Stand with your arms to your sides, palms down holding a dumbbell in each
hand. Slowly raise the weights to ear level, keeping your arms straight.
Maintain control of the weight while lowering.
Overhead Press or Military Press
Another two exercises which are very similar. The overhead press is done with
dumbbells while the military press is done with a barbell. Stand or kneel on the
floor, weights held even with your ears, elbows out and palms forward. If you
are using a barbell, rest it behind your neck. Press the weight straight up and
down, maintaining control.
Overall Exercises
There are a variety of exercises that work the entire upper body. Pushups,
pull ups and chin ups all use two or more body parts and can be done without any
special weights. Adding these body weight exercises to your routine is a great
way to add further strength to your body, as well as help condition your core
(abdominal) muscles as they work to stabilize you as you exercise. If you are
not strong enough yet to do a traditional pushup, chin up, or pull up, try a
reverse, or negative one.
In a negative pull up, you stand on a stool to get yourself in the proper
"completed" pull up position. Slowly lower yourself so that your arms are nearly
straight and hold the position. Repeat, using the stool as necessary. After a
few weeks of doing these "negative" exercises you will find yourself able to
complete one or two of the more traditional repetitions.
Lifting weights is only one part of an effective exercise program. Aerobic
exercise is another component. Fortunately, there are a variety of fun and easy
aerobic exercises that you can do to help shed that layer of fluff that will
hide your newly emerging muscles.
Tennis, if you already play is great. If you haven't played, you may have
trouble keeping your activity level high enough to significantly raise your
heart rate.