In this part of our series, we get advice from personal trainer Aaron Small, PhD, on the right way to
work your chest muscles.
The beauty of using a stability ball for chest exercises is that you get extra core work at the same time
you work your chest muscles.
By using dumbbells you can
work the chest muscles through a greater range of motion.
In addition to sculpting them,
they work the chest muscles resulting in a beneficial boost and throw some abs training into the mix.
You can use dumbbells, barbells, machines, cables or tubing, or even just your body weight to
work your chest muscles.
Dip an important exercise for the triceps, also shoulders are involved and can join in
the work chest muscles.
When it comes to
working your chest muscles, it's important to use a variety of different exercises to really engage all of the muscle fibers.
For example, you'd want to stretch your lats when
working the chest muscles, or the hamstrings when you're working the quads.
For instance, if you lean forward a bit more, that movement
works your chest muscles more.
Working the chest muscles will improve your posture, there by enhancing your silhouette and confidence.
Alternating flyes are a great way to increase shoulder stability and core stability while also
working your chest muscles.
Both of the below moves show how to
work the chest muscle group.
For example, alternating your arms on an exercise like the stability ball chest press is a great way to engage your core muscles while
working your chest muscles.
You can
work your chest muscle and core at the same time.
Deep Pushup — This exercise
works your chest muscle in a unique way.
Not exact matches
This cut comes from the cow's breast or lower
chest, and includes the hard -
working muscles that support a large chunk of the animal's body weight.
Muscle - strengthening activities count if they involve a moderate to high level of effort and work the major muscle groups of the body: legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and
Muscle - strengthening activities count if they involve a moderate to high level of effort and
work the major
muscle groups of the body: legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and
muscle groups of the body: legs, hips, back, abdomen,
chest, shoulders, and arms.
The PROMISE trial was conducted at 193 centers across North America to determine whether a care strategy starting with coronary CTA, which reveals the structure of blood vessels supplying the heart, or a strategy starting with functional testing, measures such as stress testing or echocardiography that reflect how well the heart
muscle is
working, provided better guidance for clinical decisions regarding patients with
chest pain.
While barbells allow you to hit the
chest with some seriously heavy weight, dumbbells provide an opportunity to
work each side separately and fix any existing
muscle imbalances (which are often painfully and ridiculously visible) as well as train crucial stabilizing
muscles.
This places a whole new type of stimuli on the
chest muscles,
working them through a different range of motion that will encourage better growth.
To enable maximum tension on the targeted
muscle, you need to make sure that your pecs are doing the majority of
work during every single rep. Dumbbells have the ability to place slightly more tension on the
chest muscles than a barbell and they also keep the
muscles under tension for longer because of the greater range of motion, so consider incorporating dumbbell presses to your
chest routine to reap this benefit and exhaust your pecs more thoroughly.
However, smaller
muscle groups such as biceps, triceps and deltoids are being
worked twice a week — one time with a direct workout and another time with the larger
muscle groups like back and
chest.
A good practice is to
work on antagonist
muscle groups (
chest and back for an example) in one session, and choose «the most bang for the buck» multi-joint exercises.
A push - up is a great compound exercise that not only
works your
chest but also your shoulder, back and core
muscles.
Here, your
chest will be doing most of the
work, especially the pectoralis major, while the abdominal
muscles help in keeping the body steady during the movements.
This exercise
works not only your
chest muscles but your triceps too.
Press ups,
chest and shoulder presses will
work on your front deltoid
muscles, but your rear delts which are found at the top of your arm, won't be as targeted during these exercises.
If you have a well - built
chest, your front deltoid
muscles are pretty good, but you also have to
work on your rear deltoids to make sure that the top of your arm doesn't look deflated and weak in comparison.
This translates to much less
work for the
chest, shoulder and triceps
muscles when it comes to stabilizing the weight and they are free to exert more force upwards.
Besides the thighs, squats
work the back, calves, abdominal
muscles and
chest and in addition, they increase the production of anabolic hormones, such as HGH and testosterone.
For example, if you train your
chest on Monday and your shoulders on Tuesday, you
work many of the same
muscles on consecutive days.
As one of the best moves for building a stronger and bigger upper body, it effectively targets many of the same big upper body
muscles as the conventional version — the clavicular head of the pectoralis major, the anterior deltoid and the triceps — only from a different angle, which contributes to shifting a major part of the
work to the upper
chest and shoulders.
Your shoulders are more than mere mirror
muscles — they play a critical role in most upper - body exercises and
work hard to stabilize your
chest during push - ups and bench presses.
The flat dumbbell fly primarily
works the
chest and shoulders but also engages the rhomboids at the upper back and the biceps as stabilizing
muscles.
Grip positioning affects the way the
muscles are being
worked, so this time around you'll narrow the grip to target your inner
chest while also allowing for a greater engagement of the triceps.
This applies to all workouts in your life, but it's especially important for
chest training because people often start by overloading the
chest, as if it's the only
muscle which doesn't require any warming up before the heavy
work.
Depending on how you use them, dips can primarily
work either your triceps or
chest muscles.
In order to develop armor plated pecs, you need a variety of intensive exercises that will
work every
muscle in the
chest area.
-- You get a full body workout — Besides the shoulders, arms and upper
chest, you
work your back abs and legs while pressing.More
muscle being
worked means more HGH gets released.
Dips, especially of the wide - grip variant, are an underrated
chest builder that
works extremely well for building the majority of the
muscles that contribute to a wide upper body frame.
For this crazy move that engages all of your intrinsic core balancing
muscles and
works your shoulders,
chest and legs begin in the tall plank position just like the last move.
These focus on the
chest while
working the entire upper body as well as the shoulders and triceps, the
muscles on the backs of your arms.
-- He usually
works out 6 days a week and takes 1 day of rest on the seventh day — He does 3 - 4 sets per exercise — He trains biceps and triceps on the same day — He trains all big
muscle groups once a week (legs,
chest, back and shoulders) and the small ones twice a week (triceps, biceps, calves)-- His favorite
muscle group are the legs, which is why he trains them on Saturday when he has the most time.
Dips are one of the best upper body exercises, as they simultaneously
work opposing
muscle groups and can be used to bring special attention to your
chest muscles while warming up your front shoulders and triceps.
Heavy squats
work almost 70 percent of your
muscle mass — primarily your legs and then the back, core, even the
chest.
It's actually a very unique exercise because it effectively
works two opposing
muscle groups simultaneously: the
chest and the back.
By leaning the torso forward and letting your elbows flair out to the sides, you can force the
chest muscles to take over the
work, while remaining upright and keeping the elbows tucked will better target the triceps.
Pallof Press Targets: Obliques, transversus abdominis (rotational
muscles) Attach a D - handle to a cable cross machine and adjust the pulley to
chest height (a resistance band around a pole
works, too).
Although it's a very underrated
muscle (some don't even consider it a part of the
chest area) and you'll rarely hear someone say «I'm looking to isolate my serratus anterior», adding a couple of exercises that emphasize this
muscle group to your routine will
work wonders for your aesthetics and shoulder health.
On your first day, you are supposed to be
working your
chest triceps
muscles and shoulders.