Upper Body Strength

[TigerCub]

When they talk about tucking the elbows in, they are referring to keeping your upper arm at around 45 degrees or so from your sides (not an exact angle or anything), versus flaring your elbows out so that your upper arms are at 90 degrees from your sides. Keeping your elbows tucked with allow for greater control and power, greater utilization of your triceps, and less stress on your shoulders. You should be bench pressing like this too. Think of pulling your scapula down and flexing your lats.

 

Thanks for breaking that down for me.

 

You're awesome tman

[tman666]

Anyone wanna make a workout schedule for me??? :bunny::bunny::bunny:

 

I'd be happy to, but unfortunately I'm not sure how much help I could be without knowing more about your current abilities, and more importantly, your current gym access (do you have access to barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells, etc.? Basically, what does your current set up look like?).

 

I could try to give you a rough outline though if you'd like...

Edited April 19, 2013 by tman666

[TigerCub]

I'd be happy to, but unfortunately I'm not sure how much help I could be without knowing more about your current abilities.

 

I could try to give you a rough outline though if you'd like...

 

 

Aaaw that's sweet.

 

I think what I want is for someone to take the exercises in the 2 routines I mentioned (old, new) and tell me which ones to do when.

 

I don't need specifics about how heavy the weights are and stuff.

 

I think an outline is kinds of what I'm looking for.

[tman666]

Aaaw that's sweet.

 

I think what I want is for someone to take the exercises in the 2 routines I mentioned (old, new) and tell me which ones to do when.

 

I don't need specifics about how heavy the weights are and stuff.

 

I think an outline is kinds of what I'm looking for.

 

Ah gotcha.

 

Well, how many days per week do you want to lift and/or train? While it may take some working up to, I've found that a 5 day schedule worked very well for striking a balance between strength and conditioning levels.

 

Basically, it would consist of lifting 3 days per week with 2 bodyweight only "conditioning" days.

 

The lifting days could alternate upper body dominated sessions with lower body dominated sessions. Bodyweight conditioning days would be full body.

 

The basic schedule would look something like this:

 

Week 1:

 

Monday: Lifting, lower body + rowing variation

 

Tuesday: Bodyweight conditioning

 

Wednesday: Lifting, upper body

 

Thursday: Off/Active recovery such as stretching, walking, foam rolling, etc.

 

Friday: Lifting, lower body + rowing variation

 

Saturday: Conditioning

 

Sunday: Off/active recovery.

 

Week 2:

 

Monday: Lifting, upper body

 

Tuesday: Bodyweight conditioning

 

Wednesday: Lifting, lower body + rowing variation

 

Thursday: Off/Active recovery such as stretching, walking, foam rolling, etc.

 

Friday: Lifting, upper body

 

Saturday: Conditioning

 

Sunday: Off/active recovery.

 

Week 3: repeat from week 1

 

As far as volume/weight used, you could always pick 1 or 2 "main lifts" (squats, deadlifts, press variation) and couple it with 2 or 3 assistance exercises at lighter weight/higher reps. You could then rotate which exercises you use on each session.

 

For example:

 

Week 1, Monday (Lower body lifting):

 

-Barbell squat, 5 x 5 (main lift)

-Romanian Deadlift, 4 x 10 (assistance 1)

-Lunges, 3 x 15 each leg (assistance 2)

-1 arm dumbell row, 3 x 15 each arm (assistance 3)

-Ab wheel roll out, 3 x 10-15 (ab work)

 

Week 1, Wednesday (Upper body lifting)

 

-Dumbbell bench press, 5x5 (main lift)

-Barbell bent over row, 4 x 10 (assistance 1)

-Push up variation, 5 x as many as possible (assistance 2)

-seated cable row, 5 x 10-15 (assistance 3)

-Russian Twist, 3 x 15 (back and forth from each side is 1 rep)

 

Week 1, Friday (Lower body lifting):

 

-Barbell Deadlift, 5 x 5 (main lift)

