Florian's Disclaimer: Now that you know how to dress well, it can help to feel good about your body. Here is an article by Rudy Coia, bodybuilding professional, who will teach you how to work your muscles, in order to eliminate your excess fat; or simply improve your physical fitness. I leave room for the specialist.
When I was asked to write an article for the BonneGueule website, I immediately thought of writing on the subject " how to look in shape when you are well dressed" .
Well-cut clothes are good. But to feel good about yourself, it is also important to know how to maintain good physical condition, as much for you and your health as for helping your grandmother cross the street.
Today, I'm going to teach you some simple techniques to do (dumbbells are enough) to strengthen your upper body, and shine as you should in your brand new BG t-shirt on the beaches this summer.
What muscles do you need to work to wear a t-shirt with style?
To look muscular and fit when wearing a t-shirt or shirt , you might think that developing only the pectorals, shoulders and biceps is enough.
But this is a misunderstanding of bodybuilding, and especially the concept of physical fitness. Our body is made to move, and if we only think about developing and working certain muscles, injury can only result. However, we are not here to hurt ourselves, but rather to feel good in our body .
In other words, be careful not to work the muscles that are only visible, because at some point, you will quickly be limited in their development . This is why you must work the muscles which are seen from the front as well as those which are seen from the back, and this equally .
If, for example, you work your pectorals more than your entire back, you will end up with your shoulders forward and your upper back hunched, in addition to having serious flexibility problems in the long term! I could give you an example for each "over-development" of a muscle in relation to its antagonist (muscle which makes the opposite movement to the one being worked), but that is not what we are looking for here .
In summary
If you push, you have to pull . If you bend, you must strain . If you raise, you must lower . And you have to be equally strong in both directions to be able to progress, not get injured, and thus fully enjoy the fruits of your hard work.
In the rest of the article, we give you all the tips to be as strong as Conan (well, minus the saber).
What are the best exercises to do to work your upper body?
There are several hundred exercises, and not all of them are equally effective. This is why you must choose them carefully .
For those who are new to bodybuilding, and who are lost on the exercises I am going to talk to you about, here are some exercises that should help you get started. 😉
Shoulders
The best shoulder exercises are lateral raises and bird exercises . These are the ones that will allow you, as you progress, to have rounded shoulders. I do not recommend bench presses which mainly involve the anterior part of the deltoid (shoulders), which are already widely used by exercises for the pectorals.
The pectorals
Everyone knows inclined bench press , in the form you want (bar or dumbbell), to better use the top of the pectorals.
Incline press
The back
The back muscles can be worked in two ways: pulling from above (exercises called pull-ups ) and pulling from in front of you (the famous rows ). You absolutely must do at least one of each exercise, for example: high pulley pull-ups, wide grip in front , in order to work the V muscles (dorsal, external portions), and the pronated bar row , in order to work the thickness of the back (essential when working the pectorals, as I explained to you earlier).
Note from Florian: these names may be a bit barbaric, but if you are lost in the exercise names, click on the links to watch them on video.
Triceps
The triceps represent half the volume of an arm. Suffice to say that if you want big arms, it is also important to work on them. For this, the best exercises are those that stretch them, notably the Magic TRYCeps . This is the best exercise to do to develop the triceps!
Rudy is no longer joking: in full effort at Magic Tryceps!
Biceps
As with the triceps, there is no dispute over the best exercise: it is the inclined curl , the only exercise that actually stretches the biceps. You can add another exercise to this ( the hammer grip curl ), to try to work the anterior brachialis more precisely. It is a muscle that represents 1/6th of the volume of the arm.
Forearms
All of the muscles that make them up have a low potential for muscle growth, although among them, there is one that still has the potential to become more or less large. This is the long supinator, which is worked by doing the pronation curl .
How do I do my bodybuilding program to feel better in my clothes?
If you surf the Net, you will see that there are dozens and dozens of programs, each more incomprehensible than the next, without knowing which one would be best for you.
This is why I am going to offer you a small program, assuming that you are starting out, and which includes the best exercises that we have just seen. The program will be done over 2 days each week, which you can repeat during the week if you want to train more.
Normally, when you're starting out, you can train a little more frequently. Then, as you gain strength, the training frequency is reduced little by little, to recover after increasingly intense efforts.
Note from Florian: The objective is to help you feel good in your clothes (and not the opposite). Besides, if you are already strong, I invite you to reread how to dress when you are muscular .
Day 1: Pectorals – Dorsals (Recovery between sets 1'30)
- Bench press : 3 sets of 10 repetitions
- Incline press : 3 sets of 10 repetitions
- Pullover : 3 sets of 15 repetitions
- High pulley pulldown, wide front grip : 3 sets of 10 repetitions
- Pronated rowing bar : 3 sets of 10 repetitions
- One-arm row with dumbbell : 3 sets of 12 repetitions
Day 2: Shoulders – Biceps – Triceps (Recovery between sets 1’30)
- Lateral raise with dumbbell : 4 sets of 15 repetitions
- Dumbbell bird on inclined bench : 4 sets of 15 repetitions
- Incline curl : 4 sets of 10 repetitions
The inclined curl exercise with dumbbells
(thanks to Arnaud and eltomato for the correction).
- Hammer curl with dumbbell : 3 sets of 12 repetitions
- MagicTRYCeps : 4 sets of 12 repetitions
- Pronated high pulley triceps extension : 3 sets of 12 repetitions
The number of repetitions, series and recovery times are given as an indication, and must obviously be adapted according to your abilities. This is a working basis that I am giving you to attack! 🙂
What we haven't seen and which also counts for being in shape!
Rudy doesn't bite, he's a very nice guy!
Developing your upper body is generally not enough to have super strength, you also need to develop your lower body! Who would say that well-developed glutes don't look sensational, whatever the clothing worn?
We have also not seen how to work the abdominals, nor how to develop them with their counterparts, the lower back .
If you liked this article, please let us know. I would then be happy to write down what we didn't see today to get the Super Class!
