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This 15-Minute Workout Strengthens Every Single Muscle in Your Upper Body

Erin Bunch

July 20, 2021

Society's preferred bodily aesthetics tend to be trendy—one decade, a certain look is en vogue, and the next, it's another. Our current period in time is not immune to this phenomenon, but thank God we've also got a lot of "love your body as it is" sentiment swirling—because my arms will probably never look like Michelle Obama's, and that's okay. After all, there are many other reasons to work out your upper body that have nothing to do with how your limbs look. And on the latest episode of Good Moves, The Ness founder Colette Dong demos an upper-body resistance band workout that'll help you reap those benefits in just 15 minutes.

Experts In This Article

Colette Dong, founder of The Ness in New York City

Obviously, strong arms can help you loosen the lid on a pickle jar or lift a toddler, but those aren't their only benefits. Building muscle strengthens your bones, revs up your metabolism, and helps your heart stay healthy.

Grip strength, meanwhile, is a good indicator of your overall health, and staying strong throughout your upper limbs can help you lead a full and active life well into your golden years. Plus, upper-body strength can improve your athletic performance even if your sport of choice doesn't technically involve much from the chest up—one study, for example, showed that strong arms help to propel sprinters forward faster. Not too shabby, right?

This specific upper-body workout ditches the hand weights you might be used to using to exercise your arms in favor of a resistance band which, let me just tell you, burns like crazy—but in a good way! There's almost no feeling I, personally, love more than firing up my arms to the point of "OMG this lady is crazy, I cannot possibly take another second of this!"

To experience this burns-so-good feeling firsthand, press play on the video above.

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