Chest
The chest is one of the most stubborn muscles to try to gain
on, it takes a lot of energy and a lot of weight to get results from it. Your chest is not going to grow if you don’t
make it grow. Unlike most muscle groups
you need to constantly use HEAVY weight and a lot of reps to see results.
Chest has three parts, they all have
scientific names to them but we’re just going to call them your outer chest,
inner chest, and upper chest. Your outer
chest is just a thin little sliver of muscle on the outside of your chest next
to the sides of you lats (back), although it is a very important part of your
chest cause it helps push your chest out and make it look bigger.
Your inner chest is the biggest part
of your chest, it helps with to overall inflation of your chest. It is not
worked on very much because working the outside of your chest usually helps the
inside of your chest also.
Your upper chest is of course at the
top of your chest and it helps your chest actually look like you have chest
(instead of just man boobs). It is a
harder muscle to concentrate on but it is about as important as your outer
chest.
Outer Chest
·
Butterfly Presses- this can either be done with
dumbbells or a machine, you use grab dumbbells and lay flat on a bench, then
lift the dumbbells from your sides in a neutral grip and without bending your
elbow raise them up above your chest making a circle as you do.
·
Dumbbell Bench Push Presses- for this your can also use a
machine or dumbbells, also lay on a flat bench but you hold the dumbbells to
your sides in a regular grip, then push up like you would on a bench press and
as you’re pressing make the dumbbells almost touch at the top.
·
Wide Grip Bench Press- Exactly how it sounds, you can do
this on a flat bench or some machines have an option for wide grip
presses. Use a grip that is about a half
a foot wider than your shoulder width on each side. On most Olympic sized bars that is the outer
ring that has a space of no textured grip on it. The wide grip on the bar forces more pressure
on your outer chest.
·
Wide Push Ups- Resting your hands on a surface
wider than your shoulders will do about the same effect as the wide grip bench
press except you are using your body weight.
Keep your butt down and your back straight when doing pushups and for
the best results go down to the ground slowly, about two seconds going down and
then rest in the down position for about a second, then take two more seconds
returning to the up position.
Inner Chest (not a lot of exercises for this)
·
Diamond Pushups- Bring your hands together and make
the tips of your thumbs and index fingers touch to form sort of a diamond shape
with your hands. Doing pushups with your
arms and hands this close together will put pressure and focus on your inner
chest.
·
Close Grip Bench Press- Just like a regular bench press
except this time you have the inner part of your hands only a few inches from
each other as you press. You may need to
use less weight with this lift and it may cause you to lose balance of the bar
but it is a great exercise for the inside of your chest muscle.
Upper Chest
·
Inclined Bench Press- The inclined bench press focused a
lot on your upper chest and is probably the best exercise for it. You can do different variations of this press
like wide grip or narrow grip but regular shoulder width grip is probably the
best at focusing on the upper portion of the chest. 30-45 degree incline on the bench is the best
for this exercise. It may feel awkward
at first if you’re not used to it but it does work well.
·
Elevated Pushups- Do regular width pushups but keep your
feet and legs resting on an elevated area, if there isn’t a specific area for
this you could put your feet on a bench or chair, or ottoman.
·
Dumbbell Pull Over- This is an exercise that was very
popular in the 50’s and 60’s but still works great today. Lay on a flat bench, grabbing one dumbbell and
holding one side of it with both hands. Have
the dumbbell hanging over the side of the bench, past where your head sits (like
you would for tricep pull overs).
Without bending your arms pull the dumbbell up and over the bench till
its straight in your arms and above your head.
Repeat.
·
Upper Chest Dumbbell Exercise X- I have no idea what the actual name
of this exercise is. I found it on a
youtube video from the username AthleanX.
He gets all the credit for this exercise I just saw it and found it very
useful. You take two dumbbells (helps if
they have flat sides on them) and you lay on an inclined bench, holding the
dumbbells together. You then push the
dumbbells up while together, but as you are pushing up you are also pushing the
dumbbells into each as hard as you possibly can, while also pushing them slowly
up. This is supposed to put extreme
pressure on your upper chest.
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