Why Upper Body Strength Matters for Women

Ever since we are born we are conditioned to believe that there is a clear difference between the male and female gender - Blue is for boys, pink is for girls.

As we grow up the demarcation becomes even more evident - sports car toys for boys and dolls for girls and by the time we make it to our teens, girls are conditioned to believe that education is important but we also need to possess skills necessary to run a household effectively whereas boys are asked to diligently focus on their studies because they would grow up to be the sole breadwinners for their families.

The point I am trying to make here is that right from a young age we are made to believe that some things are meant for boys and some things are meant for girls neither of which the opposite gender should attempt to excel at. A boy is laughed at if he insists to cook and a girl is bullied if she insists on riding a bike.

To share an anecdote from my life, I started my fitness journey in 2015 which was the third time I had enrolled myself into a gym however I had stuck to the fitness routine consistently this time. My fitness plan included weight training and I remember my mom precariously asking me then if weight training was meant for women because it would end up making me look ‘manly’ with the added muscle gain. I had brushed off her concerns by telling her that it is not possible for a women to bulk up like a man due to the absence of large quantities of the male hormone testosterone in a female body. She wasn’t convinced but she had decided to let go of the argument.

Like any other woman at the gym, I focussed more on lower body training and copious amounts of cardio like walking, running and cycling with less serious focus on upper body training – my rationale being I wanted to lose fat from my waist and hips faster. Over time, I realised spot fat reduction is not possible and hence I needed to adopt a different strategy.

I got introduced to fitness influencer Kayla Itsines and her Sweat program through Facebook and seeing her effortlessly nail a push-up and a pull-up made me sit up and take notice. If you look at her, she is not that tall or bulky but her body frame is muscular & strong – like a giraffe! It is a reflection of the years of hard work that she has put in to get stronger. And hence, now my focus shifted from yearning to lose fat to yearning to be strong.

I still remember the first day I attempted a push-up. My heart raced at its fastest beat, my arms unable to bear my weight and I thought I would fall flat on my face if I make an attempt to move despite gravity assisting me.

That’s when I knew – even if this exercise is a boy thing, I have to make an attempt to ace it!

So how should it be done? There is no secret formula for it. The answer is practice and consistency. There are a lot of people who will advocate to start off with modified knee push-ups and gradually build your way to full push-ups. However, I was adamant on acing the full push-up itself and hence threw myself whole heartedly into the endeavour.

Tip: If new to body weight push-ups, I highly recommend the lay down push-up for beginners. This is when you focus only on the push up action against gravity as opposed to the moving down action with gravity. This helps build resistance and strength in your triceps,chest and lateral muscles.

It takes patience to stick to the routine but once you do manage to pull off a push-up, you will realise that your body posture has improved. Your core is much more stronger. You can perform day to day activities like grocery shopping, vegetable chopping, hanging clothes, lawn trimming or even holding an umbrella in these incessant monsoons with much ease. Apart from the fact that it will add oodles of confidence to your self-esteem. Also, your phone now will not fall flat on your face when you’re browsing through social media while lying on your back – a frustrating downside of holding the phone upright for extended periods of time in bed (If at all you’ve experienced something like this like me).

Bonus: If you’re lucky you may now also be able to get a selfie clicked with Milind Soman in case you spot him somewhere because he insists on a couple of push ups before getting a selfie clicked.

If you browse through his Instagram stories, you will learn of his Pushup for Selfie initiative via which he envisions to make the nation a healthier one, one push up at a time.

I would like to add that besides push-ups what helped me build my upper body strength was a combination of other exercises like hammer curls(which target the biceps), dumbbell snatches(which target the shoulders, arms and the core) and surya namaskars(for overall upper body strength).

On a concluding note I would urge every woman to not just focus on cardio training or lower body workouts but to also inculcate some form of upper body strength training into your regimen. A push-up or suryanamaskar would be just fine. 

Go ahead, give it a try! And remember it need not always be a boy thing. Wink.