15 Exercises for a Powerful Upper Body

The Need for Speed Speed work is most often used by those wanting to build power and explosiveness. When it comes to upper-body power training with bands (dynamic effort) a lot of non-powerlifters copy what they see powerlifters doing – attaching Superbands to each side of a bar and doing fast bench presses. That’s fine. However, you don’t need to just use a barbell to do power training with bands. In fact, it makes more sense to do multi-angled speed work for both pushing and pulling actions. Here are a variety of banded power training exercises for non-powerlifters: 1 – Speed Press These are JC Bands, but you can do these exercises by anchoring regular bands or bands with handles to a stable piece of equipment. This allows you to keep the bands longer, which creates a smoother, less drastic resistance change as they lengthen. Using a split-stance provides a better base of support so you’ll be able to generate maximum force. Press until just before your elbows fully extend, and allow your elbows to travel just beyond your torso on each rep. Sets and reps: 3-5 x 8-12 seconds of as many reps as possible (AMRAP) Use a band tension and stand at a distance that allows you to move at a pace of at least 3 reps per second. 2 – Alternate-Arm Speed Press Press until just before your elbow fully extends, and allow your elbow on your back arm to travel just beyond your torso. Be athletic by using a little rotation at your torso and even your lower body. Make sure they work together in a smooth and coordinated manner. Sets and reps: 3-4 x 6-8 seconds AMRAP, per stance Move at a pace of at least 3 reps per second. 3 – Speed One-Arm Press If you’re pressing with your right arm, stand in a split-stance with your left leg in front. Be athletic by using a little rotation, shifting weight at your torso and lower body to work together in a coordinated manner. Sets and reps: 3-4 x 8-12 seconds AMRAP, each side Perform at least 2 reps per second. 4 – Speed Incline Press Keep the bands in contact with the top of your arms. You want the pressing action of your arms to be in line with the angle of the bands, which should be set at roughly 45-degrees. Switch lead legs on each set, but it doesn’t matter if you end up doing one more set on one stance versus the other. (That goes for most of these exercises.) The lower body is doing less than when doing the alternate-arm versions because there’s no rotational element involved. Sets and reps: 3-4 x 8-12 seconds AMRAP Move at a pace of at least 3 reps per second. 5 – Speed Incline Alternate-Arm Press Press each arm at the same angle as the band. Press until just before your elbow fully extends, and allow the elbow of your back arm to travel just past your torso. Sets and reps: 3-4 x 6-8 seconds AMRAP, per stance Do at least 3 reps per second. 6 – Angled Barbell Speed One-Arm Press In my Ultimate Guide to Landmine Presses, I talked about using a band to perform presses. You can also use the band for dynamic effort reps by performing angled barbell presses as fast as you can. Sets and reps: 3-4 x 8-12 seconds AMRAP, each side Use a band for tension and stand at a distance that allows you to move at a pace of at least 2 reps per second. 7 – Angled Barbell Speed Leaning One-Arm Press This variation is more like an incline pressing action, whereas this leaning torso version is more like an overhead press. For both versions, make sure the band is anchored on your same-side foot directly underneath your pressing arm. Same sets and reps as above. 8 – Speed One-Arm Overhead Press You can use a Superband for this but here I’m using an NT Loop because I designed it to be a far more comfortable and stable band to place around your limbs, waist, or hips. Sets and reps: 3-4 x 8-12 seconds AMRAP, each side Move at a pace of at least 2 reps per second. 9 – Speed Row Make sure not to alligator-arm this. Using a split-stance provides a better base of support. Pull until your elbows travel just beyond your torso, and extend your arms just before your elbows fully extend on each rep. Switch lead legs on each set. Sets and reps: 3-5 x 8-12 seconds, AMRAP Do at least 3 reps per second. 10 – Speed Alternate-Arm Row Pull until your elbows travel just beyond your torso, and extend your arms just before your elbows fully extend on each rep. Use a little rotation at your torso and even your lower body so they work together in a smooth manner. Sets and reps: 3-4 x 6-8 seconds AMRAP, per stance Do at least 3 reps per second. 11 – Speed One-Arm Row If you’re pulling with your left arm, stand in a split-stance with your right leg in front. Sets and reps: 3-4 x 8-12 seconds AMRAP, each side Do at least 2 reps per second. 12 – Speed Overhead Pull Anchor the bands at around bellybutton height and hinge forward at your hips so your torso is roughly parallel to the ground. This allows you to use a vertical pulling action like a lat pulldown. On all of
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