4 Essential Exercises for Your Upper Body Workout
How can variations of these exercises allow you to emphasize certain muscles?
Over the past five years, going to the gym has become an increasingly important part of my life. What started as a time-flexible hobby that allowed me to remain physically active turned into something that I truly enjoy doing on a regular basis.
When designing your own workout routine it’s important to have a solid background on some of the major compound exercises, so you can understand how to properly perform these movements and the different muscle groups they target. The majority of my workouts are comprised of compound lifts since I enjoy doing them the most, and believe that they allow me to make the most of my time at the gym. With the remaining time I spend at the gym, I do isolation exercises to target my weaker areas, and muscle groups that are neglected from the compound exercises.
I’ll be going over some major upper body compound movements, giving a summary of the muscle groups they target and how variations of these exercises could allow for the emphasis of specific muscle groups.
Bench Press:
The bench press is a staple movement for any upper body workout and is an exercise that has the potential for high external loads to be lifted. It’s an exercise that is performed in powerlifting competitions, and one that is popular for training and research purposes (often used as an indicator for upper body strength).
In terms of muscle activation, the bench press activates primarily the chest (pectoralis major) and triceps (triceps brachii), but also the shoulders (anterior and posterior deltoids), back (latissimus dorsi), and biceps (biceps brachii). By adjusting the angle of the bench and/or the way you grip the barbell, you could influence the activation of certain muscles.
Previous studies have shown that by increasing the grip width of the bench press, it allows greater pectoralis major and biceps brachii activation, but lower anterior deltoid and triceps brachii activation. As well, altering the angle of the bench position has been shown to alter the activation of the pectoralis major. With the inclined bench, increased activation of the clavicular portion of the pectoralis major (upper chest) has been shown, with a reduced activation of the sternal portion (lower chest) seen in some studies. Employing a decline bench position on the other hand has shown some evidence in increasing activation of the sternal portion of the pectoralis major.
Despite this being what most members of the fitness community believe, a study with 12 competitive bench press athletes shown different results. The bench press was performed to determine whether altering grip width and bench angle would alter the emphasis of specific muscle groups. The altering of the grip width (wide, medium, and narrow grip) of the flat bench press only significantly altered the activation of the biceps brachii, with the narrow grip decreasing the activation compared to wider grips (by around 25.9–30.5%). From altering the bench position to incline or decline positions, once again there weren’t any significant differences in chest or shoulder activation, but a decrease in triceps brachii (58.2–62.6%) and increase in biceps brachii (48.3–68.7%) was seen in the incline bench.
In terms of whether these adjustments of grips and bench angles influenced strength, it seems partaking in a medium or wider grip results in a greater 6 rep max (5.8–11.1%) than the narrow grip, and that the inclined position lowered the 6 rep max (18.5–21.5%) compared to the flat or decline position. Based off this study, adjustments to grip width and bench angle only altered the activation of arm muscles, so it is possible that these adjustments often performed while benching may not alter muscle activation to the extent that is believed.
What if you don’t have access to the equipment to bench?
A good alternative to performing the bench press (if you don’t have access to the equipment) would be push-ups. In an 8 week study where individuals were to either perform the bench press at 40% of their one rep max or pushups (with the position adjusted to the same load of the 40% one rep max bench press), both exercises were shown to increase strength (one rep max) and muscle thickness (with the triceps and pectoralis major) to a comparable degree. Therefore, employing push-ups would be a suitable substitute to the bench press.
Altering the angle at which you perform push-ups can be done to mimic performing the incline or decline bench press. For example, you can place your hands on a block to mimic a decline bench press, or place your feet on a block to mimic an incline bench press.
How about substituting/complementing the barbell bench press with other exercises?
If you would like to consider other exercises that target the chest, there are alternative exercises that can be performed. When comparing the barbell bench press with the use of dumbbells or the Smith Machine, it appears that muscle activation of the pectoralis major and anterior deltoid doesn’t change. However, if your aim is to lift heavier loads, employing a barbell bench press would be optimal as it allows for individuals to use a higher load compared to the Smith Machine, and especially dumbbell bench presses.
Pull-ups:
Pull-ups with varying grips are often employed in an upper body workout to target the back and bicep muscles. By altering the grip width and orientation (which alters the positioning of the shoulder-arm-forearm complex), it can change the demands on different muscles (especially the biceps muscles). Based off the mechanics and anatomy of a supinated grip (chin-up), it would make sense that the biceps brachii would experience a greater emphasis. With a pronated grip (pull-up), one would expect an increase in brachialis activation and with a neutral grip, an increase in brachioradialis activation.
However, there are inconsistent results in studies, with some supporting these differences in muscle activation but others not. A study involving 19 men performing the three grip orientations showed no significant differences in activation of the biceps muscles, latissimus dorsi, lower trapezius and infraspinatus (back muscles). Overall, it appears that any of the pull-up grips will induce pretty similar muscle activation, with some inconsistent support of different grip orientation altering the activation of different biceps muscles.
What if you can’t do any pull-up variations?
As much as pull-ups are a great exercise for the back, not everyone can perform them. There are several exercises that I done before I was able to do pull-ups (and still do now!).
A personal favourite of mine are lat pulldowns, as it mimics the movement of a pull-up and can allow you to progressively increase the weight you use. Often those who cannot do pull-ups use the assisted pull-up machine, but for myself I thought it wasn’t too effective in helping me train to do pull-ups (possibly because I knew in my head that I was being assisted — preventing me from working as hard). Many also use resistance bands to help perform pull-ups, or do negatives (only doing the eccentric portion of the pull-up) as a way to train the movement.
Shoulder Press:
Shoulder pressing movements of many variations are often found in any upper body workout, as they target all three muscles of the shoulder (anterior, medial, and posterior deltoid), and both the biceps and triceps to a lesser degree.
A study involving 15 men compared strength and muscle activation of shoulder presses in seated versus standing positions, and with dumbbells versus barbells. Based off this study, increasing the instability of the movement (by using dumbbells and standing), resulted in the greatest muscle activation, but the lowest one rep max. So simply adding the instability factors (dumbbells, standing up) seems to significantly increase muscle activation, but also reduces the weight you can load for the lift.
Therefore, if your goal is to be able to maximize the weight you can lift, employing a seated barbell shoulder press would be the way to go. But if you would also like to add a secondary shoulder pressing movement that maximizes muscle activation, incorporating a pressing movement that has an instability factor could be beneficial.
Rows:
At least one rowing exercise is typically added in an upper body workout to target the upper, middle, and lower back. There are many variations of rowing exercises such as the bent-over barbell/dumbbell row, seated/standing cable rows, T-bar rows, or inverted rows.
A study which recruited 7 recreationally active men compared the muscle activation of the inverted row and standing bent-over barbell row. The inverted row was shown to have a higher activation of the latissimus dorsi and thoracic erector spinae muscles (upper/mid back) and a lower activation of the lumbar erector spinae muscles (lower back), making it a suitable exercise for those who cannot handle a high load on their lower back. The standing barbell row activated similar muscles to the inverted row, but seems to equally activate the thoracic and lumbar spinae muscles, making it an exercise that is more suitable to activate the whole back. However, it does put a higher load on the lower back which isn’t optimal for those with low back pain. All rowing exercises activate several muscles in the back but similar to other exercises, varying the type of rowing exercise performed can emphasize different regions of the back.
Take-Away Points:
The bench press, pull-up, shoulder press, and row, are all compound movements that should be in any upper body routine. Performing different variations of each of these exercises can be done to emphasize the activation of certain muscle groups, but regardless of which variation you perform, they are all effective in recruiting several major muscle groups.
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