strength training: upper body workout

In looking over my posts, I see that I have never mentioned upper body strength training.  This accurately reflects my bias.  I believe lower body one legged strength and core strength are most important.  I do upper body work as well, but it is not my main focus.

Below is the workout I did yesterday.  This was a moderate intensity strength training session involving sets of 8-10RM.  Rest between sets was less than 2 minutes.  I often pair the pushing and pressing exercises (do my sets of pulling exercises while "resting" between sets of pressing exercises).  For most of the exercises I performed 3 sets.

This is a pretty standard example of the type of upper body exercises I do.

• feet elevated pushups
• wide grip assisted pull-ups
• one arm incline bd bench
• db rows
• db flys
• single leg one arm rows

You'll notice that there are equal parts pulling and pressing exercises.  In the same way I incorporate two legged and one legged exercises in my lower body work, I use both two armed and one armed pulling and pressing movements in every upper body workout.  While one armed pulling movements like the dumb bell row are pretty common in lifting programs, people often forget about one armed pressing.  One armed presses are great because your core is active in stabilizing against the rotational forces of an asymmetric load.