Push and Pull | How to Gain Strength in Your Upper Body

If you are looking for a complete upper body weightlifting routine, Gloveworx has the perfect workout for you. Most people, even when working with a professional, only achieve half of an upper body workout. If you’re curious about what you’re missing in your routine, learn how to gain size and strength in your upper body and avoid injuries from your coaches at Gloveworx.

What Your Workout is Missing

When most people think about exercises to improve upper body strength, they think about pushing things. Pushing movements cover your basic traditional lifts, bench press, overhead press, dumbbell press, and more. What we often forget is that there is more to the upper body than just the front side! Too much pressing and pushing can lead to muscle imbalance and potential for future injury and postural problems.

How to Modify Your Workout

The simple answer to modifying your workout is that you need to pull more! Using a balanced, push/pull training program minimizes the risk of injury or muscle disparity.

A well designed upper body weightlifting routine should include a proportional ratio of sets with pulling exercises and pushing exercises. If you can keep this in concept in mind, you’re going to see some big gains from engaging and using your upper body posterior chain.

Gloveworx Upper Body Weightlifting Routine

For a great upper body program, follow the guide below. This is a two-day-a-week program that should be completed on Mondays and Fridays or Tuesdays and Thursdays. Work this program consistently for four to six weeks.

Push / Pull Session (2 Day Program)

 

Exercise Set Rest Tempo
A1

DB Hang Pull

4 Sets of 12
1 Min
Fast
B1

One Arm DB Bench Press

4 Sets of 6
1 Min
Medium
A2

Horizontal Pull Up

4 Sets of 6
1 Min
Medium
B2

Incline Bench Press

4 Sets of 12
1 Min
Medium
A3

Single Arm Pull-Down

4 Sets of 6
1 Min
Medium
B3

Push Up (Burn Out)

As Many as You Can for 2 Sets
30 Sec
Medium

 
When completing this upper body weightlifting routine, you should be using enough weight on each set that you can finish all the reps, with the last two being challenging. Don’t get used to using the same weights each time you complete this series. As the weeks progress, you’ll be getting stronger, so adjust your weights accordingly.

Getting Some Gains

If you have any questions about exercises to improve upper body strength, visit your coach at Gloveworx and let the gains begin!

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