10-Minute Upper Body Workout

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Hey, guys. I'm Dr. Michael Smith, WebMD's chief medical editor and a certified personal trainer. I'm going to walk you through a 10-minute upper body workout. So first, warm up with a walk or some jumping jacks, grab some weights and a mat, and clear your schedule for 10 minutes. OK. Let's get going.

We're going to start with the neutral grip floor press. It's a great alternative to the bench press, something you can do at home. Just lie on your back, feet flat on the floor, a dumbbell in each hand. Raise up slowly, and lower slowly. With all of the exercises, really take them slow at first.

Now, this one you're going to feel it in your chest, but also your triceps and the back of your arm. So it's a great exercise for the pect muscles, pectoralis muscles, and the triceps. We're going to do each of these exercises for one minute, and do two rounds.

Once you get warmed up more, you can speed up if you like. And make sure you vary the weight over time. You will get stronger.

Five more seconds.

All right. Just lower your weight down slowly. And we're going to stand now for a dumbbell row. This is going to work your back, both your rhomboid muscles in the upper middle back, between your shoulder blades, as well as the latissimus dorsi, the large back muscles on each side.

Most important thing, make sure to keep your back nice and straight. You don't want to shrug like that. That will hurt your back. Pull the weights up, and hold them for a second. Slowly lower.

Squeeze your muscles. Lower again. Again, nice and slow at first. Then you can speed it up.

This is really great for your posture. You're gonna build up your back muscles so that you stand nice and tall.

OK. All right. Now we're going to stand up, raise the weights for a dumbbell shoulder press. If you're using the same weight, you will notice this is actually more difficult. Your elbows out to the side. Nice and slow, remember.

Obviously, for your shoulders, the deltoid muscles.

Make sure you keep your body nice and tight. Do not lean back or forward. So just keep looking forward.

10 more seconds.

All right, now we're going to move back down to the floor for our triceps extension. Again, feet flat on the floor. Weight straight up, arms extended.

Now, as you lower the weights, keep your elbows pointed directly to the ceiling. Do not let them flail out. Lower the weights so they come on each side of your head.

Now, obviously here you want to make sure you're not using a weight that is way too much. It's better to go light here. You don't want the weight to fall on your head.

Now, you're going to feel this in your tricep muscle, the muscle in the back of your arm. At the top, if you squeeze it for a second, that will intensify it even more.

OK. We're going to go back up and work now the front of the arm. Right there, the bicep. So start with the dumbbells facing inward, your palms facing inward. Raise slowly, and squeeze at the top. This is the bicep muscle. They're in the front of the arm.

Now, this is called supination. As we raise it, we're twisting the forearm and the dumbbells. Now, at the top, with the part of the dumbbell that's closest to your body, if you squeeze and lower, you'll really feel that.

Now, one important thing. Make sure you're keeping your elbows right at your side. You don't want them to come forward like that, because then that just turns it into a shoulder workout. Nice and slow.

OK. We're going to go back down to the floor and do that round all over again for the neutral grip floor press. Neutral because our hands are pointed in.

This one is actually easier on the shoulders. You just want to make sure that you're keeping your elbows close to your body. When you do this, definitely hitting the chest, you're going to really feel it in your tricep muscle in the back, the back of your arm.

Five more seconds.

All right. Now we're going to move to the back. Stand up nice and slowly. Bend over. Remember to keep that back nice and straight. Pull the weights up, and squeeze up at the top.

Now, make sure you keep your head aligned right with your spine. You don't really want to look up or down. Squeeze it up at the top, slowly lower.

It's really great because you're getting both the middle back muscles, as well as the large lats, latissimus dorsi, on each side of your back. Five more seconds.

All right. Stand up. Raise the weights for the dumbbell shoulder presses.

One thing I like to do is just look slightly up. It helps keep your shoulders back, helps keep you from leaning forward. But again, you definitely don't want to lean backward. That will be hard on your back.

Hold them up for a second. This is hitting the deltoid, especially the anterior deltoid, which is in the front of the shoulder.

I don't know about you guys, but this one's getting tough. If you need a little help, you can always use your legs just a little bit.

All righty. Back down to the floor. Tricep extension.

Slowly down. Raise your arms up. Lower the weights nice and slowly. Remember, always keep your elbows pointed directly to the ceiling.

And squeeze at the top. You'll really feel it in your tricep muscle in the back of your arm.

Remember, don't let those elbows flail out.

One more time. All righty. I'm going to stand back up slowly, work on the front of the arm, the biceps.

Palms in. Squeeze up. Lower slowly. Again, remember keep those elbows nice and tight at your side. A little movement's OK, but they really should not move much.

One of the biggest mistakes people make with bicep exercise is moving their arms backward and forward. The other thing, if you use too heavy of a weight and you're having to move your body to get it up like that, that's no longer a bicep exercise. That's just a dangerous one.

Couple more.

All right, guys. We hit all of your upper body muscles for an awesome workout. Have a great day.

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