10 best exercises for upper body strength

Building a strong upper body doesn’t come from doing more exercises but doing the right ones consistently and applying progressive overload.

Some movements give you a far better return for the time and effort you put in. In this post, I’ll show you my top 10 go-to exercises to build strength in your chest, back, shoulders, and arms.

These are all compound lifts, meaning they train multiple joints and muscle groups at once. They’re the foundation of strength. Isolation exercises still have their place, but if your goal is to get stronger, this is where you should focus most of your energy.

Exercise 1: Pendlay rows

Pendlay rows are the ultimate back builder in my opinion. These and pull ups make up the bulk of my targeted back workouts.

How to do Pendlay rows

1. Start with the bar resting on the ground

2. Hinge down and place your hands shoulder width apart

3. Brace your core

4. Pull the bar, without using your lower back to lift your torso

5. Control the bar back to the ground

Variations:

• Bent over rows

• Dumbbell bent over rows

• Barbell power rows

Strength standard: Pulling your body weight for one rep.

Exercise 2: Bench press

The bench press puts you in the strongest position to push something away from you. It's the only upper body exercise in the big three (squat, bench, deadlift) and rightly deserves this spot.

How to do a proper bench press

• Start with your hands wider than shoulder width. I like to align my index finger with the second ring on standard Olympic barbells

• Lower the bar until it touches your chest. Remember, if it only "almost" touched your chest, you almost did a full rep

• Push the bar back up

How to use leg drive to lift heavier on the bench press.

• Just before lifting the bar up, use your legs to push up the bench. Pretend like you're trying to slide off the top of the bench

Strength standard: lifting your body weight once.

Variations:

• Incline bench press

• Decline bench press

• Dumbbell chest press

• Incline dumbbell chest press

• Any chest-press-looking machines

  
  

Exercise 3: pull ups

Pull ups have your fingers facing away from your, chin ups have your fingers facing you. Pull ups tend to isolate lats better, and chin ups work more biceps than pull ups.

One is not better than the other, as long as you apply progressive overload, they will both more your back stronger and more muscular.

How to do pull ups

• Hands shoulder width apart

• Pull your chest towards the bar

• No swinging

Variations

• Banded pull ups

• Pull up machine

• Lat pull downs

Strength standard: Men: 10 reps, women: 6 reps.

Exercise 4: dips

The other calisthenics exercise of this list, dips will build strong triceps, pecs and shoulders. It's a fantastic exercise in and out of itself, and can also complement the bench press nicely.

How to do dips

• Find with a grip you like

• Lean forward slightly, look at the second picture to see how I finish

• Keep the ears away from the shoulders the whole time, we don't want them to collapse forward.

Variation

• Assisted dip machine

• Banded dips

Strength standard: men 10, women 6.

Exercise 5: barbell over head press

Barbell presses are great for exposing the shoulders to heavier weights.

How to do barbell presses

• Hold the bar shoulder-width or slightly wider

• Engage your abs and glutes

• Lean back slightly to avoid hitting your chin/nose (trust me, it's not pleasant)

• Push the bar up and bring your body forward when the bar is overhead so that your biceps are in line with your ears.

Strength standard: 0.75% of bodyweight for one rep

Variation

• Seated barbell press

• Dumbbell shoulder press

Exercise 6: dumbbell rows

Probably the easiest dumbbell exercise to set up for the back, this one is a staple in many workout plans. The aim of this is to use your lats as much as possible.

How to do dumbbell rows

• The leg on the ground should be slightly away from the bench

• Start with the dumbbell directly under your shoulder

• Pull the dumbbell towards your hip. Do not pull it straight up

• Squeeze your armpit in at the top to feel more lats

• Pause for half a second at the top to make sure you can control the weight

Variations

• Incline bench row

• Single arm cable rows

Exercise 7: Push ups

Push ups are an outstanding exercise for upper body strength for two reasons:

• You can do them anywhere: at home, at work, on vacation, at the gym...They are the ultimate no-excuse exercise

• You can modify them to make them tougher: feet elevated, weighted, one arm, clap push ups

When I go on holiday, I make a point to relax from the gym, but I'll still do 100 push ups each night or morning just to keep my upper body active.

How to do a push up

• Start in a plank position, with your hands wider than shoulder width

• Engage your abs and glutes

• Lower your whole body as one unit towards the ground until your chest touches down

• Push yourself back up

• Pro tip: your elbows should form an arrow shape with your body

Variations

• Kneeling

• Zombie push ups

• Clap push ups

• Incline push ups

• Decline push ups

• And many, many more...

Strength standard: men 30+, women 10+

Exercise 8: Landmine press

This upper-body exercise will strengthen the core and shoulders. It's a good one to swap in from time to time if you get bored with shoulder presses.

How to do a landmine press

• Grab the end of the barbell

• Engage your core

• Push the barbell away from you

• Slowly bring it back to your shoulder

Exercise 9: Cable twist and press

The last two exercises of the list target the core because a strong core makes a strong body. The cable twist-and-press is an exercise I created for my clients. It feels messy, it looks messy and it makes people super strong. It's a fun one.

How to do the cable twist and press

• Use a rope extension on a single pulley cable

• Grab the rope with one hand and have the leg of the same side slightly back

• Pull the rope towards

• Grab the other end of the rope with your other hand

• Pivot on your feet

• Push both hands away from you

• Slowly, and with control, go back to the start position

Exercise 10: Pallof press

A classic for core strength and stability. This is in all of my clients workout programs, either as a warm up, or as part of a core routine.

How to do a Pallof press

• Start with the handle in front of your chest

• Feet are shoulder width or slightly wider

• Knees are slightly bent

• Slowly push the handle as far forward as you can, maintaining in front of your chest

• Slowly bring the handle back

Conclusion

These 10 exercises have stood the test of time for a reason: they work.

If your goal is to build a strong, muscular upper body, you don’t need endless variety. You need to get really good at a handful of effective movements and apply progressive

overload consistently.

Pick the variations you enjoy, stick with them, and focus on getting stronger over time.

That’s how results are built.

If you want a structured program that uses these exercises to help you progress week after week, check out my online training programs.