If there were a fountain of youth surely this would be it! What if I told you without any special equipment, pills, creams or fad diets that it is possible for women to reduce their risk  of most major diseases by 50% or more by working with exercises for the upper body. And that is only half of the story because not only can you dramatically improve and maintain your health, but spending just a few minutes, 2-4 times a week you can become stronger, fitter and enjoy better overall health.  Guaranteed!

A few minutes of strength training with upper body exercises each week can help you prevent osteoporosis, lose weight, reduce the risk and effects of heart disease and high blood pressure, prevent or reduce the symptoms of diabetes, arthritis, and depression, reduce the risk of cancer, look better, improve energy, enhance digestion, and instill ad deep sense of self-confidence.

Exercises for your upper body using only your body weight will dramatically improve your functional strength, which enhances your body's ability to move more effectively in everyday life. This means being able to have more strength and vitality to carry packages, open doors, play sports, lift children or grandchildren, etc..

When you add upper body exercises to any exercise routine you make your entire body perform better. All of your parts work together. Strong arms, back, chest , shoulders and core are very important for every athlete especially in sports where these body parts are not getting a good strength workout such as hiking, running, swimming, and aerobics. If you are involved in sports not only will you perform better by adding upper body exercises, but you will go a long way to preventing injuries as well because your joints will be come stronger and more stable.

Some women have stayed away from engaging in upper body exercises because they have believed that strength training is going to lead to a bulky looking body. This is a myth and nothing could be further from the truth! Only a tiny percentage of women have the genetics to make this happen, and even if you have the genetics for building bulky muscles you would have to make it a full-time job to make it happen! Strength training will give a long feminine shape to your muscles. Think of the long shapely arms of Michelle Obama!

What's more strength training helps you lose and maintain your weight because you are building and keeping muscle. Muscle tissue is an important key for burning calories not only during exercise, but for long after. It stokes your metabolism.  Muscle is you body's furnace, working 24 hours a day to burn calories. The more muscle you have the more calories you will burn even while resting!  And the only way to keep or build muscle mass is by challenging your muscles on a regular basis. If you don't, you will begin to lose valuable  lean muscle mass which means you will find it hard and harder to keep weight off.

Consider that the average adult loses 1/2 pound of muscle per year. In a decade that's  5 pounds, in 20 years that is 10 pounds, in 30 years that is 15 pounds of muscle lost. So you might be asking yourself if losing muscle appears to be the norm why do most adults gain weight as they age? The answer is: because muscle burns more calories than fat. Therefore your body is burning fewer calories and if you continue to consume the same amount of calories they will be turned into fat. When caloric intake exceeds caloric expenditure the result is a surplus, typically your body will not just gain weight but will gain body fat - the worst kind of weight for health and appearance.

If you are not already doing it, you might be surprised at how easy it can be to add strength training to your life with interesting body weight exercises suitable for any level of fitness. And when you practiced body weight  only exercises, which don't require any special equipment, they can be done anywhere, anytime, without any special clothing, make-up or health club memberships!

You have everything you need to improve and maintain you health right with you this very moment! Get moving, get strong, and stay healthy with upper body exercises!

For a great book on upper body strength for women using body weight only exercises written by me, Howard VanEs, check out "Ageless Beauty and Timeless Strength" available at Amazon.