When talking about powerful, big comes to mind. It is, however, important to stress that you can be powerful without being big and, you can actually be big without being that powerful. Size doesn’t always equal strength, but thankfully for you, I’m going to teach you how to be both.
Let’s start with the ‘big’ part. I think we can all agree on the fact that if you want to build overall mass, then compounds are the way to go. Isolation exercises work great to build specific muscles, but compounds are going to target a whole range of muscles. More muscles targeted equals greater potential for growth.
So, without wasting anymore time, what exercises should you be doing?
Overhead Press
You may have heard this being called the strict press or the military press but don’t worry, it is the same thing. It works by pressing a barbell from below the chin, to above the head (simple right?). Although it involves mainly the shoulders and arms, this movement will work the glutes, hamstrings, abs, upper chest and back! As you are pressing a heavy weight above your head, the whole body has to act as one and stabilise, so you don’t drop the weight and because of this, is great for overall balance.
Bench press
The bench press is always going to sneak into the conversation when ‘upper body’ is mentioned. Although not a functional movement, you will do well to find a better upper body exercise that builds muscle and power like the bench press. Unlike the overhead press, this movements start at the top instead of the bottom, unracking the weight, lowering it slowly to your chest and then pressing it back to the starting position. The bench press is going to work your chest, shoulders, arms, back and core. So, it’s a must for that total upper body development.
Pullup
This is one of the hardest upper body exercises to do, but the benefits you get back from it are second to none. You are going to be working your whole back, core and arms with this movement. A few tips to make sure you are getting the best out of it are keeping your entire core tight, gripping the bar as hard as possible and squeezing your glutes during the movement. #
Deadlift
Strictly, this is a full body movement, but it does help with upper body power. Another simple lift, you are essentially picking up a heavy weight from the floor and putting it back down again. However, in order to avoid injury, remember these cues when performing it. Keep a straight back, hinge at the hips, keep your head neutral, maintain a high chest and shoulders, brace your core and move as fast as you can off the floor. The deadlift works every muscle in your body, but works incredibly well at developing your posterior chain, especially your lats, traps and lower back.
For size, you want to be performing these exercises in the 8-15 rep range. Go as high as 15 for pullups, but not for deadlifts, where I would stick to no higher than 10 reps per set. Do 3-4 sets on each.
For power, you want to be incorporating speed into your training. This will not only make you more powerful, but stronger as well.
You want to be focusing on bar speed for all the lifts, barring the pullup, where you will be focusing on the speed of each rep. You can use as assistance machine for this, or a band.
Speed work on a barbell is super simple to incorporate but seems to be overlooked because of how simple it is. You focus on the bar speed during the concentric phase, which in turn recruits more muscle fibres. Every rep should be performed as fast as possible. You want to be using around 50% of your one rep max and aim for 10-12 sets of 2-3 reps with shorter rest times between 30 seconds and a minute.
Speed work can be done directly after your heavy work, or on a separate day.
Combine speed work and hypertrophy on these exercises and see/feel your upper body becoming more powerful in no time.
