At the gym, we are all playing the “look good naked” game. Everyone has different bodies, lifestyles and stressors so naturally our goals are different.
I see a lot of women relentlessly dragging their tired lower body through endless workouts to no avail. What they fail to realize is every trained body part needs a rest, a well toned and athletic body is strong all over, and general fitness ALWAYS comes before body part or sport specific training.
I love a legs and booty heavy program just like most women. But if you neglect training your upper body, your deadlift wont get that high and you won't be able to suffer through too many reps before you injure your back.
Basically, the booty is writing check that your back can't cash (thanks AJA Cortez for this line).
Not to mention, there are A NUMBER of other reasons why you it would greatly benefit you to train your upper body regularly
Perky Breasts
Adding muscle under the breast tissue doesn't take away from the breast, but it may make them appear a bit larger. You are adding volume underneath the breast tissue, pushing it up and forward, therefore increasing the overall appearance. Not to mention, you are exercising, with improves that overall tone and strength of skin. Yes, boobs shrink with significant fat loss, but putting some volume underneath it help your cause in keeping them nice.
Stable Shoulders
MUCH more important than breasts, you will have stable shoulders. Life requires a lot of movement and strength to get by. As we age, joint and ligament get stiff without strength and movement. Training your arms, back and shoulders ensure that you have pain free movement your whole life long. Ask anyone with frozen shoulder or a torn rotator cuff what life is like with cornice, dull or burning shoulder pain. It sucks. The shoulder is a complex joint and shoulder surgery only goes so far.
Better Posture
Want to feel better, look better and improve your opportunities in life? Improve your posture. Standing up straight has huge benefits! But you cannot hold yourself upright with confidence (real or faked) without a bit of strength in your back, chest and shoulders.
Breath Easier
With improved posture, comes improves breathing. Struggling with weights in an overhead position, pulling rhythmically and breathing hard and doing push ups in the proper form with all activate more musculature to help you breathing. There are very few athletes that are neck breathers because it simply doesn’t benefit your body.
Training your upper body is training yourself to take deep and powerful breaths from the chest. Adding that to improved posture, and you have a set up for healthy breathing patterns that improve athleticism and reduce stress.
Lifting Kids, Boxes and Groceries
Life doesn't happen in a vacuum. If you have children, you will inevitably have to pick them and their stuff up. Having upper body strength is essential to running a household. If you can’t lift 35 lbs with one arm or with both over your head, your ability to take on tasks is limited to a large degree.
Self Defense
F*K YES I SAID IT. If you want to improve your chances of getting attacked, look weak. If you want to improve your chances of being safe or surviving an attack, look strong. Men who attack women are cowards and looking for easy targets. The minute you look like you will be trouble or fight back, you thwart off a lot of risk
Overall More Fit Appearance
Good fitness and athleticism comes forma balance of tone and symmetry. Just like guys with big shoulders AND thick, strong legs are more attractive and brawnier that guys with thick shoulders and skinny legs, same goes for women. There is nothing wrong with want a more slender upper body, but you and achieve that too with lifting weights.
Sure, go for some mass downstairs but make sure you are evening out your look with some shape and muscle up top. You will greatly improve your overall look. Plus you won't have to stand up for people to know how fit you are.
Aging with Ease
A strong upper body means aging with greater easy. Improve strength mean a longer lifespan of independent living. Increased mobility means supple and injury-free joints.
Increased Metabolism
More muscle mass in the upper body, means more calories burned leading to an increased overall resting metabolic rate. Who doesn't like that!? It means you can either eat more calories or you can burn more calories. WIN-WIN!