If you’ve spent any time in a gym, then you’ll understand why many of us need this program. I’ve personally witnessed and trained hundreds if not thousands of athletes who are incredibly strong at squatting and deadlifting, but when it comes to upper body pressing and pulling they are lagging woefully behind. Keep reading to see the best program for those that need to fix this hole in their fitness game.

For athletes it is always most advantageous to attack your weakness as it will most likely translate to you becoming a better overall athlete. We also know that strength is key for functional performance.

This means that for many of us, especially female athletes, who want to improve and move up the ranks, will need to focus on upper body strength.

Some of you skeptical Steve’s might be thinking that functional fitness is a total body sport with less emphasis on upper body, and hey we don’t want to train like bodybuilders right? Wrong Steve, sit down!

Here are just a few of the movements that will be limited if we lack a strong upper body.

Push Press

Press

Jerk

Dips

Muscle Ups

Pull Ups

Bench Press

Ring Row

Wall Ball

Thrusters

Need I go on?

The Upper Body Strength Program for Functional Fitness

This program is designed to be done five days per week. How you do that is up to you in terms of rest days. Each session should take you just about an hour if you don’t waste time.

Here is the link to Part One of the Upper Body Strength Program for Functional Fitness.

The program is meant to be read vertically, as each column is a days worth of work. If your schedule allows, you can split the work up into a strength session and a different session for the WOD. You don’t have to do this, and I didn’t when I tested these workouts, but if your schedule allows then go for it!

Week 1

You will notice that this is a testing week. This is going to determine the weight and reps for the rest of the 3 month cycle. Make sure that you are performing a thorough warm up with several sets building into your max rep set, or your 5 RM set.

If you have the time, I want you to go ahead and complete the bonus work. This is designed as an accessory to the movements you’ve already performed, and it will help shore up come some muscle groups that commonly hold athletes back.

Like this program? Want to learn how to create your own custom program and fix your particular weak points? Then check this out!

Week 2

This week is designed to be the start of the plan in terms of linearly progressing with our strength work. The more astute readers will observe that pull ups and pressing are included twice per week. This will ensure you have enough volume to build real strength in your upper body.

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If you struggle with pull ups and dips then I recommend you use some elastic bands to give you some assistance. You should use the lightest band or band combo that will let you achieve the prescribed sets and reps.

You can pick up these bands for cheap from Amazon and get them delivered ASAP (Amazon Affiliate Link). I would recommend a green and or blue depending on how much help you might need.

Week 3

This week continues to build on the previous week. We increase volume and intensity relative to one rep max. At no time should your form break down with these sets. This is just the beginning of the 12 week cycle, and the weights are not super challenging yet. Execute each rep with max speed with a nice controlled lowering phase.

You should also make sure that you are warming up throughly for the Tuesday sprints. These will be taxing to most athletes who don’t regularly run this fast. Do not run at max speed here! It defeats the purpose of this WOD, and you run a huge risk of injury.

Week 4

This is the deload week. You’ll notice the weights are still fairly heavy but the volume is much reduced. This is the week that you actually make your gains, so resist the temptation to do “a little extra.”

Additional Resources

This program is fairly straight forward, and for many of you who have done my other programs, there really isn’t anything super surprising here. I would like you take a gander at this article on recovery, and add in a nice 10min cool down walk or assault bike at the end of your session, as it’s been shown to increase muscular gains.

I think you would also benefit from downloading this calculator. It will give you a great starting point on overall caloric intake, and your macros. I would use the muscle gain tab as a starting point.

Stay tuned for the other two months of programming. They will be released in the coming months. Now get out there start training!

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