Upper Body
Strength Hack
Being strong is one of life’s great hacks. Strength is vastly important for making life easier.
Everyone needs to be strong to enhance quality of life. Athletes need to be strong to dominate their sports. Parents need to be strong to keep up with their kids. Older adults need to be strong to ensure they enjoy every single year of their life, and avoid unnecessary injuries.
Upper body strength is not something we are all blessed with naturally, and some have to work much harder than others to develop this physical attribute.
Here are a few ways that we like to promote a bit of variety and fun while getting strong and functional.
We LOVE the landmine press. Click the title above to check out the tutorial to find out why.
The DB Bench Press is a staple in all of our programming. It’s relatively easy to learn, and you can progress it to advanced levels. The version shown is an eccentric or negative focus, that requires a lot of control, slow tempo, and time under tension.
This is an advanced movement that requires some existing strength in order to do properly. If you can already do a few pushups, this may be a next level challenge for you.
Another staple in our programming. We use the split stance to create a solid base for a unilateral (1-arm) movement. This is also a great beginner movement that can be progressed in a variety of ways to add intensity and difficulty.
In order to keep shoulder happy and healthy, they have to be able to rotate efficiently. This TRX row variation promotes external rotation concentrically, and internal rotation eccentrically.
REP RANGES
The rep ranges that are most effective, will typically be the rep ranges that you can find the most intensity with.
It may be difficult to do a 4×5 rep range with a TRX row based on some limiting factors like core strength and grip strength. This movement may be more effective in a 3×10, or 3×12 range.
Meanwhile, and split stance cable row, or a DB bench press can be effective with a 5×4, all the way to a 2×15. Both of these ranges will help to create strength. I would suggest playing around with the number of reps and sets, and see what works best for you, the time you have in the gym, and you ability to create the maximal amount of exertion or effort possible, to get the best results possible.
