Don’t Leave Your Upper Body Hanging

Credit: Getty Images/Healthy Living

A strong upper body is important for your health, period.

There are those who claim as long as you get your cardio in at least once a day, you’ll live a long healthy life. They may believe this because they think our legs do most of the work each day and require the extra attention. This extra attention in turn helps maintain chemical balance within your body, as well as a great workout for your heart. It’s true, there is no doubt a good cardio workout is essential for a healthy body; however, a strong upper body is equally as important for your overall health.

Many exercises for our chest, arms, shoulders, and back will require us to use weights. According to a study performed by the American Heart Association, exercises like lifting or pulling weights can be greatly beneficial to our heart health. All you need is just a little bit of resistance and you can start reaping the benefits.

A strong upper body can also greatly improve your posture. Training back muscles will prevent slouching, leading to better confidence and seeming taller to others. Strengthening your upper body can also enhance workouts, creating bigger muscle mass to burn more fat and calories. Furthermore, training with weights helps keep your bones strong and healthy, which is especially important as we get older.

Last, but definitely not least, working out with weights gives us the feeling of satisfaction as we hit each goal. More importantly, you’ll feel stronger both physically and mentally.