- You are here:
- Home »
- Blog »
- Training »
- Dads: #1 Time Efficient Way To Build Upper Body Strength At Home
Dads: #1 Time Efficient Way To Build Upper Body Strength At Home
Getting in shape is not easy. Especially if you’re a dad who’s low on energy and time.
Lot’s of men come to work with me because they want to lose the dad-belly, have more muscle definition, and just feel good in their clothes again.
I’ve noticed a lot of dads in their 30s, 40s, and beyond, worry it’s getting too late to get in shape.
They can’t always make it to the gym. They don’t have much time to spare. And they aren’t getting any younger.
Maybe you know the feeling?
But what if I told you, you don’t full gym equipment to do it.
You don’t need a lot of space.
You can get great results on a three workout per week program, training 40-60 minutes a time?
And I’ve personally helped lots of men get in the best shape of their lives in their 40s.
The important thing is if you’ve been pissing around for years, dabbling in and out of different exercise programs, or worse, completely winging it? You need to get serious about making real progress, and commit to training your body long-term. Not for 2 months.
If you want to lose fat and build muscle, you need to make strength-building exercise a priority, and all you need is space to do a press-up.
Not the press-ups you see most people doing. And likely not the ones you’ve been doing your whole life. The way most people do press-ups builds nothing but shoulder injuries.
Of course, you’ll need more exercise to complete your program, but lets focus on all the wonders a variety of press-up variations will do for your core and upper body…
I’ve been training people over 8 years. I first started as an Army PTI, and 99% of men I’ve trained could never do 10 press-ups properly at first.
Let that sink in.
If you want a strong, lean, upper body that looks great (with your t-shirt on or off) without banging up your shoulders?
Here’s where to start with proper press-ups:
Of course, there’s other exercises, like dumbbell or barbell bench-press. But those don’t give you the same kind of core development, or full-body muscular activation you get from press-ups.
I do program dumbbell work for the lads in my inner-circle program, because lot’s of them have dumbbells at home. But for me, those those things are icing on the cake. Body weight work, like press-ups are the staple of your program, especially if time is limited, and we want most bang for our buck.
What To Do If You Can’t Do Full Press-Ups (Yet):
If you’re really struggling to get the form right on full press-ups? Start with inclines. I much prefer these to doing them on your knees. It lets you get the feel for how the full press-up should be done, with full-body muscular activation, and develops your core strength.
I’ve seen people spend months, even years doing press-ups on their knees, and never being able to progress onto their toes. It just doesn’t have a direct carry-over to full press-ups, the way the incline variation does.
Once you can do around 30 on the incline with good form, either lower the incline to make it harder, or move onto press-ups from the floor.
How To Make Long-Term Progress
There’s plenty scope for years of progress.
Once you can do 30 full press-ups, with proper form, it’s time to spice things up. Here’s some ideas…
Decline Press-Ups:
This shifts more of your body weight on the upper body. With more emphasis on the upper chest and shoulders. It’s more difficult than your standard press-up, and will slap a lot more muscle on those chesticles.
My feet are elevated pretty high in this video. You can start with a lower elevation, if you need to.
Resistance Band Press-Ups:
Once you have the basics nailed. The simplest way to gain more muscle, is to add more weight, or some form of resistance.
Just add the band to all of your press-ups, or even a weighted vest.
TRX/Suspension Strap or Ring Press-Ups:
Don’t pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a hard one.
– Bruce Lee.
Not much in life is straight forward. But good things come from the hard times, when we dig deep and come through the other side.
It you want good results from your workouts. They have to challenge you in ways they didn’t before.
The balance element to these press-ups will activate muscles you’ve never felt before.
If you think you’ve felt your core activate before? You’re gonna find another 60% of your abs on these.
Of course, the right training makes a huge, huge difference to the results you achieve.
I also can’t stress enough how important it is to eat right, sleep well, and keep cutting stress out of your life.
But those are for another article.
Let’s Recap:
- * Commit to long term progress.
- * Mastery of execution and perfect form on the basics.
- * Get to 30 good reps of proper press-ups.
- * Progress with harder variations: Change the angle, ad resistance band or weighted vest, do them on suspension straps.
That’s enough talk from me.
Take one thing from this and make a start.
Make yourself stronger.
Keep moving forward.
Get after it.
-Dean
PS – Here’s another cool way I can help you transform your health, lose fat, and build your body:
If you got some value from this content, and want to learn more, grab a free copy of my eat-better guide for busy dads, by putting your best email into the opt-in box on this page.
BONUS: You’ll also receive a free strength-building workout plan you can do from home, with minimal equipment.
Join over 5000 men who have download my free guides, and start feeling in control of your health today.
About the Author Dean McMenamin
Dean McMenamin is an Army veteran, father, dog-lover and body transformation coach to every day men all over the UK & Ireland. He's also a big eater of ice-cream.