Upper Body strength issue
Discussion
I have just started Krav Maga and it has become very apparent that I have absolutely no upper body strength at all. (would have thought lifting large glasses of wine for years would have done the trick!)
So I really want to work on building my upper body strength, problem is I am female and have no desire to look like some ladette toy boy rough type (I am doing Krav for self-defence techniques as it became apparently recently I have none of that either) and when I Google exercises they all talk about building mass, is it possible to build arm strength without building mass and looking muscly? and if so how?
So I really want to work on building my upper body strength, problem is I am female and have no desire to look like some ladette toy boy rough type (I am doing Krav for self-defence techniques as it became apparently recently I have none of that either) and when I Google exercises they all talk about building mass, is it possible to build arm strength without building mass and looking muscly? and if so how?
I did this a while ago, I put on a very small amount of muscle but strength went up quite a bit, all i did was do loads an loads of reps with a managable weight, and when that weight gets too light move up on the weight and add a little more, do loads more reps then a few days later after doing it every day (or every other, gotta rest) then move up weight.
It's hard to put on serious mass and especially hard for women. Train hard. There is no chance you will end up 'too muscly' which is something that women that don't really know much about the way their body works worry about, so they lift pathetically small weights and don't train hard enough, just in case they suddenly develop a pair of arms like Arnie in his heyday. This is totally unrealistic, bodybuilders don't just train with weights and somehow end up massive and muscly, they train incredibly hard with weights all the time, forcefeed themselves and some take steroids. Gaining strength and muscle takes a lot of effort.
My bird lifts as hard as she can in the gym, but is still petite and looks like a woman, she just has a bit more strength than the average woman of her size. You wouldn't know she lifts weights to look at her though.
My bird lifts as hard as she can in the gym, but is still petite and looks like a woman, she just has a bit more strength than the average woman of her size. You wouldn't know she lifts weights to look at her though.
IanCormac said:
It's hard to put on serious mass and especially hard for women. Train hard. There is no chance you will end up 'too muscly' which is something that women that don't really know much about the way their body works worry about, so they lift pathetically small weights and don't train hard enough, just in case they suddenly develop a pair of arms like Arnie in his heyday. This is totally unrealistic, bodybuilders don't just train with weights and somehow end up massive and muscly, they train incredibly hard with weights all the time, forcefeed themselves and some take steroids. Gaining strength and muscle takes a lot of effort.
My bird lifts as hard as she can in the gym, but is still petite and looks like a woman, she just has a bit more strength than the average woman of her size. You wouldn't know she lifts weights to look at her though.
All true. I like the "My bird" bit My bird lifts as hard as she can in the gym, but is still petite and looks like a woman, she just has a bit more strength than the average woman of her size. You wouldn't know she lifts weights to look at her though.
IanCormac said:
It's hard to put on serious mass and especially hard for women. Train hard. There is no chance you will end up 'too muscly' which is something that women that don't really know much about the way their body works worry about, so they lift pathetically small weights and don't train hard enough, just in case they suddenly develop a pair of arms like Arnie in his heyday. This is totally unrealistic, bodybuilders don't just train with weights and somehow end up massive and muscly, they train incredibly hard with weights all the time, forcefeed themselves and some take steroids. Gaining strength and muscle takes a lot of effort.
My bird lifts as hard as she can in the gym, but is still petite and looks like a woman, she just has a bit more strength than the average woman of her size. You wouldn't know she lifts weights to look at her though.
Ah ok, so I can't get muscly by accident then. I suppose that makes sense really. My bird lifts as hard as she can in the gym, but is still petite and looks like a woman, she just has a bit more strength than the average woman of her size. You wouldn't know she lifts weights to look at her though.
Yeah same place I go to for Krav has kettle bells, think I will give that a shot.
Stiglet80 said:
Ah ok, so I can't get muscly by accident then. I suppose that makes sense really.
Yeah same place I go to for Krav has kettle bells, think I will give that a shot.
Ask your KM teacher - they should be able to recommend a couple of strength and conditioning workouts for you. I'd definitely recommend kettlebells though - and don't be afraid to go heavy!!Yeah same place I go to for Krav has kettle bells, think I will give that a shot.
Yeah I can't help the 'my bird' stuff, I didn't even realise I'd written it, but she won't mind being referred to as such! Anyway OP kettlebells are good, you can achieve good results with bodyweight exercises though first, squats, dips, pressups and pullups to start with. They don't need much equipment and will make you strong.
If you can't do full pressups, do them on your knees and work up to proper ones. When you can do those, start putting your feet up on a box. They're a lot tougher and are a good exercise. Same with pullups, you might need to work up to them, but you can start with lat pulldowns at the gym and work your way up til you can do full pullups. Dips you can do on a bench or chair with your feet on the floor, after a while put your feet on a bench and work up to doing them on dip bars with your full bodyweight. Bodyweight squats don't sound much, but if you squat properly by keeping your backside in and your back straight as you go down and concentrating on using your buttocks to lift you, they are a lot tougher. Once you can do them properly, you can start doing them with a kettlebell, or even start doing one legged squats, but keep an eye on your form in a mirror or get someone to do watch you to make sure you don't start doing it wrong.
