This is the first time I've tried to do chest exercises in a long time, and it's startling how little upper body strength I have. After a couple sets of 10 at a measly 15 lbs., my triceps and chest muscles were screaming. I'm not sure if this is due more to the calorie deficit I've been running on for over a month, or because I never work them much. Or it may be carryover from that confounded cycling class.
Speaking of the cycling class, I felt the same sort of weakness in there. It was harder than I remembered to hold myself up on my arms. I don't like to think that I'm losing muscle here, but I just feel so weak. My legs are fine...just my upper body seems to have the problem. Then again, I'm naturally bigger through my lower body...even at a healthy weight, my body is distinctly pear-shaped. Maybe I'm just hard-wired to have a weaker, smaller upper body.
Whatever it is, my upper body is a lot weaker than it used to be, and I find that really disturbing. I think I'll throttle back on the leg weight-training (which I like better and comes more easily to me) and work on the upper body a bit. Anyone have some good suggestions for dumbbell exercises to increase upper-body strength and endurance? I like arnold presses for shoulders, but I really don't have anything interesting for chest, back or arms.
Posted by Joy at February 10, 2003 09:59 PM