When exercising, don't ignore the importance of exercising your upper body muscles. The reason is because it is this muscle that plays many roles in daily activities such as reaching, pulling, pushing or lifting.
If the upper body muscles are strong, then flexibility, mobility, and gesture are better. Conversely, if the upper body muscle strength decreases due to increasing age, then a person becomes prone to injury, illness, and also weak.
What are the upper body muscles?
The upper body muscles not only include the hand muscles, forearms, upper arms and shoulders, but also the muscles that connect the arms to the chest, torso, and spine. If the muscle in the mentioned part is strong, then it is not impossible if someone can stay healthy and have a well-built posture.
Is it true that training your upper body muscles can make a woman fat?
Indeed, myths often circulate in the community that say if women train their upper body muscles, then they can be stocky so they look like bodybuilders. Even though there are sports, there are still several other determinants that affect muscle development such as genes, hormones, size, and body shape.
According to the study, a woman's body does have 10% testosterone from the total that men have. And it's true that if a woman's testosterone levels are higher than that, then it's likely to be even bigger. But that does not mean that this may stop you exercising your upper body muscles. The opportunity to change into a Hulk for women is very small if the exercise is done properly.
Women should also not worry about body size first if you want to train your upper body muscles. Better, focus on building muscles in the back, biceps, triceps, and shoulders.
There are at least 6 benefits of upper body muscle training as follows:
1. Strengthens the connective tissue of the body parts
As mentioned several times before, if one of the main benefits of upper body muscle training is to strengthen the muscles and connective tissue of the body. The importance of upper body muscle strength can not only facilitate the movement of the body in carrying out daily activities, but also prevent the occurrence of injuries that often make the muscle stress.
Human bones are connected to joints by muscle tissue such as tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. If the connective tissue is unstable, the bone is at risk of injury, cracking, or fracture.
Hands, for example, are members of the body that we use most often. The strength of the muscles and joints in the hand is what enables you to grasp and clench. This ability allows us to carry out trivial activities such as writing, holding a spoon, etc.
As with the muscles in the forearm that enable you to rotate your hands and move your wrists and upper arms. And about important activities like pulling or pushing, all of this requires the help of the upper arm muscles in practice.
In addition, the muscles and joints in the shoulder that enable all arms to move in all directions. Similarly, the muscles that connect the arms to the chest are needed if you want to rotate or stretch your arms. While the muscles that connect the arms to the spine enable us to move the shoulders up, down, and behind, and rotate and stretch their arms.
2. Strengthens bones
Other benefits of upper body muscle training are to strengthen bones. When the body moves and there is contraction between the muscles and bones, then that's when the bone is being formed becomes stronger. This contraction causes the bones to change shape and size to adjust to new muscles and weight.
At the same time, contractions also help get rid of dead, weak, or damaged bone tissue. This means that exercise does not only make the muscles stronger because the bones also become resilient when facing various contractions. If the bones are strong, osteoporosis will also stay away.
3. Helps burn fat so there is more 'space' for muscles to develop
During exercise, the body burns calories so fat decreases and muscle mass increases. The positive effect here is, the greater the muscle mass, the higher the metabolism in a person's body. Once the body's metabolism is active, the oxidation of fat increases so that more energy is released. Simply put, if there is more muscle in the body, then that means more calories are burned. Thus the body becomes slimmer. Want?!
4. Increase energy levels
If your upper body muscles are strong, then it is definitely easier for you to do all the activities. You won't get tired easily with every task that is done. You might even be strong enough to move the sofa in the living room yourself without the help of neighbors.
5. Improve overall body image
The study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion states that women who exercise to strengthen their upper body 3 times per week, experience an overall increase in body image, compared to those who only walk 3 times a week.
With this attractive and strong upper body shape, every woman must be more confident and strong to do various jobs without help. For that, do not hesitate to do exercises that involve interesting and encouraging movements.
6. Prevent or slow down sarcopenia
What is sarcopenia? Sarcopenia is a decrease in muscle mass due to age. Usually this condition begins to occur when the age of 20 years. And if the age has reached 60 years, then the muscle mass generally has decreased by 40%. This loss of muscle mass can affect daily activities.
But if the upper body muscle is strong, it is not impossible if it can support the body as a whole. For example, if the foot is injured so someone has to use a stick or sit in a wheelchair, then the upper body strength enables him to keep walking.
Therefore, if you want to remain able to move freely, flexibly, and strongly, then upper body muscle training must be routinely performed. In addition to joining a gym class, you can also buy training videos that have been sold in stores.