
a machine –
Many people have seen the lat pull down machine, it usually has a foam bar going
across the knees to keep the body fixed in place. I am not against using cable
resistance machines such as this for upper body exercises; I just would not put lat
pull-down as one of the best upper body exercises. Also many people do not have
the luxury of a gym membership so these machines are not even an option for
upper body training. A pullup can be done on any overhead bar such as those found
in parks and sports fields. The different diameters of bar will provide a lot of variety
in your training; a thicker gripped bar will make these exercises tougher! The good
thing with this is your pullup strength on a thinner bar will be greatly improved.
Chins and pullups can also be done using the various pullup contraptions that can
go on backs of doors or in door frames. If you have a TR or jungle gym again you can
use any overhead bar or tree for training pullups. The work your muscles have to do
to stop your legs from swinging underneath you cannot be replicated on a machine.
The best upper body exercise is one that is challenging –
When I first got the buzz for pullups and chinups at best I could do about 4 or 5
maximum. That made it challenging. I can use fat gripz with this exercise, I can rap a
towel around the bar, I can pull with weights hanging from a chain around my waist
– all this can make it a challenge. One could argue that any upper body exercise is
challenging if the intensity and volume of training is high enough yet there is
something about pullups that makes it even more challenging. We can all do
dumbbell bicep curls and lat pull downs but we cannot all do pull ups. That makes
them significantly better and more challenging than other options.
The best upper body exercise creates a sense of achievement –
Why a sense of achievement from pull ups? Quite simply it is being able to do
something that most other people cannot do. It is knowing that first goal of 10
pullups is going to be tough, but the next goal of 15 pullups will be even tougher! It
is an achievement to do the exercise that nobody else in the gym is doing.
The best upper body exercise has plenty of variation and allows for some fun
experimentation –
I can use a whole range of grip placements on the bar, I can use towels to grip or fat
gripz, I can try and pull my body up at different angles perhaps trying more
gymnastic influenced movements and really have fun with this exercise. Variation at
the right time in training is good to keep progress moving forwards and reduce the
chance of fatigue (which if neural can really halt or decline your progress). I can add
isometric holds to this exercise easily. I can increase the volume in one session quite
simply by finishing a set of pullups with a set of chinups (Remember chinups are
easier so you will get a few out after your pullups).
The best upper body exercise has applications for sports performance and
everyday life –
I enjoy grappling within my MMA training. Being able to pull myself towards
someone, pull them into me, and to grip and hold on tight is vital. Any other
exercise just does not have the specificity that this one does. There are so many
sports that this exercise can help improve. Let us not forget how this can help in life.
If you need to climb over a wall you can, if you need to pull yourself out of a
swimming pool you can, or if you need to stop your child running into the road you
can. If you’re a police officer just think what this exercise could do for your strength
when restraining someone.
The video below shows me just “playing” on the bar after a training session. I was
attempting to try and create a movement called the “front lever”. Now I don’t have
anyone to coach me on the technicalities of this movement but training chin ups
and pull ups has given me the strength and control to see what I can get away with!
I will write a piece sometime soon about training towards your first pullup, until
then have a look at what the calisthenics kingz can do on the bar...
Bridgeman fitness training aims to provide top quality fitness training advice, exercise information and educational resources for all fitness enthusiasts.
Expert fitness advice
FACEBOOK
