The vast majority of upper body exercises will fall into one of the following six categories:<ol><li>Horizontal Pushing</li><li>Horizontal Pulling</li><li>Vertical Pushing</li><li>Vertical Pulling</li><li>Elbow Flexion</li><li>Elbow Extension</li></ol>Why should you care about any of this? Two reasons:<ul><li>Effectiveness</li><li> Designing a workout with these six categories in mind will help ensure that every upper body muscle group is being trained, and you’re using each available <a href="https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/movement-patterns/">movement plane </a> to do so.</li><li>Injury Prevention And Balance</li><li> Designing things this way also helps to keep everything balanced around the joints </li></ul>

Upper Body Exercises: The 6 Categories

An elbow extension exercise is any movement in which the weight is being moved away from your torso strictly as a result of extending at the elbow. Most triceps extension exercises  fit into this category. For example:<ul><li>Triceps Pushdowns</li><li>Overhead Dumbbell Extensions</li><li>Skull Crushers</li><li>Triceps Kickbacks</li></ul>

6. Elbow Extension Exercises

A vertical pushing exercise is any movement in which the weight is being pushed upwards in relation to your torso in a vertical plane. Most shoulder exercises  fit into this category. For example:<ul><li>Barbell Shoulder Press</li><li>Dumbbell Shoulder Press</li><li>Machine Shoulder Press</li><li>Lateral Raises</li><li>Front Raises</li></ul>(Note: Lateral raises and front raises are technically not “pushing” movements, but they still fit best in this category. “Vertical raising” movements would be more accurate.)

3. Vertical Pushing Exercises

A horizontal pulling exercise is any movement in which the weight is being pulled in towards your torso from out in front of you in a horizontal plane. Most back “rowing” exercises  fit into this category. For example:<ul><li>Bent Over Barbell Rows</li><li>Bent Over Dumbbell Rows</li><li>Seated Cable Rows</li><li>T-Bar Rows</li><li>Chest Supported Rows</li><li>Inverted Rows</li><li>Various Machine Rows</li><li>Various Rear Delt Exercises</li></ul>(Note: Even though the rear delts are a part of the shoulder, they fit best in the horizontal pulling category with these types of back movements).

2. Horizontal Pulling Exercises

An upper body workout is any workout that involves training most or all of the muscle groups of the upper body. This includes:<ul><li>Chest</li><li>Back</li><li>Shoulders</li><li>Biceps</li><li>Triceps</li></ul>While not required, upper body workouts are most often done as part of an upper/lower routine , which involves training the entire upper body on certain days and the entire lower body on others.

What Is An Upper Body Workout?

An elbow flexion exercise is any movement in which the weight is being pulled towards your torso strictly as a result of flexing at the elbow. Most biceps curling exercises  fit into this category. For example:<ul><li>Barbell Curls</li><li>Dumbbell Curls</li><li>Cable Curls</li><li>Preacher Curls</li><li>Hammer Curls</li></ul>

5. Elbow Flexion Exercises

A horizontal pushing exercise is any movement in which the weight is being pushed out in front of you so that it’s traveling away from your torso in a horizontal plane. Most chest exercises  fit into this category. For example:<ul><li>Bench Press</li><li>Incline Bench Press</li><li>Decline Bench Press</li><li>Flat/Incline/Decline Chest Press Machine</li><li>Push-Ups</li><li>Dumbbell/Cable/Machine Flyes</li></ul>

1. Horizontal Pushing Exercises

A vertical pulling exercise is any movement in which the weight is being pulled down towards your torso in a vertical plane. Most back “pull-up/pull-down” exercises  fit into this category. For example:<ul><li>Pull-Ups</li><li>Chin-Ups</li><li>Lat Pull-Downs</li></ul>

4. Vertical Pulling Exercises

Here’s what the 4-day and 3-day versions of this split look like:<h3>The 4-Day Upper/Lower Split</h3><ol><li>Monday: Upper Body</li><li>Tuesday: Lower Body</li><li>Wednesday: off</li><li>Thursday: Upper Body</li><li>Friday: Lower Body</li><li>Saturday: off</li><li>Sunday: off</li></ol><h3>The 3-Day Upper/Lower Split</h3>Week 1<ol><li>Monday: Upper Body</li><li>Tuesday: off</li><li>Wednesday: Lower Body</li><li>Thursday: off</li><li>Friday: Upper Body</li><li>Saturday: off</li><li>Sunday: off</li></ol>Week 2<ol><li>Monday: Lower Body</li><li>Tuesday: off</li><li>Wednesday: Upper Body</li><li>Thursday: off</li><li>Friday: Lower Body</li><li>Saturday: off</li><li>Sunday: off</li></ol>

Workout Schedule

A complete guide to designing the best upper body workout routine, including which exercises to do, how many sets/reps, and 5 free sample programs.