-Front squat, 4 x 8 (assistance 1)

-Bulgarian split goblet squat, 3 x 12 each leg (assistance 2)

-Inverted row, 4 x 10 (assistance 3)

-Planks: 3 x as long as possible (ab work)

 

Week 2, Monday (Upper body lifting)

-Standing shoulder press, 5 x 5 (main lift)

-seated close grip lat pull down or assisted pull up, 4 x 10 (assistance 1)

-bench dips, 4 x 10 (assistance 2)

-1 arm dumbell row, 4 x 8 each arm (assistance 3)

-Ab wheel roll out, 3 x 10-15 (ab work)

 

etc.

 

This way, it's pretty easy to rotate exercise variations yet remain balanced in your training.

 

As far as the bodyweight conditioning sessions goes, I'd start by picking 4 exercises: 2 upper body, 2 lower body. For example:

 

Exercise 1: pull up (or assisted pull up/flexed arm hang)

Exercise 2: bodyweight "air" squats

Exercise 3: push up

Exercise 4: high knees

 

Alternating upper body/lower body exercises, perform each round, as fast as you can, using however many reps is reasonable for you on each exercise. For example, you could start like this:

 

1) flexed arm hang: as long as you can (even if it's only like 10-20 seconds right now)

2) 20 air squats

3) 15 "girlie" push ups

4) 30 seconds of high knees

 

Move from exercise to exercise in the round as quickly as possible, but feel free to rest a minute or two to catch your breath in between each round. As you progress, the time it takes to recover in between each round should decrease.

 

I'd recommend shooting to start for 3 rounds, but I'd try to work up to 5 rounds when you can.

 

Another exercise that is great for bodyweight conditioning are burpees. There are a lot of burpee variations that you can do as well (burpee with a push up, burpee with push up going into a pull up, burpee with a jump forward, etc.)

 

If you start this and find that you're having a hard time recovering from your lifting sessions, I would recommend ditching one of the conditioning sessions and replacing it with a 3rd recovery day.

 

Another option that you could do is lift 2 days per week (similar type of routine): one upper body, one lower body. This would allow you to have more time/recovery for bodyweight conditioning sessions and pole dancing sessions.

 

I hope this helps out! If it seems insane or unreasonable, I'd be happy to re-post with something more well suited to you.

Edited April 19, 2013 by tman666

[Emilia]

If you don't have access to that sort of set up, you also may consider (in addition to you other assisted pull ups) doing some flexed arm hangs and negative pull ups (basically starting at the top and then lowering yourself down slowly).

 

 

This is what I do and it has worked for me

[TigerCub]

Ah gotcha.

 

Well, how many days per week do you want to lift and/or train? While it may take some working up to, I've found that a 5 day schedule worked very well for striking a balance between strength and conditioning levels.

 

Basically, it would consist of lifting 3 days per week with 2 bodyweight only "conditioning" days.

 

The lifting days could alternate upper body dominated sessions with lower body dominated sessions. Bodyweight conditioning days would be full body.

 

The basic schedule would look something like this:

 

Week 1:

 

Monday: Lifting, lower body + rowing variation

 

Tuesday: Bodyweight conditioning

 

Wednesday: Lifting, upper body

 

Thursday: Off/Active recovery such as stretching, walking, foam rolling, etc.

 

Friday: Lifting, lower body + rowing variation

 

Saturday: Conditioning

 

Sunday: Off/active recovery.

 

Week 2:

 

Monday: Lifting, upper body

 

Tuesday: Bodyweight conditioning

 

Wednesday: Lifting, lower body + rowing variation

 

Thursday: Off/Active recovery such as stretching, walking, foam rolling, etc.

 

Friday: Lifting, upper body

 

Saturday: Conditioning

 

Sunday: Off/active recovery.

 

Week 3: repeat from week 1

 

As far as volume/weight used, you could always pick 1 or 2 "main lifts" (squats, deadlifts, press variation) and couple it with 2 or 3 assistance exercises at lighter weight/higher reps. You could then rotate which exercises you use on each session.