Once you can do proper unassisted pullups, pressups, dips and proper squats (without pushing your backside out) then you will have a lot more functional strength.
Good luck!
If you can't do full pressups, do them on your knees and work up to proper ones. When you can do those, start putting your feet up on a box. They're a lot tougher and are a good exercise. Same with pullups, you might need to work up to them, but you can start with lat pulldowns at the gym and work your way up til you can do full pullups. Dips you can do on a bench or chair with your feet on the floor, after a while put your feet on a bench and work up to doing them on dip bars with your full bodyweight. Bodyweight squats don't sound much, but if you squat properly by keeping your backside in and your back straight as you go down and concentrating on using your buttocks to lift you, they are a lot tougher. Once you can do them properly, you can start doing them with a kettlebell, or even start doing one legged squats, but keep an eye on your form in a mirror or get someone to do watch you to make sure you don't start doing it wrong.
Once you can do proper unassisted pullups, pressups, dips and proper squats (without pushing your backside out) then you will have a lot more functional strength.
Good luck!
Stiglet80 said:
Ah ok, so I can't get muscly by accident then.
If it were that easy, everyone participating in the Transformation Thread would look like Arnie. For a start, women don't have testes which is the main source of testosterone hence you will find photos online of very feminine women lifting ridiculous weights I couldn't get off the ground. And then to get any sort of size, you need a serious amount of dedication as someone has suggested above.Besides, if you did start growing to the limits of where you think it looks nice, you're not legally bound to continue lifting until you look like a prize-winning bodybuilder.
Animal said:
Ask your KM teacher - they should be able to recommend a couple of strength and conditioning workouts for you. I'd definitely recommend kettlebells though - and don't be afraid to go heavy!!
I was trying not to ask my teacher potentially retarded questions I already feel like a delusional fairy amongst a group of SAS assassins. PH already knows I am retarded. 
@ian Thanks for the advice, squats and sit ups I can do a zillion but am pretty sure I would fail to do one single push up or pull up or dip.
Hoofy said:
Besides, if you did start growing to the limits of where you think it looks nice, you're not legally bound to continue lifting until you look like a prize-winning bodybuilder.
I don't want anything to grow 
Rule for females is everything MUST get smaller. Except boobs. 
That is just the kind of incentive I need. Stiglet80 said:
I have just started Krav Maga and it has become very apparent that I have absolutely no upper body strength at all. (would have thought lifting large glasses of wine for years would have done the trick!)
So I really want to work on building my upper body strength, problem is I am female and have no desire to look like some ladette toy boy rough type (I am doing Krav for self-defence techniques as it became apparently recently I have none of that either) and when I Google exercises they all talk about building mass, is it possible to build arm strength without building mass and looking muscly? and if so how?
Any short-comings in upper body strength will be highlighted pretty quickly when doing KM.So I really want to work on building my upper body strength, problem is I am female and have no desire to look like some ladette toy boy rough type (I am doing Krav for self-defence techniques as it became apparently recently I have none of that either) and when I Google exercises they all talk about building mass, is it possible to build arm strength without building mass and looking muscly? and if so how?
I took up Calisthenics while training.
There is a very useful book called Convict Conditioning which is pretty much Cala. in a can.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Convict-Conditioning-Weakn...
Edited by SirBlade on Tuesday 3rd July 19:16
Squats and sit ups I can do a zillion but am pretty sure I would fail to do one single push up or pull up or dip
To get started on push ups, stand in front of a door and build up to 30 vertical push ups.
The kneel at a chair and build up to 30 push ups at a 45 degree angle.
Then get on the floor and slowly build up to 30 push ups.
They seem hard, but there is a trick to getting into them.
My trainer (Patrick Cumisky; the only trained guy in the country) in Dublin had us doing 100 as a warm up.
http://www.kravmagaireland.com/
To get started on push ups, stand in front of a door and build up to 30 vertical push ups.
The kneel at a chair and build up to 30 push ups at a 45 degree angle.
Then get on the floor and slowly build up to 30 push ups.
They seem hard, but there is a trick to getting into them.
My trainer (Patrick Cumisky; the only trained guy in the country) in Dublin had us doing 100 as a warm up.
http://www.kravmagaireland.com/
Edited by SirBlade on Tuesday 3rd July 19:18
Squats and sit ups I can do a zillion but am pretty sure I would fail to do one single push up or pull up or dip
To get started on push ups, stand in front of a door and build up to 30 vertical push ups.
Then kneel at a chair and build up to 30 push ups at a 45 degree angle.
Then get on the floor and slowly build up to 30 push ups.
They seem hard, but that is the trick to getting into them, vertical to horizontal incrementally.
My trainer (Patrick Cumisky; the only trained guy in the country) in Dublin had us doing 100 as a warm up.
http://www.kravmagaireland.com/
To get started on push ups, stand in front of a door and build up to 30 vertical push ups.
Then kneel at a chair and build up to 30 push ups at a 45 degree angle.
Then get on the floor and slowly build up to 30 push ups.
They seem hard, but that is the trick to getting into them, vertical to horizontal incrementally.
My trainer (Patrick Cumisky; the only trained guy in the country) in Dublin had us doing 100 as a warm up.
http://www.kravmagaireland.com/
Edited by SirBlade on Tuesday 3rd July 19:19
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