Upper Body Workout Plan

“My Upper Body Workout Plan”

Everyone wants lean, toned arms and abs, right?

Well, weight training is the way to get your upper body and lower body in shape. In my Lose Love Handles 101 Program, I trained upper body once or twice a week (depending on the week), which helped me reduce my body fat from 13% to 6% in just 90 days

So how do you work upper body?

What I did — which is extremely effective — was work my upper body muscle groups in a super-set workout.

What this means is that I would pick two muscle groups, for example chest and upper back, and alternate between an exercise for chest and upper back with very little rest. I would usually perform three sets for each muscle group for a total of six sets in each super set.

An example:

If I chose dumbbell bench press for chest and high rows for back, I would perform a set of 8-12 repetitions of dumbbell bench press and then immediately perform as set of 8-12 repetitions of high rows. Then I would do another set of dumbbell bench press and so on until I did six total sets. I would rest for a very short time in between, usually only enough time to walk to the other machine or station….

…You can see an example of my upper body workout in the tracking sheet below.

I would then perform the same type of super-set working biceps and triceps.

Finally, I would finish it off with a set of shoulders and lower back. Or shoulders and forearms, depending on what week of the program I was in.

This workout usually took me about 18-23 minutes, excluding warm up. By the time I left the gym, I was sweating pretty good and felt like I had blasted the muscle groups I was targeting.

Why is this so effective?

It is effective because it hits the major muscle groups of your upper body, as well as each opposing muscle group. Your chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and lats are all covered. You do three sets for each muscle group, performing 8-12 reps, which is the recommended range to build lean muscle (and to burn fat). And remember, lean muscle raises your metabolic rate, causing you to burn more fat.

It is efficient in that I worked one muscle group while the other is resting, so I was not “chit-chatting” in the gym. This will allow you to hit all the muscle groups in about 20 minutes, as opposed to 45 to an hour.

Plus, you reap cardiovascular benefits because you are quickly alternating between exercise sets with little rest, similar to a circuit-training routine. This style of training has been shown to burn more fat both during the workout and up to 38 hours afterward while your body repairs your muscle.

So in other words, you get the fat-burning benefits of weight training and cardiovascular training combined in one twenty minute workout.

Update 1/7/11: If you liked this article, make sure to sign up below to get updates to this. For a limited time, I am giving away my 8-Week Fat-Burning Workout Program and Sample Week Meal Plan, which is a great way to cut the last 10 pounds from around your stomach.

Do me one favor: share this article on Facebook or Twitter or comment below and let me know your favorite upper body workout.

Thanks for reading.

- Josh
Personal Fitness Trainer