How To Build Upper Body Strength For Beginners

Do exercises improve upper body strength? The photo above is of a young woman working her upper body on a TRX band. Those are very popular and have to be set into a high ceiling. She may be learning how to build upper body strength for beginners.

Anything is possible, but you’re not likely to find a set in someone’s home.

This article is about the BodyBoss portable gym kit. It comes with an anchoring platform and stretch bands.

You can discover that exercises improve upper body strength using your BodyBoss, just like you can with the TRX bands.

Wouldn’t you love to pull a light weight gym kit out of your front hall closet, or from under your bed, and just start a workout that you’ve chosen yourself?

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Can I Learn How To Build Upper Body Strength From Nothing

“According to a study published in October 2017 in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, just 30 minutes twice a week of high intensity resistance and impact training was shown to improve functional performance, as well as bone density, structure, and strength in postmenopausal women with low bone mass — and it had no negative effects.” – article here.

If you’re starting from scratch you can use your BodyBoss to build strength.

Strength for everyday activities like:

Shopping/carrying bags in
Gardening
Housework – vacuuming/laundry/bed-making and more
Sports you enjoy
Working/playing with your children

Strength helps you avoid muscle strains or sprains. It prevents you from getting back injuries, wrist injuries, ankle injuries and more.

If you do get injured, strong and toned muscles will be injured to a lesser degree.

Injuries will affect you your entire life, so it is best to build enough muscle to live your life comfortably, and with confidence.

This video gives you a look at what BodyBoss looks like, and how you can use it to build upper body strength.

“Adults should aim to do moderate or intense muscle-strengthening workouts that target all muscle groups two days per week.” – full article here.

With your BodyBoss portable gym, you can do two full body workouts a week.

That’s all! In between those workouts, your muscles are building. That’s why you don’t do a workout everyday.

With use of the stretchy bands that come with your gym kit, you create resistance in your movements.

That resistance stimulates your muscles to – build muscle!

With the BodyBoss you can build upper body strength at home, or while traveling.

You can get together with friends and workout, each on your own BodyBoss kit.

Upper body resistance training improves:

Your heart health
Your posture – which in turn improves your breathing habits, sitting habits et al
Increase of your bone density (discussed in a section below)
Acceleration of your metabolism
Your mental acuity (circulation to your brain)
Your mood! Exercise stimulates dopamine and other brain chemical release

Bone density is a big topic and I found this syndicated article about it. I think you’ll find it informative.

Increase Bone Density With Exercise by Anthony Leger

It is an established fact that exercise increases bone density. It is also a well known that a large number of people undergo age related decline in bone mass, and this is the leading cause of frailty and fracture in older adults. Women, in particular, are susceptible to osteoporosis following menopause. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that individuals do not lose their ability to move about in later years due to the loss of bone density.

Calcium and bone density:

It is true that many women take calcium supplements to ward off osteoporosis. However, taking in calcium supplements alone is not enough to maintain bone density. Magnesium and other micronutrients are also required to assimilate calcium. In addition, strength training is necessary to retain assimilated calcium.

Various studies have collected evidence of strength training increasing bone mass and maintaining the density of bones. For example, one study in Ontario’s Manchester University showed that postmenopausal women who underwent strength training for a year increased the bone mass in their spine by approximately nine percent when compared to women who did not participate in weight training and therefore experienced a fall in bone density.

Experts agree that exercise – strength training exercise in particular – is the key to preserving bone density and maintaining bone mass. Strength training exercise increases bone density, improves balance and develops muscle strength, and all of these factors help older adults improve their quality of life drastically.

Types of exercise

Not all exercises are created equal. Even among strength training exercises, certain kinds of exercises affect the density of bones and improve bone health more than others.

According to a research conducted by the Bone & Joint Injury Prevention & Rehabilitation Center, three characteristics in strength training exercise make it most suitable for building bone density. These are:

The magnitude of strain in the exercise: Greater magnitude is found in exercises like weightlifting and gymnastics because of the greater force involved.
The rate of strain in the exercise: This is where the rate of the impact felt is higher, as in plyometrics (exercises centered on fast, powerful movements) and jumping.
Frequency of strain in the exercise: This is higher in exercises such as running, going up and down stars and weightlifting where the bones are impacted more frequently during the exercise.

All the three factors above play important roles in developing and maintaining the density of bones. However, which of these three factors is the most important was not determined by the study, although it was mentioned that people may experience an increase in bone density just by performing weight bearing exercises for 12-20 minutes, three times a week.

Exercises that place strain on the bones like weight lifting and strength training are the best exercises to build bone density. Other excellent exercises for building bone density include stair climbing, running and so on.

Impact of age on bone density

According to studies, exercise can increase bone density regardless of age. It has been seen that weight bearing exercises stimulate the formation of bone cells by retaining calcium. This is most important for postmenopausal women who start losing bone mass due to depleting estrogen levels.

Can exercise lower the density of bones?

A study found that elite level cyclists actually had lower bone density, leading researchers to believe that activities such as cycling and swimming could lead to loss of bone mass. The reason for this could be due to these factors:

These exercises are non-weight bearing and do not put any strain on the bones
The body loses enormous amounts of vital nutrients due to copious sweating
The calorie deficit following hours of intense exercise could lead to loss of bone mass

Therefore, it is not a good idea to concentrate too much on one form of exercise or do it in excess.

Exercise alone cannot ensure maintenance and development of bone mass, but must be combined with excellent nutrition. This becomes more important when people over the age of 30 years since the body does not build bone cells as well as it did before. Therefore, building strong bones before this age is ideal, but the right diet and exercise can help at any age.

Full article here.