Having a strong upper body improves your posture and strengthens your core andheart.

Because you’re building muscle in the process, yourmetabolic ratewill also benefit.

Get ready to build stronger and more defined arms by adding these exercises to your weekly workouts.

To perform a bicep curl, you’ll need a set of medium-weight dumbbells.

Holding a dumbbell in each hand by your sides, turn your palms to face forward.

Bend at the elbows, slowly bringing up the dumbbells towards your shoulders.

While standing, bend your arms in a 90-degree angle outside of your body with your palms facing forward.

Lower back down to the starting position and repeat.

Arnold press

The Arnold press was invented by the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It’s a variation of a shoulder press that targets the biceps and the entire shoulder muscle.

To do this exercise, you could be seated, kneeling or standing.

“One thing to be mindful of is not arching your back as you press up.

This will help target the triceps and protect your shoulders at the same time.

Slowly lower your body, leading with your chest.

Modified:

Chest press

The chest press targets thechest, triceps, biceps and shoulders.

It can be done using dumbbells, a chest press machine, cable machines or even a barbell.

Start by holding a dumbbell in a pronated grip in each hand above your shoulders.

Draw your shoulders down and press your back against the bench.

Lower the dumbbells slowly until they’re slightly wider than mid-chest and your elbows are slightly below your shoulders.

Press back up to your starting position.

Chin-ups

The chin-up is a great exercise to target your upper body and biceps.

To perform this exercise you need a pullup bar that lets you hang freely.

Engage your core and squeeze your glutes so you don’t swing too much.

Use that same control to come down to the starting position.

To perform a pullup, you’ll need a horizontal bar.

Place your hands at shoulder width while maintaining a pronated grip.

Some people prefer to either bend their knees and cross their feet or simply cross their feet.

Envision using your back muscles, not your arms to pull yourself up.

Exhale when your chest taps the bar and slowly lower back down to starting position.

Plank walk-ups

Plank walk-ups are a progression of your standard forearm plank.

Plank walk-ups target full-body muscles that include your triceps, biceps, back, shoulders, abs and glutes.

To perform this exercise, get into a forearm plank position.

Your plank should be solid while maintaining a neutral spine and no sagging in the hips.

Alternate lowering one forearm at a time to return to your starting plank.

The challenge when doing this exercise is keeping your hips from swaying too much.

Focus on pulling your shoulders down and hold the dumbbells pointing upwards straight out to the side.