3 types of moves for a toned upper body: Fitness experts

Wanna work out your arms harder, better, faster, stronger? Try these three moves.

Beyond just wanting to be able to carry your groceries home from Trader Joe’s or feng shui-ing your living room in a manic episode without pulling a muscle, building upper-body strength will help to improve your posture, enhance your mobility, build a sturdy core and help you avoid pain and injury.

To do so, fitness experts revealed that you only need to focus on three types of movements to get going: pushes, pulls and isometric holds.

“Push” workouts include exercises like chest presses, lateral raises and overhead shoulder presses while “pull” workouts include bicep curls, rows and chin-ups.

Meanwhile, when you need to slow down, isometric holds work as you keep your body steady in a position for a set amount of time — planks and overhead holds will do the trick.

The low-impact exercises work to build muscular strength and endurance as the muscles tighten or contract certain muscle groups while being held in a static position.

And while most of these exercises can be done with weights, they can also be effective without them, too.

A mix of these movements will help to target the muscles in your shoulders, back, chest, core, biceps and triceps.

One of the best and easiest ways to hit the toning trifecta is to do circuit training, rotating through various exercises targeting different parts of the body.

“I’m a big fan of circuits because they enable you to keep moving through the workout at a reasonable pace,” Keri Harvey, certified personal trainer and pain-free performance specialist at Form Fitness Brooklyn, told Women’s Health.

“You can group three of your exercises together into a circuit. Once you’ve gone through the first set of all three, you rest and then restart.”

However, experts advise fitness fanatics and newbies alike to remember to maintain good form, actively contract their muscles, focus on their breathwork and not push themselves past their limit.

“Just remember to take your time in the movements and really pay attention to connect with the muscles being used,” Harvey recommends.