SCMtns
Member
One of the greatest answers to this question can be found here:
http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/27/
That article changed the way I thought about strength and conditioning several years ago.
People have mentioned that you should work cardio, work the lower body as well as the upper, do bodyweight exercises, etc. Lots of good advice already, so I'll just relate one thing from my own experience.
I've done tree work, carpentry, grappling, boxing, rock climbing, and kettlebells for the last decade or so. I'd say 80% of what I do (maybe more) is pulling. It's actually fairly rare to have to push something heavy away from yourself. In grappling, to attack is to pull. When you brace your upper body against recoil, the pulling muscles of the posterior chain do a surprising amount of work to stabilize your arms and shoulders. Abs, too, of course.
The main pulling apparatus on your upper body is your lats. No matter how big your biceps ever get, they'll never come close to what your lats can pull. If you think of your upper body as a winch, then your arms are really just the cable to be reeled in by the winch itself: the lats. They run from the base of the spine up to the neck, and from the center of the spine out to the shoulder. It's a huge triangular sail of muscle on both sides of your back.
If I could only do one exercise to build functional strength, it would be the pull-up (or the chin-up). Wide grip, close grip, staggered grip, palms facing, palms away... the more variations the better. You can work your isometric strength (and your abs) by hanging out at the top or in the middle for a 10-count. There's a lot of ways to get the most out of a pull-ups workout.
http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/27/
That article changed the way I thought about strength and conditioning several years ago.
People have mentioned that you should work cardio, work the lower body as well as the upper, do bodyweight exercises, etc. Lots of good advice already, so I'll just relate one thing from my own experience.
I've done tree work, carpentry, grappling, boxing, rock climbing, and kettlebells for the last decade or so. I'd say 80% of what I do (maybe more) is pulling. It's actually fairly rare to have to push something heavy away from yourself. In grappling, to attack is to pull. When you brace your upper body against recoil, the pulling muscles of the posterior chain do a surprising amount of work to stabilize your arms and shoulders. Abs, too, of course.
The main pulling apparatus on your upper body is your lats. No matter how big your biceps ever get, they'll never come close to what your lats can pull. If you think of your upper body as a winch, then your arms are really just the cable to be reeled in by the winch itself: the lats. They run from the base of the spine up to the neck, and from the center of the spine out to the shoulder. It's a huge triangular sail of muscle on both sides of your back.
If I could only do one exercise to build functional strength, it would be the pull-up (or the chin-up). Wide grip, close grip, staggered grip, palms facing, palms away... the more variations the better. You can work your isometric strength (and your abs) by hanging out at the top or in the middle for a 10-count. There's a lot of ways to get the most out of a pull-ups workout.