Chest exercises are the closest companions to most weight lifters during workouts. But which of the chest exercises yield greater results? Although there are many pieces of training you can do to build your upper body, it is vital to be intentional about the kind of chest exercises you do, their benefits, equipment needed to do them, and the common mistakes you can avoid when performing them. Whether you are new to weight lifting or already a genius wanting to improve your chest workout routine, read on to explore the details of these chest exercises with us.
In this article, you’ll read efficient chest exercises that work. You’ll also identify the mistakes in chest building and how best to avoid them
TOP 10 CHEST BUILDING EXERCISES
- Seated Machine Chest Press
As one of the most effective chest exercises, the chest press works your serratus anterior and biceps, as well as your pectorals, deltoids, and triceps, building muscle tissue and strength.
Tips
- Avoid arching your low back and maintain a straight spine during the workout.
- Avoid bending your wrists
- Flare your elbows away from your body to focus the workout on your pectorals.
- Keep your head, shoulders and buttocks pressed into the bench throughout the workout.
- Using a raised platform under your feet during the chest press, exercise is an option.
The seated chest press helps you gain muscles and lose fat. It enables you to grow stronger bones, enhances your fitness level, and of course, helps build your chest.
Watch the video above to learn practical steps in doing the seated chest press exercise.
- Chest Dips
The techniques involved in doing the chest dips make it easier to target your chest muscles to build a broader chest. Dips also enhance enough stabilizing muscles.
Here are some mistakes to avoid:
- Avoid locking your elbows on top.
- Stop your shoulder movements by contracting your upper back.
- Weighted Dip
Weighted dips are effective in targeting the outer chest, triceps, shoulders, and arm muscles to build a bigger and broader chest. Throughout the weighted dip exercise, your upper body is not supported, and your feet are off the ground. This energizes and activates muscle groups and helps you master your body weight. As an advanced variation of chest dips, people who do the weighted dips should have good upper body vitality. Start with the regular chest dips if you’re new to weighted dips.
The benefits of performing weighted dips include strengthening the muscles in the upper back, lower back, triceps, shoulders, and the chest. Accurately performing this exercise will increase your upper body mass and even enhance your strength for other exercises.
Weighted Dips are Best Performed when you:
- Wear a weighted vest or a heavy backpack
- Wear a dip belt with weights attached
- Hold a dumbbell between your ankles
- Incline Dumbbell Pull-Over
Performing the incline dumbbell pullover strengthens the muscles, especially the chest muscles, which are the pectoral and lats. This exercise helps to stretch the pectoral and lats. Doing the incline dumbbell pullover makes you stretch your muscles further in ways the common flat bench exercise can not do.
The dumbbell pullover improves the break down of the muscle fibers, and it enhances the growth of core strength and improved posture.
Your chest, back, and arms will receive more muscle and strength if you do this exercise correctly.
Tips
- Maintain straight arms to connect your pectoral muscles, then bend your knees to reach your triceps better. Your posture is essential here, maintain the right posture.
- Your initial position must be over your head. Control the weight.
- Incline Bench Cable Fly
Performing the bench cable fly puts you at a lower risk of injury. It helps you isolate one muscle after the other to enjoy a relatively focused workout
Tips:
- Target driving with your elbows and upper arms while pushing the weight overhead.
- Keep a 30-45 degrees range.
Check out how to perform the incline bench cable fly from the video above
- Barbell Bench Press
One of the exercises that can be used to tone the muscles of the upper body, including the pectorals, arm, and shoulders, is the barbell bench press.
Depending on your fitness goals, you may add the barbell bench press to your workout routine.
Watch the above video to learn how to do a barbell bench press:
- Incline Barbell Bench Press
The incline barbell press is one effective chest exercise that focuses on the chest, shoulder, and triceps. The incline allows the trainer to emphasize the upper chest and makes it joint-friendly to your shoulders. The slope has also made this one of the safest chest exercises.
When performing the incline barbell bench press:
- Get on an incline bench and put your body at an angle of 30 – 45 degrees.
