Six exercises to shred your upper body

Drop 15 pounds by April

Springtime is just around the corner. Are you getting ready? Soon it will be time to start wearing more revealing clothes – you know – the kind that shows more body. I don’t know about you but the weather we are having now is for penguins. If you’ve been working hard to shed the holiday flab then you will be ready. If not then it’s time to get busy.

I have five workout routines that’s sure to blast that spare tire that’s forming around your waist. They are easy to do and can be done at home or the gym. These are multi-function exercises that targets different muscles and will have you looking fit and ready in no time.

Clean and jerk – You don’t need a lot of weight for this exercise just a straight bar and some light weights. If you don’t have a straight bar then use a set of resistance bands and a broom stick.

The movement is to lift the bar to your chest (the clean), pause for a second and jerk it to your chest (the jerk) then press over head. Return to the starting position. You need to use weight light enough to do twenty-five repetitions. Pause for thirty seconds between each set of repetitions . . . . repeat the exercise three more times.

This movement targets several different muscle groups including chest, upper back, shoulders, triceps and arms.

Burpees This is one the best exercises to shred the upper body and build endurance. Burpee seems simple enough, you start in standing position, then squat down until your hands touch the floor and kick your feet back into a push-up position. From there you push-up, then jump back and up into original position and repeat.

Burpees can be challenging but for a great workout it’s at the top of my list. It will have you sweating in no time. If you are just starting a workout program then do three sets of five repetitions. By the time April comes around you should be doing sets of twelve to fifteen.

Press-ups – If burpees are too much then do push ups. Beginners should start from the kneeling position with your arms at shoulder width apart from each other. Your eventual goal is to do four sets of twenty.

Plyometrics – Use the stairs in your home as a platform to do these exercises. Hop up and back down on the first step. If you need support then hold on to the hand rail. Aim for fours sets of twenty-five hop-ups and downs. Take a thirty second break between each set.

Shoulder presses or military presses as they are sometimes called will have your shoulders looking right and tight with a little consistent work.

Pull-ups – A great all-around movement for your back muscles as well as your entire upper body is the pull-up. Aim to do 10 repetitions by Spring.

If you don’t have pull-up equipment at home then use resistance bands for lat pulls. Make sure that bands are secured to a permanent fixture in your house.

If you want to slap that volleyball over the net with more gusto or put more zing in your top spin then work on these exercises over the next few weeks.

Remember if you haven’t been working out for a while then go slow and build of momentum until you are hardly breaking a sweat after twenty minutes of working. And be sure to incorporate a good stretching routine in your daily activities.

Do two movements each day alternating between these five exercises. When they get too easy increase the number of repetitions.

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