Muscle Up - Chest

Chest exercises are, without doubt, the most popular exercise around.  Walk into any gym and you will be sure to see a large number of guys congregating around the bench press equipment.  Most men work on their chest muscles to improve their shape, to make them bigger, broader and more rounded.  That is not necessarily a good thing.  Working out on the bench press alone will only work a small percentage of the chest muscles, completely ignoring the others.

That explains why months of countless bench presses don’t deliver the ‘killer’ chest most men are after.  Forget the notion of having a ‘great looking chest’ instead focus on building a strong chest.  The size and shape will come along naturally.

Ladies, this is also a very important set of exercises for you.  Because the breasts sit on top of the large pectoral muscles, building size and shape in the muscle will naturally lift and support the breasts.

Chest Strategies

Part of the difficulty for most men is that they simply don’t know, muscle wise, what exactly constitutes the chest.  For the purposes of this discussion, we are talking about the area from our collarbone to the base of your sternum and extending from armpit to armpit.

The biggest, and most obvious, muscles in this area are the pectoralis muscles, the large muscles that lay across the upper half of the rib cage.   The pectoralis muscles are connected to the shoulders on both sides and assist with any lifting or pushing activities you might do.

Less obvious, but equally as important, are the subclavius and serratus muscles, which are located under and to the side of the pectoralis muscles.  These muscles help provide greater maneuverability to your arms and shoulders.  The serratus, in particular, will help you push and punch.  These muscles also anchor and support the pectoralis in whatever activity they might be involved in.

Working these often forgotten heroes of the chest muscles can give your chest a fuller, more muscled look and improve your overall upper body strength.

Less is more.  Where chest exercises are concerned, it is much better, from an exercise physiology and safety perspective, to not max out the weight on the bench press.  It is much better, and safer, to use a lighter weight that you can lift while remaining in control, simply increase the number of repetitions to fully fatigue the muscles.

Chest Exercises

Bench Press

Lie on a bench with the barbell above your chest.  Grasp the barbell with your hands about shoulder-width apart, or slightly wider.  Your palms should be facing your legs and your feet should be resting flat on the ground.  Make sure your back is straight and flat against the bench.

Lower the barbell to your chest, at nipple level.  Your elbows should be pointed out while the rest of your body remains stationary.  Do not arch your back or bounce the bar off your chest.  Raise the bar to the starting position and repeat.

Narrow Grip Bench Press

Set up for this exercise exactly how you did for the bench press, but in this instance take a narrow grip on the bar.  Your hands should be an equal distance from the centre of the bar and about 15 cms apart.  This lift will be significantly more difficult than the standard bench press, so use a lighter weight.

Lower the barbell to your chest, at nipple level.  Your elbows should be pointed out while the rest of your body remains stationary.  Do not arch your back or bounce the bar off your chest.  Raise the bar to the starting position and repeat.

Wide Grip Bench Press

Do a normal bench press, as described above, but now hold the barbell with a wide grip.  Keep the hands and equal distance from the centre of the bar and grip the bar 8 to 10 cms wider than the shoulders.

Lower the barbell to your chest, at nipple level.  Your elbows should be pointed out while the rest of your body remains stationary.  Do not arch your back or bounce the bar off your chest.  Raise the bar to the starting position and repeat.

Inclined Bench Press

Set up on an inclined bench (your head is higher than your hips) in exactly the same way you did for the bench press.  Adopt a medium grip and lower the barbell to your chest, midway between your shoulders and nipples.  Lower the barbell to your chest, at nipple level. 

Your elbows should be pointed out while the rest of your body remains stationary.  Do not arch your back or bounce the bar off your chest.  Raise the bar to the starting position and repeat.

Dumbbell Flyes

Lie on your back on a bench, with your feet planted firmly on the ground, approximately shoulder-width or more apart.  Hold two dumbbells above you, arms extended with a slight bend in the elbows, palms facing each other with the dumbbells almost touching above your chest.

Keeping the arms extended, slowly lower the dumbbells out and away from each other to the sides.  Keeping your wrists locked, lower the dumbbells to chest level and pause.  Slowly raise the dumbbells to the starting position and repeat.

Caution: do not allow your shoulders to take any of the load in this exercise.  Concentrate on engaging the chest muscles only.

Alternating Dumbbell Press

Holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms extended above your chest, palms facing inward, lie back on a bench with your feet flat on the ground and slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. 

Lower the left dumbbell until it is almost resting on your chest.  The elbow should be pointing down.  Raise the dumbbell to the starting position then alternate with the right dumbbell.  Repeat.

Dips

Using parallel bars, any good gym will have them, grip the bars with your palms facing inwards and straighten your arms completely to raise yourself off the ground.  If your feet are still dragging on the ground, bend the knees.

Lower yourself, by bending the elbows, until your upper arms are parallel with the ground.  Ensure you keep your knees bent and feet off the ground.  Raise up to the starting position and repeat as many times as possible, without losing form.

To take this exercise to the next level, set up a TRX strap so that the handles are at elbow height.  Grip the handles and lift your body straight up until your arms are fully extended. Slowly lower your body until your hands are level with your armpits (bend the knees to keep your feet off the ground). Push up to the starting position and repeat.  The level of instability in this version of the exercise is incredible, so take it slowly!

Pushups

Do not make the mistake of dismissing the humble pushup as simply a standby for when you can’t get to the weights.  Pushups are a key part of working the chest, arms and shoulders and should be a regular part of your workout.

Lie face down on the floor with your hands, palms down, directly under the shoulders, fingers pointing forward.  To target the chest more, keep your hands wider than your shoulders and to target the triceps more, bring your hands in closer so that they are almost touching.  The soles of your feet should be perpendicular to the floor and your weight resting on your toes.  Keep your legs and back in a straight line, i.e. do not bend at the hips!

Push up until your arms are fully extended then lower yourself so that your upper arms are parallel to the floor and the elbows are bent at 90 degrees.  That is one rep.

Once again, to take this exercise to the next level, use the TRX straps.  Set up so that you are in the arms extended pushup position, holding the TRX handles.  Lower your body until your hands are level with your shoulders, push up to the starting position and repeat.  Keep your feet together and this will engage your core in a massive way.

To turn this into a truly advanced exercise, have your feet suspended by a second set of TRX straps.  Awesome!

Keep focussed on your goals and be consistent, that is the path to success.  Tomorrow, I take you on a tour of arguably the most important large muscle group in the body; The Core.