Strengthening the Upper Body











LIL'BRUCIE
WORKIN'
OUT
 

Basic Bike Training

Cross-Training

Upper Body Exercises

Trunk Exercises

Leg Exercises

General Workout

Biking Fitness:   Strengthening the Upper Body

Front Raise. With knees slightly bent, standing upright, raise dumb bells straight in front of you until parallel to the floor. In a controlled manner, return weight to sides. (Main body parts worked…shoulders)

 

Lateral Raise. Knees slightly bent, standing upright with dumb bells straight in front of you, raise the weights directly out to the side until parallel to the floor. (Main body parts worked…shoulders)

 

Military Press. You can do this exercise with dumbbells or a barbell. Starting at the shoulder, press straight above your head palms facing forward extending your arms completely. For the same reason as the lat. pull down, I don’t recommend doing the press behind the neck. (Main body parts worked…shoulders, triceps)

 

Dumb bell bench press. The dumb bell press is the same as the barbell except you need to stabilize two weights independently versus just one with the barbell. The press motions of the exercise however is the same. Take extra care however to keep the weights in line so that they don’t fall to one side or the other and you injure yourself. (Main body parts worked…chest, triceps)
Incline bb bench. With hands slightly wider than shoulder width, in a controlled manner lower weight to just above chest. Press to start position. Take it through a full range of motion (main body parts worked…chest, triceps)

 

EZ bar curl. Standing with knees slightly bent. Start with arms fully extended. With elbows remaining relatively stationary, bend arms curling weight to chest. Return to start slowly. (Main body parts worked…biceps)
Dumb Bell Curls. Standing with the knees slightly bent, hold a dumb bell in each hand. Raise each dumb bell alternatively, keeping the weight tipped inward slightly.

 

Triceps press down. Keeping your elbows at your sides’ press the bar down to full extension, hold, then slowly return to the start position. Don’t let your elbows rise and don’t "throw" the weight down. Keep the motion even and controlled. (Main body parts worked…triceps)
Lat. pull down. You can do either lat. pull downs or wide grip pull ups depending on your preference. For added variety you can also do chin-ups or machine chi ups same motion with hands closer together with palms facing you. They work the muscle groups a little different but are good to mix in. It’s one of my favorite exercises. Start the movement with arms out-stretched head up, bring the bar to your upper chest or at least past your chin no lower than mid chest. If you can’t bring it below your chin for the desired amount of reps lower the weight. You want a full range of motion for this exercise. I also don’t recommend pulling to behind the neck as to avoid injury to the rotator cuff and shoulder joint. Plus there is a negligible amount of gain that can be had from pulling to the back of the neck. (Main body parts worked…upper back, biceps)

 

Dips. On a dip rack lower your body to about a 90-degree angle between your upper arm and forearm. Press yourself back to an extended position. (Main body parts worked…triceps, chest)

 

Seated row. Keep back upright and stationary and with its natural curve, don’t roll your back during the movement. Pull straight back, pause momentarily at the end of the motion (when it is against your torso) slowly return to the start position. (Main body parts worked…upper back, biceps)

Upright Row. With your body upright, back straight and hands about 5 inches apart, pull the bar straight up your body with elbows high at the end of the movement and the bar just below your chin. Lower the bar slowly to start position. You can do this exercise with an EZ curl bar straight bar or even dumbbells or exercise bands. (Main body parts worked…shoulders, biceps)
One arm row. Support your knee and one hand on a weight bench. With a flat back start the movement with the weight extended, pull the weight to your torso. Slowly return to start. Make sure to control the weight. (Main body parts worked…upper back, biceps)

Click Here for Page 4: Trunk Strengthening

 

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