The push & pull of it: achieve a beautiful upper body with this different approach to organizing your training

Give your top half a good eyeballing: Are your arms and shoulders shapely, toned and fit? Have you achieved physical symmetry? Is your posture impeccable? If not, you've got some work to do. "Women tend to forget about properly training their upper bodies because they're so focused on their legs and butts," says Karen Brandon, MPT, CSCS, physical therapist at Total Day Health in Riverside, California.

You should train everything equally and often to keep your body in balance and stay injury-free. "If you over- or underwork certain muscle [groups], you create an imbalance around your joints," explains Brandon. "The underworked muscles become lax and will lengthen, and the overworked ones shorten and will become tight." These imbalances pull your body out of whack and can lead to such maladies as tendinitis, rotator cuff injuries, stooped shoulders and lower back problems, to name but a few.

Although it sounds simple enough, achieving body balance can prove to be rather tricky. Fortunately, you can strive toward total muscular equanimity by implementing a push/pull routine like the one shown here.

IT'S A WIN-WIN-WIN

"A push/pull split trains your body functionally, in a way that's consistent with how you move and live," says Brandon. Think about the simple action of pulling open your car door: You don't just use your fingers and biceps to perform that little task; you use your back, traps, rhomboids, rear delts, obliques and a whole slew of other muscles all at once. This routine will help you develop overall upper-body strength.

"With a push/pull routine, you fatigue the muscles that work to perform the same action so the workouts are more efficient and the recovery is actually faster than with traditional bodypart split routines," says Brandon. "It's a very balanced program. By training this way, you'll quickly find out where your strengths and weaknesses lie and will better be able to correct and compensate for them."

In addition, this type of split can condense your upper-body training into two days instead of the typical three or four. "Do a program like this for 4-6 weeks, and you'll begin to see results such as increased strength and improved posture," says Brandon.

So what are you waiting for? It's time to begin the upper body tug-of-war!

THE PUSH/PULL PLAN

Do each routine once per week. It doesn't matter if you do the push or the pull day first, but make sure to leave at least a day or two between sessions for adequate muscle recovery. "You can put a leg workout or some cardio in between if you don't want to take a day off completely," says Brandon.

Follow the workout routine as printed--there really is a method to the madness. "You want to begin with the larger muscle groups, such as chest and back, and perform a multijoint exercise like a chest press or pulldown to warm yourself up," says Brandon. "Then you can move to the smaller muscle groups like biceps and triceps and do single-joint exercises like curls and pressdowns."

RELATED ARTICLE: PUSH ROUTINE

For each exercise, do three sets of 12-15 reps. For the dumbbell chest
press, do two additional warm-up sets of 10 reps each.

EXERCISE                 ALTERNATIVE(S)

Dumbbell Chest Press     Barbell Press, Machine Press
Cable Crossover          Incline-Bench Dumbbell Flye
Pec-Deck Flye            Flat-Bench Dumbbell Flye
Overhead Dumbbell Press  Machine Press
Dumbbell Front Raise     Cable Front Raise
Triceps Rope Pressdown   Cable Front Raise
Lying French Press       Straight-Bar Pressdown
Wrist Extension          Barbell Wrist Extension

Dumbbell Chest Press

* Lie on your back on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand, wrists stacked on top of your elbows, upper arms parallel to the floor.

* As you press the weights up, bring them in toward each other so they almost touch at the top. Hold for a beat, then slowly lower to the start position.

Cable Crossover (not pictured)

* Grab D-handles attached to high-cable pulleys and stand in the middle of the apparatus.

* With your elbows slightly bent, bring your hands together to mid-chest level by rounding your arms as if you're hugging a tree.

Pec-Deck Flye

* Grasp the machine handles with your palms facing inward. Your wrists, elbows and shoulders should all be in line.

* Sit upright, and bring the handles together in front of you, keeping your elbows up. Lightly touch the handles together, then slowly return to the start.

Overhead Dumbbell Press

* Sit on a bench and hold a dumbbell in each hand at ear level, palms facing forward.

* Press the weights up, simultaneously bringing them in toward each other. Keep your back and shoulders neutral and aligned throughout the exercise. Slowly return to the start.

Dumbbell Front Raise

* Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand with your knees slightly bent and your back straight, palms facing your thighs.

* Simultaneously raise and lower the dumbbells to shoulder level or slightly higher. Avoid tilting and rocking with your upper body to perform the lift.