- With an overhand grip, get a barbell and hold it above your chest.
- Lockout the elbows while stretching arms upward.
- Slowly, with a controlled grasp, bring the bar down in a straight line.
- Wait, then press the bar straight to start the process again.
Tips
- Keep the bar at the upper part of your chest.
- Avoid bouncing the bar off your chest.
- Keep the spine in a neutral position.
- Dumbbell Bench Press
If your fitness goal is to bulk up your chest, you should consider the dumbbell bench press. Gym enthusiasts have appreciated this exercise all over the world because of its efficiency. Unlike the barbell bench press, one-sided cannot compensate for the other when performing the dumbbell bench press. The dumbbell bench press enhances bigger pectorals and also works on the triceps and deltoids.
The dumbbell allows you to work more pec muscles during exercises than the barbell allows.
When performing the dumbbell bench press:
- Lie down on a bench and make each handhold a dumbbell to the sides of your shoulders.
- Allow your palms to face the direction of your feet when you start.
- Extend your elbows while pressing your weight above your chest till your arms are straightened.
- Slowly bring the weights back down.
The dumbbell bench press has variations including:
- Hammer-grip dumbbell bench press
- Decline dumbbell bench press
- Alternating dumbbell bench press
- Incline dumbbell bench press
- Decline Chest Press
The chest muscle, especially the lower pectoralis, is the target area of this exercise. Correctly performing the decline chest press can massively improve muscle imbalances and enhance strength.
If you are focused on getting your chest to be round, broad and defined, you should add the decline chest press to your lifting routine because, unlike the flat bench and incline bench, this exercise focuses on the lower part of your chest better.
The decline positioning, and the positioning of the bar, there is less work on your shoulders to do, which emphasizes your chest for a massive pump. It also lessens the strain on your lower back, which you may experience when doing the flat bench press.
- Pec Deck Machine
Using the pec deck machine is also one of the means to shape your body through exercise. Its efficiency has caused the American Council on Exercise to rank it as one of the best exercises for building chest muscles. Caleb Backe, a certified personal trainer and health and wellness expert for Maple Holistics, explained that “the pec deck works both your chest and its supporting muscles, primarily your pectoralis major, which is the muscle that allows you to swing and bring your arms together.”
Backe says, “this strengthens your torso and stabilizes your shoulder blades. Meanwhile, your supporting muscles, like the serratus anterior, are also activated during a pec deck. It opens up and strengthens the backs of your shoulders to allow you to complete the exercises.”
The pec deck machines give trainers a much more simple and effective exercise for developing your main chest muscles.
Tips
- Inhale as you start, and exhale while you pull the handles toward your chest.
- Reduce the weight level to avoid risks of injury if the exercise is too intense.
- Your previous rep should be challenging but not overly difficult to do.
Best Foods to Eat for Chest Exercises
Proper nutrition plays a vital role in helping you make the best out of your efforts in the gym. These foods will provide the body with the energy it needs when building the upper chest.
- Eggs
- White meat chicken
- Greek yogurt
- Peanut butter
- Lentils
- Firm tofu
- Low-fat milk
- Brown rice
- Broccoli and spinach
- Salmons, sardines, and trout
Include less fat in your pre-workout meal. Eat a meal or a snack composed of carbohydrates and protein about two to four hours before a chest workout to get energized.
Mass-building your chest may require that you eat up to six meals a day to meet your calorie and nutrition needs.
Chest exercises are not peculiar to a particular gender. Everyone can benefit from performing these upper chest exercises. For women, doing upper chest exercises helps make the breast perkier, makes your breathing more comfortable, and improves your posture.
Learn how to build a bigger chest by performing any of these chest exercises. No matter the equipment or workout routine you choose, make sure to follow all guidelines and complete them correctly if you want the best results. Even the best exercises will only work if you do them. So just start, start today, and stay focused. Keep your eyes on the prize. Speak to a medical professional if you have to, before adding any of these exercises to your routine.
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References
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