There dosen't seem to be a whole lot of activity on this forum so I decided to contribute something new. If you are anything like me, you probably started going to the gym and doing the bench press, and bicep curls. These are probably the most common upper body exercises for begginers. But are they the most effective? If you're only going to do two excersises for you're upper body, I believe the most effective are: Pull ups and Dips. Why? I'll tell you why. Pull ups While bicep curls mostly just isolate the biceps, slightly working the lats(the muscle in the back, responsible for that V shape you see bodybuilders have) for stability, Pull ups/chin ups work you're entire back, along with you're biceps. Wide-Grip Pull-ups are used for emphasizing your lats while close grips emphasizes you're bicpes. Both recruit a number of other muscles, including the sholders, the trapezius/traps, the major and minor rhomboid and a number of other stabalizing muscles. Pull ups can be hard starting off, most gyms will have an assisted pull up machine. Dips on prallel bar You don't need a parallel bar, these you can do at home on a number of things. One example is between two counter tops. Rather then explain how to do them, I'll post a few links at the bottom so you can watch videos. If for some reason you cant watch them, just google it. This pushing excersise works the shoulders, triceps and chest. Like the pull ups, it moves you're body through space, meaning it recruits all sorts of stabalizer muscles that you wouldn't get with a bench press. Both dips and pull ups are alot more functional, and train the body as it was meant to work, as one collective machine. I'm not saying bench pressing and bicep curling are useless, just not as good for over all fitness. Conclusion: They are the best upper body exercises to stimulate the muscle building hormones Testosterone and Growth Hormone becuase they move you're body through space, it's all about the stabalizers. Obviously the harder you have to work, the more effective it's going to be. Collectively, these 2 exercises train every muscle in your upper body. If you are finding these to easy, get a bookbag and add some weight to it, or better yet you can buy a dipping belt or wieghted vests. Finally, one of the main reasons I prefer these excercises, besides all the benefits mentioned above is the functionality of it. Seriously guys, in a real life situation when are u ever going to have to lay down and lift a barbell like object over you're head? You may however have to climb a fence and be able to push(dip) or pull(pulll up) yourself over the top. It' important to be able to move you're own weight around, but you don't have to take my word for it, do you're own research and come to you're own conclusions. Here are some videos. Here is an awesome pull up video, he uses all sorts of different grips. He also uses some other excersises with dumbells. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knpcLNRkreA&feature=channel Here are some Dips videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LA_uOdTGec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAlE87KUcdw&feature=related
