How to Create the Ultimate Upper Body Workout
Learn how to structure your upper body workout like a pro using three simple steps
Everyone who’s starting out at the gym has the same conflict. You want to get into a workout routine, but don’t know where to start. You may feel overwhelmed by the vast amount of exercises that are out there and all the differing opinions you read about online.
The thing is, designing your own workout routine is easier than you think, as long as you follow a few key principles. As long as your workout routine targets all the major muscle groups, can allow for progressive overload (the ability to increase difficulty overtime — through weight, number of reps/sets etc.), and involves exercises you can perform with safe form, you should see results.
I’ll be going over a three-part series of exercises that can be used to form the base of two upper body routines. I do two upper body workouts a week, and use most of these exercises to form the bulk of my routines. These exercises are meant to be used to form workouts for the casual gym-goer who is focused on a combination of building muscle/strength. However, if you’re into bodybuilding for example, you would have to add several more exercises to isolate specific muscle groups.
Part 1: Major Compound Movements
Pick 2 of these exercises for each workout.
A general rule of thumb is to start your workout off with major compound movements, which are the exercises that require the most physical exertion due to the heavier loads being used. For upper body exercises, this would mean starting your workout with the bench press, overhead press, barbell row, or deadlift (the deadlift can be done in your lower body workout too).
If you are looking to do two upper body workouts a week (without emphasizing specific upper body muscles), you can choose any combination of two of these exercises per workout. If you are looking to split your two upper body workouts to one “push” day (chest, triceps, shoulders) and one “pull” day (back, biceps), you could split the major compound movements as follows:
Push Day:
A) Barbell Bench Press
The bench press is an essential movement to target primarily the chest and triceps, but also hits the shoulders, back, and biceps to a lesser degree. You can perform the barbell bench press with a flat bench, or with an incline/decline, and can vary the width of your grip on the barbell. These adjustments however, don’t make a significant difference in the activation of the muscles targeted in the bench press movement.
B) Barbell Overhead Press
The barbell overhead press targets the shoulders primarily, but also recruits your biceps and triceps. Using a barbell will allow you to use a heavier weight than with dumbbells, which will allow you to really increase the strength of your shoulders.
Pull Day:
A) Deadlift
The deadlift is a major compound movement that targets several upper and lower body muscles along the posterior chain. This includes the quads, glutes, hamstrings, and several of your upper/mid/lower back muscles. Some individuals prefer adding it to their upper body routine, and some add it to their leg routine (it just comes down to personal preference). I personally do deadlifts on my upper body days since I don’t like doing squats and deadlifts together in the same workout. I find that if I do them both, I would only be able to perform one of the two exercises optimally (and that would be the one I do first).
Most lifters also debate whether to perform the deadlift using a sumo versus conventional form. The primary mechanical difference between them is the feet placement, with the sumo style having the feet externally rotated and placed in a wider stance. In terms of muscle activation, they both hit the same muscles, with the sumo form emphasizing the quads more, and the conventional form focusing more on the posterior chain muscles (glutes, hamstrings).
B) Barbell rows
The barbell row is the row variation that will allow you to lift the heaviest weight, which is why I added it as one of the major compound movements. Barbell rows target the upper, middle, and lower back muscles. However, since it puts a high load on the lower back, it may not be optimal for those with lower back pain. In that case, the barbell row can be substituted for other row variations (which are mentioned in the Part 2 exercises).
Part 2: Supplementary Compound Movements
Pick 2 of these exercises for each workout.
These exercises are still compound movements, but don’t require the same degree of exertion as the Part 1 exercises (which is why you’d be doing them afterwards). They are done to supplement your Part 1 exercises, by adding more repetitions to your major muscle groups. Once again, if you’re simply doing two upper body workouts, you can choose any combination of these exercises across your two days. But if you’re doing a “push” and “pull” split you can choose them as follows:
Push Day:
A) Dumbbell Bench Press
The dumbbell bench press is a great way to add another exercise to target your chest and triceps. With the dumbbell form, it requires a lot more stability which will lower the amount of weight you can use compared to the barbell form.
B) Dumbbell Shoulder Press
The dumbbell shoulder press is an additional exercise that can be used to target your shoulders and arms. By using dumbbells, it will require a lot more stability than using a barbell, which will reduce the weight at which you can use. However, as with many dumbbell variations, this increase in stability promotes muscle activation.
Pull Day:
A) Seated/T-bar Rows
The seated and T-bar rows are row variations that don’t require as heavy loads as the barbell row. These variations also target the upper/mid/lower back muscles, without putting much strain on your lower back.
B) Pull-ups
Pull-ups are a movement that targets the back and biceps, and is often used as an indicator of upper body strength. Individuals often manipulate the grip orientation to alter the emphasis of muscle activation. However, there is inconsistent results in studies showing differences in bicep/back muscle activation from the chin up (supinated grip) versus pull up (pronated grip). So regardless of the pull-up variation you perform, it will activate your back and bicep muscles heavily.
Part 3: Isolation Movements
You should end off your workout with isolation exercises, as they require the least exertion to perform. Isolation exercises are definitely not as important as the compound movements, but you can use these exercises to target a specific muscle. Reasons for doing isolation exercises can include: to increase the strength of a weaker muscle group, or to emphasize a specific muscle for bodybuilding purposes. If you’re doing a “push” and “pull” split, you can pick isolation movements that target the appropriate muscles. And as I mentioned previously, those focusing on bodybuilding will likely be doing more of these isolation movements to help sculpt their physique.
Isolation Exercises I Use:
I enjoy employing the incline bicep curl to my workouts to target my biceps. Putting the bench in the incline position instead of the fully upright position allows me to increase my range of motion (which helps increase muscle activation), and prevents me from using momentum to “jerk” the weight up.
Another isolation exercise I like doing are face pulls. Face pulls target your posterior (rear) deltoid muscles, which is a muscle that isn’t targeted heavily with your compound movements. As well, your anterior (front) deltoid muscles are hit heavily with the bench and overhead presses, so it’s important to do an exercise to target your posterior deltoids to prevent muscular imbalances.
I perform a few other isolation exercises, but I often mix these in/out of my workouts to add variation. Overall, the incline bicep curl and face pulls are the two isolation exercises I consistently perform.
Take-Away Points:
When creating your workout routine, it’s important to consider not only the muscles that are being targeted, but also the order at which you perform your exercises. Performing the exercises that require the most physical exertion first (i.e. bench press, deadlift, overhead press, barbell rows), is important to ensure you have the most energy to maximize your performance of these lifts.
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