Beyond the Bench Press

By Andrew Freund

Motlow Buzz Contributing Writer

        When I started working out in the gym, I'd go straight to the bench press to lift weights. However, over time I saw slow progression in strength and appearance. I had to find more lifts to work my chest and allow it to grow. Once I found and learned more lifts, I saw results. I use those learned and researched lifts today to teach members at the YMCA in the correct forms and lifts to work.

     “It’s consistency. Stay with it. You must do this day in, and out. It becomes a lifestyle,” said Jay Cutler, a prominent bodybuilder. 

While upper body lifts take over Cutler’s life at the gym, we find that many other people are also going to the gym to work their upper body. Exercisers are excited to get to the bench press and hit out a couple sets. But there's is a lot more to bodybuilding than that.

Many new lifters come into the gym not knowing where to start, so they just go to the bench. However, to gain the best muscle, a variety of lifts is the best way. There are many different lifts that help work out your upper body, including push-ups, incline's, dips and even flyes.  

The first workout I want to talk about is doing push-ups. Push-ups are an exercise in which a person lies facing the floor and, keeping their back straight, raises his or her body by pressing down on the hands. Push-ups are a great workout to use when you don’t have any weights or a gym because you can do them anywhere. Also, push-ups are a great way to build muscle for a new lifter. Several muscle groups in the chest, arms, shoulder's, triceps, back and neck work simultaneously during a push-up. Even though it is a basic strength exercise, it is a good workout. 

Nerd Fitness provided these helpful steps, and has more in detail: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/proper-push-up

The next lift I want to introduce to you are dips. Dips are another great lift to put into your upper body workout routine. To get yourself into the starting position, hold your body at arm’s length above the bars. While breathing in, lower yourself slowly with your torso leaning forward around 30 degrees or so and your elbows out slightly until you feel a slight stretch in the chest. 

Dips work the pecs while stretching helping the flexibility of the shoulder. They involve your own body weight. This is a way to build your chest while warming up your shoulders at the same time. This lift is best early in your workout. 

Stronglifts gave great information about dips, and has further information in detail: https://stronglifts.com/dips/#gref

The next lift is the incline dumbbell press. This more advanced lift involves weights. To get started, set an adjustable bench to an incline of 30 to 45 degrees. Lie on your back on the bench and hold a pair of dumbbells directly above your shoulders with your arms fully extended, then lower both dumbbells to the sides of your chest. That’s on rep. 

This lift works for the same muscle groups as a flat bench would. It's great if you’re on your own and can't find a spot. If you can’t get the weight up, you can move your arms to the side and drop it.  However, spotters should be mandatory for all weighted lifts to ensure safety. The incline puts more of a workout on your upper chest than a flat bench would, giving you another lift to add to your workout. 

BodyBuilding is a great site to look more into dumbbell bench pressing: https://stronglifts.com/dips/#gref

The last lift we are going to talk about flyes. Flyes are something I don’t see a lot in the gym, but they are a very valuable lift. Lie down on a flat bench with a dumbbell on each hand resting on top of your thighs. Then use your thighs to help raise the dumbbells. Lift the dumbbells one at a time so you can hold them in front of you at shoulder width with the palms of your hands facing each other. With a slight bend on your elbows in order to prevent stress at the biceps, lower your arms out at both sides in a wide arc until you feel a stretch on your chest.

Flyes isolate your chest and give a good stretch. They are an awesome exercise even for growth. They break down a lot of fibers when done properly. Flyes are a motion that can be awkward at the start and take some getting used to. Most gyms have a fly machine that also can be used.

Coachmag provided these helpful steps: http://www.coachmag.co.uk/dumbbell-exercises/6709/how-to-do-the-chest-building-dumbbell-flye

All these lifts are great to help build the upper body. There are many more lifts that can also be thrown into a workout depending on what you are looking to do. These lifts all work the chest and shoulders. The bench is not a bad lift at all. I just feel people need to branch out and focus on other lifts to build strength and flexibility in the muscles. 

Once the exercises begin to be too easy, it is important to increase the intensity in order to see results. You can do this through several methods. First, you can change how you’re doing the lift by alternating the weights. If it has dumbbells or if it is a body lift, you can hold every rep for five seconds. Second, you can raise the weight you are using in the lift. If you are doing a body lift, you can put weight on your back or waist. Lastly, you can work one arm at a time. 

There are many more upper body lifts, but these are a few I wanted to share with you. I hope this helped you out or got you wanting to learn more about upper body workouts and lifts. Try these lifts out and let me know if you enjoyed them. If I can do it, you can do it also!

Its Never Too Late to Improve Your Lifestyle

By Jacob Rabasca

Health promotion is helping people change their lifestyle, environment and social norms to move forward toward a state of optimal health. Only 10 percent of the United States’ population can be found in the top level of wellness. Everyone else is found in the lower two levels of Health and Wellness. There is a difference between all of these categories. Health is the state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and Wellness is an integrated and dynamic level of functioning oriented toward maximizing potential. As a whole, we need to push ourselves and get past the second level. The more people that achieve the third level, the faster every one of us will grow together and become a healthier people.

Life expectancy in the U.S. is 77.9 years, 75.4 for men and 80.4 for women. Women are expected to live five years longer than a man the same age. One reason why, is because women are way less likely to be daredevils as they grow up. Unintentional injuries are the third leading cause of death in men and the sixth with women. Males also develop slower in the womb than females do. They are more likely to die from underdevelopment of the lungs or brain. Men also hold most of their stress in their chest and don’t have many social ties, while women reach out and talk to others.

The top five causes of death for all ages are heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic respiratory disease, and motor accidents. Almost all of those can be avoided by changing our lifestyles and helping others get to where you are physically and emotionally. Heart disease is commonly found in those with an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, being overweight, and smoking. Replace those with a healthy diet, daily exercise and an alternative habit to smoking, and you’ll prevent heart disease. Everyone knows that the best way to keep a healthy heart is healthy food and cardio. Eat some oatmeal for breakfast and take a jog every morning, start your day right and carry your healthy decisions throughout your day.

It’s overlooked that fitness isn’t only about physical wellness, but it is also about the wellness of our mind and emotions. In order to be in the top level of health, we have to have physical and emotional stability, and we have to have our lives together in order help others. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in teens. If people in our communities were more involved with each other and were more about helping one another, we wouldn’t have the issues and news that we do today. People need other people in life. We get through things together.

We forget to realize that we make the decisions that get us where we are. We should only worry about the things that we can control. We can physically get better by changing what and how we eat. We can also hit the gym and exercise daily. We can help anyone with their problems just by offering them someone to talk to. We can be that person that lifts them up out of the hole they are in. It’s all of our choices to make this world a better place.

All of this information is knowledge I have attained in my wellness class by taking notes and reading out text, “A Wellness Way of Life” by Gwen Robbins, Debbie Powers, and Sharon Burgess. The Huffington Post was also very helpful providing articles that explain the reasons women outlive men. Some of this information is my prior knowledge from past experiences while I was fascinated with health and physique.

I spend a lot of time thinking, most of the time I am thinking about something that needs a solution. A few months ago I was depressed and wasn’t really trying to do anything for anyone, or even myself. Then one day I looked at myself in the mirror, and I thought about everything I had been doing. I wasn’t in the best shape physically and I wasn’t too happy with things in my life.

It hit me that I needed to change. I then made the goal to get a better physique and get myself to think happier. I have been going to the gym and have been working out at home. I have made it a point to read more and expand my ways of thinking. I now read philosophical books that help me understand more about myself and the world around me. I want to be the best version of myself, and I won’t stop working on myself until I feel I have achieved that.