Sean McCawley, Fit for Life in Napa Valley: Upper body strength for the general population

Upper body muscular anatomy has a wide array of features contributing to optimal productivity and functionality of our everyday lives. Along with the ability to move our arms in multiple ranges of motion to grab onto objects, lift things, and interact with our environment, upper body musculature fends off the deleterious effects of age-related muscular atrophy, arthritis, and metabolic disease. We use our shoulders, arms, and hands to support our everyday life activities contributing to our careers, interactions with our friends and family, and self-care. It might seem like common sense that we can’t live without our arms, but it’s worthwhile to understand how the connective tissue, muscular attachments, and bones of the upper body are critically important to our everyday lives.

Optimal posture needs no introduction to why maintaining the shape of one’s spine in a strong position when sitting or standing for prolonged periods is important. A head leaning too far forward when driving, sitting at the desk while writing articles, or peering down at a cell phone while waiting in line at Starbucks imposes a tremendous amount of pressure on the cervical and thoracic spine when someone is in this position day after day. Furthermore, as the head leans forward, the next part of the body that wants to join the show in a suboptimal slouch of bad posture is the shoulder blades. As the shoulder blades glide forward, the chest muscles tighten and the muscles of scapular stabilization connecting to the spine and posterior aspect of the ribs lengthen. The combination of excessive forward curvature of the cervical and thoracic spine can create chronic back pain. After years of habitual poor posture symptoms, the likelihood of painful and debilitating back issues can ensue, ultimately causing a hindrance to our everyday life productivity.

Metabolic and bone density-related issues present themselves through the advancement of age. A few topics that potentially arise as age progresses include symptoms of arthritis and lowered metabolism. As humans age, the connective tissue holding our body together ages as well. Akin to how a car left out in the sun for a few months gets bleached out and the paint gets dried up and cracked, the bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles of our body can reflect the same status if physical activity levels are low. A sedentary lifestyle and decreased adherence to exercise can lead to a level of neglect where muscles become weak and bones become brittle. Furthermore, decreased physical activity and sedentary behavior promote the accumulation of subcutaneous fat storage under the skin leading to increased mass compressing bones that are already becoming structurally threatened due to inactivity. Therefore, the need to strengthen large muscle groups can’t be overstated.

The upper body includes a vast array of muscles responsible for the multitude of movements we depend on throughout our everyday lives. However, if the objective is to enhance lean muscle mass to fend off arthritis and decrease fat mass, focusing on large muscle groups is an efficient and effective tactic to promote the growth of lean muscle mass around the larger bones of the torso and arms. Significant bones responsible for large movements of the torso and upper extremities include the spine, ribs, scapula, and humerus.

The muscles responsible for large pulling movements originate from the posterior aspect of the spine, scapula, and ribs and attach to the humerus. This large group of pulling muscles brings the humerus closer to the side of the body and assists us in bringing objects closer to our torso. Muscles responsible for large pushing movements originate from the anterior aspect of our shoulders and ribs in our chest and collaborate with the triceps connecting from the humerus to the forearms to extend our arms away from the torso to reach out or push objects away from our body. Without going into detail about the names of these muscles, the size and strength of these muscles acting as motors to produce substantial and powerful pushing and pulling movements should be appreciated for their ability to support critically important movements of our upper body.

Bone mineral density and joint integrity can degenerate over time. Lack of physical activity can significantly accelerate degradation of bone infrastructure and joint attachments. These symptoms of degenerative bone and joint disease can be managed appropriately by regularly adhering to resistance training. As large muscles are stressed through resistance training, the bones in which the muscles connect receive a stress response. The increased pressure, pulling, and sheering forces imposed on bones trigger an adaptation response to heal the cellular damage to the bone, muscles, and connective tissue that has been through a bout of exercise. This adaptation produces damaged sites to recover and regenerate connective tissue to enhance the bone’s ability to endure more stress and increase bone mineral density.

Arthritis and metabolic conditions are aspects of human life we can become exposed to by being inactive. However, inputting a ritual of resistance training focusing on large pushing and pulling movements for our upper body has the potential to decrease the suboptimal effects of weak bones and assist in having enjoyable, happy, and healthy lives.