Push-Ups

Despite what many contemporary sports scientists might say, traditional push-ups are still an
excellent upper body exercise. Lie on your stomach with your back straight, feet together
and hands under your shoulders. Push up against the floor, keeping your back and legs
straight, then lower yourself back down to the floor again. To make the exercise a little
harder, simply slow the action down and raise and lower yourself more slowly. Try to start
with about twenty push-ups and gradually increase this with each workout.

Chest Work
Grab a 10 lb (4.5 kg) pair of hand-held dumbbells. Lie flat on your back on a carpeted floor
(or a hard floor with an exercise mat) and hold the weights in each hand with your palms
uppermost and your arms straight out to each side of your body. Slowly lift the weights and
bring your hands together high up above your chest. To vary this exercise, and give your
biceps a good workout, bring your arms up to about twenty degrees and then bend and
straighten your arms at the elbow before continuing to raise them above your chest.

Lats
Lats is the commonly used term for the latissiumus dorsi muscles which are the large
muscles that run down the side of the upper body and which give men their 'triangular'
shape.

Still with the same pair of dumbbells, stand up straight with arms and dumbbells at your side.
Make sure that your body is well balanced and breathe normally. Breathe in and, at the
maximum point of inhalation, thrust your arms away from the body, palms inward. Breathe
out as you raise your arms to shoulder height and then lower them again slowly to your
sides. Start with about ten repetitions of this exercise and then build up gradually with
subsequent exercise sessions.

Biceps and Triceps

To exercise the biceps and triceps, move the weights in front of your body, with your arms
hanging above the front of your thighs. Then, without swinging or pushing off the thighs, lift
the weights toward your chest using either both arms together or alternating between your
right and left arm. Again try ten repetitions of this exercise to begin with and build up slowly.

If you don't have any dumbbells to hand then the exercises for the lats and biceps can be
done using a long elastic resistance strap, holding one end in your hand and hooking the
other under a foot.

Pull-ups or Chin-ups
This exercise will require access to a bar slightly above head-height, perhaps at your local
gym or in a nearby playground. Alternatively you could use a 'removable' bar which can be
fitted into a door frame at home.

This exercise is simply a case of taking hold of the bar with both hands and then pulling
yourself up until your chin comes level with the bar and then lowering your body back down
again. Chins ups are performed with your fingers curled toward you around the bar and pull-
ups are carried out with your fingers pointing away from you.
This is an excellent exercise for building biceps, triceps, lats and pectorals all at the same
time.

Regardless of the exercise routine you decide to follow, don't overdo it. Build up your upper
body strength slowly and gradually.