How to Gain Upper Body Muscle Mass
Whether you are trying to get back your beach body before summer or training for a sport, gaining upper body mass is important. There are two critical necessities to gain upper body mass: proper dieting, and regular exercise and lifting. Put simply, to gain weight you must consume more energy than your body expends; however, working out is important because it will make sure the extra intake is put toward building lean muscle rather than fat. An upper body workout can be divided into three days: chest day, shoulder day and back day.
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Instructions
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Eating Right
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Look up the FDA food pyramid and base your diet upon its suggestions.
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Increase your normal caloric consumption by supplementing your diet with protein-rich foods, such as tuna, chicken breast and egg whites. Protein shakes after your workout are a good way to promote the muscle building process.
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Always eat breakfast. This will help jump-start your metabolism each day and take your body from a catabolic state (when your body uses its own proteins as an energy source) to an anabolic state (when your body builds muscle).
Every Workout and General Instructions
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Warm up with a five-minute cardio exercise. This can be anything, including jumping rope, stair stepping and riding a stationary bike.
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Perform a set of ab (abdominal muscle) exercises consisting of at least 25 repetitions between each day-specific exercise. This will help get your abs in shape, as there is no specific day for ab workouts. Finish each workout day with four sets of crunches with between 20 and 30 repetitions per set. Feel free to do additional ab exercises on days when you are resting.
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Consume a snack immediately after working out to provide the necessary vitamins and minerals to begin rebuilding your muscles. A protein shake is ideal.
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Work out every other day, with two days in between cycles; one cycle is equal to performing all three days one time.
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Spend your first day determining what weights to do for each exercise. At the ideal weight, you should be able to do one repetition more than the recommended reps per set. Have a gym employee explain proper form for an exercise if you are unsure.
Chest Day
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Begin with three sets of eight repetitions on the barbell bench press.
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Using an inclined bench, perform two sets of eight repetitions of alternating dumbell incline press.
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Use a decline bench to perform three sets of eight repetitions of either barbell or dumbell decline press.
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Perform four sets of 10 repetitions each of "skullcrushers".
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Perform three sets of 10 repetitions of either "pectoral flys" or on a "pec-deck" machine. During the final set, exaggerate a slow and controlled motion.
Shoulder Day
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Begin with three sets of eight shoulder press or push press exercises.
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Perform three sets of eight of side and lateral raises. Use either cables or dumbells.
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Perform three sets of eight shrugs using either a barbell or dumbell.
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Perform three sets of eight upright rows.
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Perform three sets of eight "reverse flys". This is the last exercise of the day; shoulders day is a light day to give your body time to recover between the chest and back days.
Back and Biceps Day
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Perform three sets of eight pull-ups.
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Perform three sets of 12 seated rows using a fairly light weight.
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Perform three sets of 12 back extensions. Correct form is important here, as the lower back is prone to injury.
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Perform three sets of eight pullovers.
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Perform three sets of eight hammer curls. Finish by performing two sets of focus curls until exhaustion, going down in weight for the last set if necessary.
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Tips & Warnings
A diet is the foundation for weight gain. A training partner can help you stay motivated. Supplement your workout with cardio exercises on days when you don't lift. Feel free to add in your favorite lifts on the appropriate days.
A spotter should always be used when exercising with free weights.
