Health Articles And Advice

You wouldn’t believe how many questions I get each and every week about chest exercises. Everyone wants to build a bigger chest, but not everyone knows the best way to go about it. In the interests of providing some information on this topic (and everyone wants to know “what’s your secret, Caleb?”) I’m going to provide a little help with this article. While I may not be ready to give all of my secrets away, here are a few of my favorite chest exercises.

First, I’d like to share a little general information for the newbies out there (hello and welcome!). Your chest muscles consist of the Pectoralis major and minor - the familiar term “pecs” is short for this. The Pectoralis major attaches to the arms and clavicles; the minor is a thinner, roughly triangular shaped muscle which is beneath the Pectoralis major.

With that said why don’t we work our way down the body, starting with the upper chest muscles, sound good? Push-ups and flyes are old favorites for the upper chest, because they are super effective for building this part of your chest. Without anymore foreplay:

Inclined Dumbbell Flyes - Lie flat on your back on an incline bench. Take two dumbbells, one for each hand (if you have a spotter, have them hand those to you). Grip one in each hand (your palms should be facing each other) and raise the dumbbells up towards each other, meeting over your head. Squeeze your pecs for a one count while the dumbbells are at their peak. Lower slowly and repeat as many times as you can.

Declined Push-Ups - You may be familiar with a regular pushup and this is the same except for one thing: your feet will be elevated by resting on a low bench. As always with push-ups, keep your back as straight as possible. Also, to get the greatest benefit and to make sure you work every part of your chest, vary your hand widths. Now there’s a lot of different exercises for the middle chest — but I’ve chosen one which provides a lot of benefit to bodybuilding newbies and pros alike.

Dips: these are great for building the mid-chest. Using a set of dip bars, position yourself with knees bent and legs crossed at the ankle. Slowly lower yourself until your chest touches the bar and then return to your starting position. Repeat as many times as you can.

Last, but by no means the least - the lower chest. It’s a variation on the bench press - something which is sure to be familiar to you, but more beneficial to the lower chest.

Declined Barbell Bench Press -You do pretty much the same thing as any bench press except you’re going to be doing it on a decline bench. It’s ok to touch your chest with this exercise, as the bar goes down, just remember to lower the weight slowly and under control… and you should always be working out with a spotter for safety. Repeat as many times as you can.