Are you looking for ways to build an attractive upper body? If yes, you're on the right page. This is the best upper body building program for beginners. It's a 20-week training program that will give you phenomenal results if you follow it with patience and consistency.
Often bodybuilders rely on traditional workouts and ignore the ones that can amazingly affect their upper body. To have a muscular torso, the main focus of exercise enthusiasts is on the bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press, cable fly, machine press, etc.
They overdo these workouts, which gives them a poorly sculpted body. While performing heavy volume workouts, they overlook some effective moves, such as the Chin-ups and Dips. These two workouts are the keys to building a complete upper body.
What Muscles Do Chin-Ups & Dips Work?
Chin-ups and dips are beneficial strength training exercises. You may have heard these two terms often used together, but there is a subtle difference between them which is holding the bars.
To perform chin-ups, your palms face your body, while the dips involve palms facing away from your body. The way you grip the bar brings a significant difference in muscular activation and grip strength.
Having the difference told, both the workouts affect different sections of your upper body. The chin-ups target your arm muscles and upper back, including the biceps, shoulders, lats, and forearms. In addition, when you perform dips, they target your back muscles, such as lats, including the chest, triceps and shoulder muscles.
Related Article: Weighted Dips Benefits for Chest, Shoulders, and Muscles | DMoose
20-Week Chin Up & Dip Program
This workout involves simple and effective movements, i-e, chin-ups, and dips. They target different muscles of your upper body, including the shoulder, forearms, biceps, lats, etc. Furthermore, it's a training program designed for beginners.
Workout Summary
|
Main Goal |
Build Muscle |
|
Workout Type |
Single Muscle Group |
|
Training Level |
Beginner |
|
Duration |
20 Weeks |
|
Days Per Week |
5 |
|
Time Per Workout |
75-90 Minutes |
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Equipment Required |
Bodyweight, Other |
|
Target Gender |
Male & Female |
|
Recommended Supplements |
Workout Description
Working out the upper body requires hard work, patience, and the right mindset. To train your upper body you can follow this 20 week workout program if you are a fitness enthusiast.
It involves practicing two compound movements, i-e, chin-ups, and dips. Besides hard work, you can speed up your strength training by supplementing yourself with creatine, omega 3 fish oils, and whey protein by DMoose.
Supplementing with creatine helps to improve muscle growth, recover fast, fight tiredness or fatigue, and delivers a lot of energy.
Similarly, omega 3 fish oils reduces the risk of cardiovascular conditions, promotes brain function, reduces inflammation, and improves immune system health.
Whey protein helps to enhance workout performance and recover from the post-workout effects.
However, the primary purpose of this training is to help you grow your torso bigger without going hard on yourself. Furthermore, this training program not only gives you more musculature but it affects your upper body in different ways.
Related Article: 7 Proven Ways to Build Muscular Body From Lean Muscles | DMoose
The impact of chin-ups on the upper body is exceptional. Those with weak posture and muscles can practise this workout as it helps improve posture, grip strength and strengthen the muscles that stabilise the spine. Also, it prevents your back and spine from injury.
On the other hand, dips strengthen the upper muscles and are an excellent workout to improve flexibility in your shoulders and wrists. It also makes your joints strong which will prevent you from facing injuries during workouts.
For the next 20 weeks, you will need to dedicate 75 to 90 minutes per day, five days a week, to work out on the upper body. It is a beginner-level workout guide and is relatively easy compared to other workouts.
It includes chin-ups and dips, working on legs, pushing, pulling, and sprinting. You have to perform each of these daily movements with breaks in between. So, give your best and wait for the results.
Before we get into the workout routine and it’s details, here is a guide on how you can perform the chin-ups and dips exercises:
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Chin-Ups
The chin-up is a great exercise for toning your arms, shoulders, and back muscles and improving your grip strength. In addition, chin-ups help improve your posture by correcting imbalances in your upper body muscles. As a result, you may find that you stand taller and have less pain in your back and neck. Furthermore, chin-ups are a great way to boost your mood and energy levels.
The act of pulling your body up against gravity gives you a sense of accomplishment and provides a great upper body workout. As an added bonus, you can do chin-ups almost anywhere with a little bit of creativity.
How to Do It?
- Start by standing up tall and grasp the bar. Next, tilt your head back and look at the ceiling. Make sure you feel a stretch in your neck.
- Take a deep breath, squeeze your glutes and abs hard, and brace your core. While contracting the lats, drive the elbows straight down to the floor.
- Pull your chin towards the bar until the lats are totally contracted, then slowly lower yourself back to the start position and do as many repetitions as directed.
Dips
If you are not in the mood to lift weights and still want solid arms and shoulders, then dip it a bit!
Dips are the perfect bodyweight exercises for your arms and shoulders. They are versatile, and you can do them almost anywhere. No equipment is needed. Just a bench or a chair, and you are good to go!
How to Do It?
- Sit on the edge of a chair, bench, or a step and grip the edge next to your hips.
- Your legs should be extended, and your feet should be hip-width apart with the heels firm on the ground
- Press your palms to lift your body, balancing your entire weight on your palms and heels and body forming a straight line
- Lower yourself by bending your elbows. Keep the movement controlled and slow
- Repeat as many times as you can
Workout Routine
- Monday - Chin-ups and Dips
- Tuesday - Legs
- Wednesday - Off
- Thursday - Push
- Friday - Pull
- Saturday - Sprints or Off
- Sunday - Off
Workout Details
This workout will start with 5×5 reps. You can add weights to the workout slightly within or after three weeks. For more detail, follow the routine below to get into the upper body-building journey.
- Week 1-3: Perform 5×5 chin-ups and dips, rest 1 minute between moves and 2 minutes between sets.
- Week 4-6: Perform 5×10 chin-ups and dips, rest 30-45 seconds between moves and 60-90 seconds between sets
- Week 7-9: Perform the chin-ups and dips 7×3, rest 2-3 minutes and then perform the dips 7×3. After the dips, rest 2-3 more minutes before performing the 6×5 chins.
- Week 10-12: Repeat week 1-3, but with heavier loads
- Week 13-15: Repeat week 4-6, but with heavier loads
- Week 16-18: Repeat week 7-9, but with heavier loads
- Week 19-20: Repeat week 10-12, but with heavier loads
Following the routine mentioned above will not only give you an attractive body, but it will also make your overall health better. Moreover, it will strengthen your muscles and joints as well, which will help you avoid injuries.
Conclusion
Exercising your upper body is a hard procedure. It requires serious effort and consistency. To make this process more fruitful, you have to check several factors such as exercise intensity, nutrition, and supplements.
Your body can achieve enough muscle mass through eating the right diet with nutritional supplements. However, using this workout routine will give you better results. If you want you can change your practices for beneficial and healthy effects on the body.
Reading List
Article Sources
- Effectiveness of lift-assisted training in developing upper body strength in females - ProQuest. (n.d.). Www.proquest.com. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://www.proquest.com/openview/b7f59194d5b815d33a96cc4ea9ab656f/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
- Weiss, T., Kreitinger, J., Wilde, H., Wiora, C., Steege, M., Dalleck, L., & Janot, J. (2010). Effect of Functional Resistance Training on Muscular Fitness Outcomes in Young Adults. Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness, 8(2), 113–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1728-869x(10)60017-2
- Thomas, E., Gennaro, V., Battaglia, G., Bellafiore, M., Iovane, A., Palma, A., & Bianco, A. (2021). Upper body strength endurance evaluation: A comparison between the handgrip strength and three body weight tests. Isokinetics and Exercise Science, 29(2), 185–191. https://doi.org/10.3233/ies-202206