 

For example:

 

Week 1, Monday (Lower body lifting):

 

-Barbell squat, 5 x 5 (main lift)

-Romanian Deadlift, 4 x 10 (assistance 1)

-Lunges, 3 x 15 each leg (assistance 2)

-1 arm dumbell row, 3 x 15 each arm (assistance 3)

-Ab wheel roll out, 3 x 10-15 (ab work)

 

Week 1, Wednesday (Upper body lifting)

 

-Dumbbell bench press, 5x5 (main lift)

-Barbell bent over row, 4 x 10 (assistance 1)

-Push up variation, 5 x as many as possible (assistance 2)

-seated cable row, 5 x 10-15 (assistance 3)

-Russian Twist, 3 x 15 (back and forth from each side is 1 rep)

 

Week 1, Friday (Lower body lifting):

 

-Barbell Deadlift, 5 x 5 (main lift)

-Front squat, 4 x 8 (assistance 1)

-Bulgarian split goblet squat, 3 x 12 each leg (assistance 2)

-Inverted row, 4 x 10 (assistance 3)

-Planks: 3 x as long as possible (ab work)

 

Week 2, Monday (Upper body lifting)

-Standing shoulder press, 5 x 5 (main lift)

-seated close grip lat pull down or assisted pull up, 4 x 10 (assistance 1)

-bench dips, 4 x 10 (assistance 2)

-1 arm dumbell row, 4 x 8 each arm (assistance 3)

-Ab wheel roll out, 3 x 10-15 (ab work)

 

etc.

 

This way, it's pretty easy to rotate exercise variations yet remain balanced in your training.

 

As far as the bodyweight conditioning sessions goes, I'd start by picking 4 exercises: 2 upper body, 2 lower body. For example:

 

Exercise 1: pull up (or assisted pull up/flexed arm hang)

Exercise 2: bodyweight "air" squats

Exercise 3: push up

Exercise 4: high knees

 

Alternating upper body/lower body exercises, perform each round, as fast as you can, using however many reps is reasonable for you on each exercise. For example, you could start like this:

 

1) flexed arm hang: as long as you can (even if it's only like 10-20 seconds right now)

2) 20 air squats

3) 15 "girlie" push ups

4) 30 seconds of high knees

 

Move from exercise to exercise in the round as quickly as possible, but feel free to rest a minute or two to catch your breath in between each round. As you progress, the time it takes to recover in between each round should decrease.

 

I'd recommend shooting to start for 3 rounds, but I'd try to work up to 5 rounds when you can.

 

Another exercise that is great for bodyweight conditioning are burpees. There are a lot of burpee variations that you can do as well (burpee with a push up, burpee with push up going into a pull up, burpee with a jump forward, etc.)

 

If you start this and find that you're having a hard time recovering from your lifting sessions, I would recommend ditching one of the conditioning sessions and replacing it with a 3rd recovery day.

 

Another option that you could do is lift 2 days per week (similar type of routine): one upper body, one lower body. This would allow you to have more time/recovery for bodyweight conditioning sessions and pole dancing sessions.

 

I hope this helps out! If it seems insane or unreasonable, I'd be happy to re-post with something more well suited to you.

 

 

OMG Tman you're my hero!!

 

Thank you so much for putting in so much thought and effort into drawing up this schedule and for explaining everything.

 

Now I lift 3 days a week and so slightly modifying them and adding 2 conditioning days seems doable. hehe, we'll see how these conditioning days kick my ass though

 

I don't have the equipment for:

ab wheel or

cable rows

and I have to figure out how to set up for the row inverts

 

but other than that, everything else you mentioned is very doable and I look forward to starting this new schedule on Monday.

 

Thank you so much!!!!

[TigerCub]

This is what I do and it has worked for me

 

WooHoo!! I love getting confirmation from other posters

 

Thanks Emilia!