Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Best Exercises for a Ripped Upper Body


Q: edgar_erazo said...
Alvin,
What is the best exercise to get your upper body ripped? (in the gym and without the gym)

A: AP FIT says...
Edgar,
Thanks for writing in. I think that "BEST" is subjective but I can definitely share with you a few of some of the most important exercises everyone should be doing in and out of the gym.

The very first and most important exercise anyone should be doing in and out of the gym is exercising brain control! You must first apply willpower in order to succeed at getting ripped. Why is this? Well, to get anything "ripped" you must have an extremely clean nutritional plan. That means no cheating, no drinking and complete dedication to saying "NO" to your urges. Nutrition is 80% of the equation and the governing factor to abs versus no abs. For a list of clean foods and eating schedules please see my article "The Foods You Should Be Eating".

Now, on to the other 20% of getting ripped. Once your nutrition is absolutely spotless you need to be incorporating compound movements in your workout. A compound movement is an exercise that forces you to use a group of muscles as opposed to isolating. For example, a squat is a compound movement where as a leg extension is an isolation exercise. Because compound movements trigger different muscles in addition to the main muscles being worked this will help you activate more muscle fibers therefore making you gain more muscle.

Use exercises such as pull ups, push-ups, planks, squats, lunges, sprinting, burpees, jumping jacks etc. These are all exercises that involve incorporating a lot of movement and muscle stabilization which in turn will increase your heart rate. An elevated heart rate during a workout will mean more calories burned, more calories burned means less fat and less fat means....you got it....a more ripped body.

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