Chest Exercises Without Weights

Quite a few people believe that weightlifting and weight training are the only two effective methods of developing your pectoral muscles, or in general, developing a muscular upper body. Well, that is not the case. There are plenty of exercises and workout routines, not involving weights, which help in building muscle. In this article, we will focus on a chest workout without weights. The following information on chest exercises will help you gain insight on how to develop your chest muscles and toning your pectorals.

Push Ups
It is a well-known fact that push ups aid in the development and toning of not just your shoulder muscles, but also your chest. Push ups can be performed in many ways:

• Push ups against a kitchen countertop
• Push ups on knees
• Push ups on toes
• Push ups using a medicine ball, etc.

In the first case, you can make use of a wall or a kitchen countertop for performing push ups. This is an ideal exercise for beginners to judge their strength levels and their stamina. Start with one set of 12 push ups, and gradually increase the count with every passing day. Once you are comfortable with this type, you can progress towards the next one, i.e. push ups on knees. In this case, you rest your knees on the floor, and perform push ups parallel to the ground. Type 3, i.e. push ups on toes, is the most common way of performing push ups. Once again, perform this variant in a set of 12 repetitions, and gradually increase the count as your stamina builds up. The last type involves performing push ups while resting your feet on a medicine ball, with your palms on the floor. In this position, your body should approximately make an angle of 45 degrees with the floor. This is an advanced level position, and one which requires a good amount of shoulder strength. You should try it only after you gain a certain amount of expertise with the earlier push up types.

Pull Ups
Pull ups are an excellent way of developing your lats, i.e. lateral chest muscles (or wings, as they are popularly referred to by men). In terms of exercise equipment, all you will need is a standard pull up bar. Here is how to build a pull up bar. Pull ups too, can be performed in many ways, such as the inward palms position, the outward palms position, kipping pull ups, close grip pull ups, wide grip pull ups, etc. Without getting into the nitty-gritty of each type (I'm sure you can google that for yourself!), let me explain the numerous benefits that pull ups have to offer. Basically, pull ups are one of the best exercises when it comes to overall muscle building. They not only work on your chest, lats and shoulders, but also on your abs and back muscles. In addition to developing a V-shaped torso, they also help in providing a good amount of strength and stability to your entire upper body.

Swimming
Swimming is a great way of exercising your entire body, not just your chest. Anyway, as far as chest exercises are concerned, a good swim workout exercises both, your upper chest, as well as your lower chest muscles. Ideally, a good 30 minute swim, three to four times a week, is more than sufficient to give your chest muscles a good workout. To make your swim workout even more effective, try alternating between different swimming strokes, so that you end up exercising all the muscle groups.

Resistance Band Exercises
To perform these exercises, all you need is a good quality resistance band. Basically, resistance band chest exercises are not very different from chest exercises which make use of weights. In fact, the exercise remains the same; all that changes is the equipment, i.e. you replace weights with a resistance band. Some of the resistance band chest exercises that you can perform are:

• Resistance band chest press
• Resistance band push ups
• Arm punch
• Resistance band bench press
• Standing fly

Chair Dips
This is another good way of working your chest muscles. All you need is 2 strong, high-backed wooden chairs. Place them in such a way that their backs face each other, and the distance between them is slightly greater than your shoulder width. You need to stand in between the two chairs, grip the tops of each of the chair backs with either hand, bend your legs at the knees, and perform chair dips, i.e. lower yourself slightly towards the ground, hold, and return to the original position. This is a tough exercise, and one which will need several days of practice (and persistence!) to perfect.

Yoga
Yoga has a plethora of health benefits, one of which happens to be strengthening the chest muscles. Certain yoga exercises and asanas such as the Bhujangasana i.e. Cobra pose, or the Surya Namaskara (Sun salutation exercise), are extremely useful in exercising and toning your chest muscles (not to mention your entire upper body and back).

This was an overview of some home chest exercises requiring no weights. Work hard, be disciplined, and follow a well-balanced diet in order to reap the benefits!