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The Best Upper Body Exercises for Men

Fitday Editor
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Doing upper body exercises is the best way for you to develop a range of muscles, including the shoulders, biceps, triceps and chest. Because these are the muscles that are most noticeable on you, upper body exercises are also some of the most popular exercises at the gym. While you certainly shouldn't forget about working muscles in the legs, lower back and, of course, your abdominal muscles, you can find a ton of upper body exercises to do to get yourself into great shape. You just need to know what to target and how to hit certain muscles that are in your upper body.

Chest Workout

When you work out your chest muscles at the gym, including the large pectoral muscles that you have, you can do them one of two ways. The first way is to do compound exercises that work more than one muscle in your chest. For example, you can do the bench press to work your chest muscles. However, the bench press can also be used to improve the muscles in your shoulders, back and arms. Therefore, the bench press is one of the best upper body exercises that you can do. In addition to compound exercises, you can also do isolated upper body exercises like dumbbell pullovers that specifically target just the pectoral muscles. Isolated upper body exercises focus in on one specific muscle group and hit it hard.

Back Workout

When you do upper body exercises, you want to make sure that you keep them balanced. There will be a temptation for you to do a ton of chest exercises because it's one of the body parts that men focus on. But you want to balance chest exercises out with back exercises in order to keep your body balanced. You can do this by doing rows and pull-ups, which are two of the most effective types of upper body exercises that target the back. By doing these, you will also be helping your posture, which will make your chest appear even larger if you're looking to increase your muscle mass and size.

Shoulder Workout

Like the chest, you can complete compound and isolated shoulder exercises. The shoulder press, for instance, will work all sorts of muscles in your shoulders as well as parts of your arms and even your back. You can also do dumbbell raises, though, to target specific shoulder muscles.

Biceps Workout

The most basic biceps workout is the biceps curl. It is effective at working your entire bicep. But remember, by doing exercises such as the bench press, you will get a solid biceps workout, too.

Triceps Workout

You might not think so, but your triceps are actually the biggest muscles in your arms. Hit them effectively by doing a close-grip bench press or by doing dips at the gym.

These are some of the best and most effective upper body exercises for you to try in order to build your upper body.

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