Upper Body!

Alright, so I haven't been giving my upper body the attention it needs, especially for being a beach volleyball player, so today I completely beat up my arms, shoulders, and back. My little noodle arms were shaking so bad when I was done, it's a miracle I didn't drop a tray of food at work!

 I had a whole page of things I did, but here are a couple from today.

Preacher Curls

For those of you who have a bench, this is a great Bicep Challenge. Kneel down, and put your armpit over the top of the inclined bench. Take a dumbbell that is a challenge for you, and extend your arm straight as your would a regular curl. 

Then curl your wrist up and squeeze your bicep to bring the weight towards your face. This form of curls takes away any leverage you might have if you are standing doing curls and your elbows hit your sides, or you lean back on your last rep to pull up the weight. This exercise eliminates all of those aids. 

Try them! 

Next were Chin Ups and Pull Ups. 

 For those of you who get Chin Ups and Pull Ups confused, chin ups are the ones with your grip facing you, and pull ups are with your grip facing away from you. So these are chin ups. I find these much easier than pull ups, but that's only because I'm much stronger through my biceps than I am my triceps and shoulders. So for chin ups, although I find them "easier" than pull ups, they still aren't that easy. I can't do that many consecutively, so to make them more of a challenge, once you get to the top of the bar, slowly lower yourself down in an 8 count. This makes it more of a challenge, for those of you who can't just bang out 15 or 20 chin ups. 

So for pull ups, as you can see, the grip is wider and facing away from you. Again with these, I can't just bang them out like some of the guys I know can, so I do a pull up, and and 8 count on the way down. 

Get those arms and backs burnin'! 

Enjoy your workouts! :)