Ditch The Dumbbells And Get A Chin Up Bar
Everybody has been scared to get onto the pull up bar at one time or another. The reason is because it is the one thing that will tell you exactly how strong you are. Forget doing a ton of curls or bench presses. If getting your head over the bar is impossible to do then you are not pound for pound strong. Focusing on getting better at chin ups is a must for anybody looking to get into shape.
Next time you are at the gym take a second to see who is using the chin up bar. You will probably notice that they have a lean muscular figure. Since the workout uses your body weight it does not get the chance to build up bulk. You cannot add more weight to your body so you have to do more reps. This is how you build lean muscle and endurance.
The muscle groups that are worked the most are the biceps, shoulders, back, and core. In most cases, the bicep is going to be getting the majority of the workout. Reverse grip chin ups focus on back, shoulders, and abs. Wide front grip pull ups use shoulders, back, and your core. Close grip use shoulders, back, and core. Most people do not realize it but your core get a workout as it needs to keep the rest of the body in one place.
People with a good base of muscle can put on lean muscle very quickly from pull ups. You use your own body weight to provide the resistance. The chance of injury is very lower when doing them because gravity is doing all of the work and there are no free weights dangling around.
Once you are able to get use to doing them and the results start coming in you will probably choose to do those more often than use dumbbells. It is more fun telling people that you can do 20 chin ups at one time then saying you curl 45 pounds. If you want to sculpt your upper body and arms then you need to go and get a P90X pull up bar as soon as possible and start trying to do them. The pull up bar is a favorite with people who do the P90X workout program.