When you look at someone and you notice nicely shaped arms and shoulders, you know they’re probably doing a great toning workout routine on a regular basis. The silhouette says everything, from the gentle definition and slight separation between the shoulder muscles and the biceps and triceps, you can tell the person spends some time eating right and giving their muscles what they crave: a little bit of resistance training.

What Makes Up the “Upper Body”?

Your upper body is comprised of many different muscles, bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments. Typically, when your focus is on toning your upper body, you’ll want to exercise the areas of your chest, upper back, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. Those are the main areas of the upper body. If you’re feeling industrious, you can go even broader and include areas like your forearms, trapezius muscles, hands, and wrists.

You might even go as far as breaking up muscle groups into their sections, like front, side, and rear deltoids (shoulders); upper, mid, and lower chest muscles, and for your back, the lats (outer side area of your back), traps, and the rhomboids, teres major and minor, the infraspinatus, and the erector spinae. But don’t worry, if this sounds complicated, it’s really not. Everything is connected, and by sticking with compound movements that work large areas, you’ll be sure to cover all the bases.

Using a Toning Routine

Nothing says “fitness” like a nicely toned physique, and as we get older, that vision seems to become more and more elusive. Why does this happen? Well, a few things happen that culminate in our bodies looking and feeling older over time. We naturally lose muscle mass as we age, a process called sarcopenia, if we don’t do something (aka use resistance training) to replenish that lost muscle. Over time then, the body can become more fat and less muscular. You may stay the same “size,” but you’ll notice that you become softer and less fit as your body replaces the lost muscle tissue with body fat.

For women, who are naturally less muscular than men and also carry more body fat, using a toning workout routine to keep muscle mass is a must. And using resistance training as part of an overall healthy lifestyle can help keep your bones strong too. Strong bones and muscles will help you achieve great posture and balance as well, both very important areas, especially as you age.

What is a Toning Workout Routine?

There are many ways to work your body, but if your goal is to tone, you need to have a routine that will challenge your muscles with lots of volume, compound movements using moderately heavy weights for high repetitions with shorter rest periods to keep your heart rate up and help you burn more calories. You can do this with a few key exercises and high-repetition training.

Try This Ultimate Toning Workout Routine for the Upper Body

Always start with a good warm-up. Walk or bike for 5 – 10 minutes or do some other activity of your choice to get the blood flowing. Once warm, go through some gentle stretches to wake up the muscles you’re about to use.

For the ultimate toning workout routine, you want to exhaust the muscles you’re working. That means doing higher reps with compound movements (movements that work large areas at once). Go for 2 sets of each exercise with 20 – 25 repetitions per set. Do this workout twice a week (or three times, but make sure to have a day in-between workouts for recovery).

Technically, all you would really have to do is pushups and pullups to tone your upper body. But, if you’re not quite there yet on the strength scale (as most folks are not), try these exercises instead:

Toning Routine for Back

For your back, you’ll want to include a pulldown exercise and a rowing exercise to work on both width and depth for your back. Try alternating grips as well between narrow, wide, and medium. And you can even use a reverse grip (palms facing the opposite of a normal direction) now and then just to keep things fresh and hit the muscles at different angles.

Lat Pulldown

Start by sitting on a lat pulldown machine and grab the bar, palms forward. While sitting upright (with a very slight lean back), pull your elbows down and back, bringing the bar in front of your face, to your chest. With control, let the bar come back up until your arms are straight again. This is one rep.

One-Arm Dumbbell Row

This will help tone your arms and the backs of your shoulders as well as bring nice development to your back muscles (its main target). Start with your left knee on a bench and your right leg straight with your foot firmly planted on the ground. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand and bend at the waist, keeping your back straight, and allow your arm to hang down. Next, “row” your arm up and back by bending at the elbow and pulling the weight up to your side. Hold and then slowly lower to the starting position again. This is one rep. Do all repetitions on one side before switching to the other.

Toning Routine for Chest

Working your chest will also target your arms and shoulders as many of the exercises you do will be compound movements and will work multiple muscles at once.

Pushups

These are the ultimate upper-body-shaping exercise. Whether you do these on your knees or from a full-fledged pushup position, your upper body (and your mirror) will thank you. Plus, you’ll hit all the areas of your chest as well as your shoulders and triceps. Start on your knees and place your hands shoulder-width apart, palms down on the ground. Bend at the elbows to lower your chest to the ground and then push back up through your palms to fully straighten your arms to complete one repetition.

Toning Routine for Shoulders

These are your natural “shoulder pads” that will give you that sexy v-taper that says, “Hey, I work out!” A strong set of shoulders will also help you maintain good posture and resist injury.

Dumbbell Raises

These are the ultimate upper-body-shaping exercise. Whether you do these on your knees or from a full-fledged pushup position, your upper body (and your mirror) will thank you. Plus, you’ll hit all the areas of your chest as well as your shoulders and triceps. Start on your knees and place your hands shoulder-width apart, palms down on the ground. Bend at the elbows to lower your chest to the ground and then push back up through your palms to fully straighten your arms to complete one repetition.

Front Plate Raises

Stand with your feet about hip-width apart and hold a weighted plate with both hands in front of you at your hips. Next, raise the plate up until your arms are parallel with the floor. Hold this position for a moment before lowering the plate back down to the start.

Toning Routine for Arms

Bench Dips

Start by sitting on the edge of a bench with your hands next to your hips, legs out straight in front of you. Next, scoot your hips forward and off the bench, lowering your body toward the ground by bending your elbows. Continue lowering until your upper arms are parallel with the ground and then push back up through your palms until your arms are straight. Repeat.

Hammer Curls

Stand with your feet about hip-distance apart and hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing your body. Don’t twist your hands as you bring the dumbbells straight up toward your shoulders. Slowly lower them as you feel a good stretch through your biceps muscles until your arms are again fully extended. Repeat.

Not only do a toned upper body and arms project health and strength, but they show a certain dedication and willingness to live a healthy lifestyle. So, don’t forget about diet. You can tone all those beautiful muscles, but if they are covered with a thick layer of body fat, all that work won’t be obvious. Make sure to eat plenty of protein, quality carb sources, healthy fats, and get in your aerobic activity too.

With a little bit of effort using a toning workout routine and a healthy overall lifestyle, you can reveal a gorgeously toned upper body that will make you proud at any age.

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