Chest Exercises at Home

The chest is a part of the body that lies between the neck and the abdomen. It protects the major organs of the body such as the heart and lungs. With the help of proper and regular exercises, the pectoral and trapezius muscles can be strengthened in order to protect these delicate organs of the body.

Exercises for the Chest

Exercising the chest helps maintain the fitness levels and supports the delicate organs (lungs and heart) as mentioned above. Following are the chest exercises you can do at home with ease, and which are very helpful.

Push Ups
Push ups are considered to be the best chest exercises at home. This type of workout is used in bodybuilding. There are many types or variations of this chest exercise like the planche push ups, boxer's push ups, guillotine push ups, Maltese push ups, etc. The basic method or way of doing a push up is to face the ground while lying in a horizontal position and raising the body with the help of the arms. The push ups are used for many different activities such as athletic training, military training, physical education in school, etc. The planche push ups are extremely difficult to perform since it requires the total body weight to be transferred on to the hands, while the legs be lifted in the air. The boxer's push ups are performed while wearing boxing gloves and with the help of knuckles instead of palms. In the Maltese push ups, the hands are placed near the hips as opposed to pectorals in normal push ups. The distance between the hands in the Maltese push ups is greater than that in other push ups. Read more on chest exercises for women at home.

Flat Bench Dumbbell Press
To perform the flat bench dumbbell press, one should lie back on a bench. In this position, the hands would hang out freely from the bench. Dumbbells should be held in each of the hands and pressed upwards slowly. When the top position is reached, the dumbbells should be lowered back again.

Dumbbell Pullovers
The dumbbell pullover too is performed while lying on a bench. The dumbbells should be held in a position above the head and then lowered behind. While lowering the dumbbells, one can feel a stretch in the rib cage. This dumbbell exercise helps in working up the chest muscles. The workout should be done slowly and with proper care to avoid any kind of injury. The benefit of using a bench is that the scope for arm movements increases. The dumbbell pullover is one of the good chest exercises at home.

Cable Flyes
The cable flyes are performed with the help of cable pulleys that have D-handles. Initially, the weight settings of the machine should be adjusted in such a manner, that performing 10 - 15 repetitions would be easy. The cable handle needs to be grabbed between the thumb and palm instead of the fingers. The first cable handle should be pulled with one hand while the second handle is grabbed with the other hand. While both the hands take control of the cable handles when the arms are fully stretched, both the legs should be taken forward one by one and rested in a stable position. The hands should then be dragged forward in a hugging motion. The movement of hands should be preceded by inhalation and succeeded by exhalation. This completes one repetition of the cable fly exercise.

Exercising regularly is good for the health, and one should take time out to perform the simple chest exercises at home to strengthen the pectoral and adjoining muscles.