Home Workouts That Will Get You Ripped

With some inexpensive equipment and a little know how, there are several upper body exercises that can be beneficial to your at home workouts. They are great for building upper body strength as well as helping with over all fitness.

Dumbbell exercises are great way to strengthen your upper body. Beginners may want to start out with a lighter weight such as a 5-pound or 7-pound set of dumbbells, while a more advanced exerciser may want to use heavier dumbbells such as 10-pound or up sets of dumbbells. Use lighter weight dumbbells for exercises such as biceps curls, triceps extensions and shoulder shrugs. You will want to use heavier weights for your larger muscle group exercise like rows. A couple of examples of these exercises are the biceps curl and triceps extension. Bicep curls are done by holding the dumbbells in the palms of your hands and pulling the weights from your side to your shoulder. You do not want to move your back, get it as stable as possible. The triceps extensions start with the dumbbells straight over your head; you will then bring the weight back towards the back of your shoulders. You want to do as much reps as you can handle.

Resistant-band exercises, also known as flex-tube exercises, are great for building tone and definition. Resistance bands come in generally three different resistances, light, medium and heavy. For many of the exercises a medium band will offer the most versatility. Many of the band exercises are performed by standing on one end or handle of the band and with the other end or handle in one or both hands. Another way to use the band is to wrap it around a door handle and keep the other handle in your hand. A great example of one of these exercises is the chest work out; you will want to wrap the center of the tube around a rail or door handle, grab the ends of the tube with your hands and extend your arms forward until they are stretched out completely. Try to aim for 2 or 3 sets of 15 to 20 repetitions.

If you do not want to use or can't afford dumbbells or a resistance band, you can always just use your own weight. Using your own body weight for resistant can be very useful when it comes to an upper body workout. Push-ups are one of the best upper body exercises known to man. To perform a perfect push-up a beginner should be on there knees and a more experienced exerciser should be on there toes, you use your arms to push your body up as far as your arms can extend, you try to keep your back as straight as possible. You will want to do as many reps as your body allows but please don't over do it.

Whatever upper body workout you choose, the benefits to your upper body and general health will greatly improve with a constant and steady workout. Remember to do only as much as your body can handle and don't over do it. There are also some great Home workout DVDs that can help you get absolutely ripped. Workouts like P90x and Shaun T Insanity are great for your upper body and overall health in general.

Importance of Dumbbells

It might be time to think about letting go of the barbell and start picking up the dumbbells more. I have always been a barbell type of person since I started lifting weights back in high school, but recently I have started working out with dumbbells and I have been challenged more and pushed more. I was so surprised from the change in difficulty, I actually felt a little embarrassed because I could not lift as much with the dumbbells than I could with the barbell, and I felt weak. But that experience helped me to rethink the way I was working out. Was it more important to me to do exercises I was familiar and comfortable with, or was it more important to me to actually challenge myself more, even if it does mean to step out of my comfort zone? But here are five different reasons why we should all decide to give dumbbells a fighting chance.

1. You can do full body workouts - That is right, dumbbells are not just for the arms, you can focus on your core, and they are great for abdominal routines. You can perform lunges, leg workouts, and even target your back.

2. Greater range of motion - Greater range means you can build more strength. With a barbell, especially with chest workouts, the bar limits you when you hit your chest. Dumbbells allow you to go lower than your chest. Why is that important? You will use more muscle fiber, resulting in stronger muscles.

3. You can beat the workout plateau - A workout plateau happens when your muscles have adapted to your workout plan, and you no longer see results, or achieve little results. This plateau time can be very frustrating and many people actually give up on their workouts because of it. But dumbbells can help you blast through that plateau; because there are so many different ways you can use them for just one area of the body. If you are able to mix it up the more successful you will be.

4. Help you stabilize - When you use dumbbells you have to fight to stabilize them, you will become more balanced, and because you are fighting to stabilize you workout all those little muscles that do not normally get worked out from a barbell routine.

5. They are practical - If you have a great set of dumbbells at home, you can use them whenever you have the chance, and since they can give you a full body workout, you do not need a huge piece of equipment in your house that takes up a whole room. You might have to pay some money at first for a nice set, but there are no expiration dates on these, and they are easy to store away.

There are many other reasons to go for the dumbbells, because of the wide variety of dumbbell workouts on the Internet and there have been some in home workout DVD's like P90x and Chalean Extreme that have been released that specialize in dumbbell exercises. There are some wonderful dumbbell exercises that will strengthen and tone your body to look great.