Chest Exercises

Being a major part of the upper body, containing some of the largest groups of muscles, it is important to do chest exercises, in order to keep them toned and well defined. The chest basically has two major muscles – the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor, along with other smaller muscles. In fact, developing the chest via chest exercises is one of the most popular workouts by men in gyms. Since there are such major muscles in the chest, working them out helps to burn more calories. Plus, while doing chest exercises you also work the arms and shoulders, hence you get a total upper body workout. Do warm yourself up well before starting doing your chest exercises. Given below are some of the most effective chest exercises.

Bench Presses with Dumbbells: Begin by lying down on an exercise bench, holding dumbbells in both hands with a firm grip straight over your chest, bending your elbows at a 90 degree angle, and your feet flat on the floor. Now, push the dumbbells straight up, taking care not to lock your elbows, and then lower them down again. Repeat 8-12 times per set, increasing the weights and sets, as you get stronger. There are various versions of this exercise, such as doing them on an incline bench, or a stability ball, or for a more advance version, the decline bench press. You can also vary the distance between the dumbbells in each hand, widening them, or narrowing them.

Chest Flies with Dumbbells: Chest flies should be done along with bench presses help in giving you a complete chest workout, although you will feel this exercise mostly on the outer area of the chest. Start by lying down flat on your back on an exercise bench, holding your dumbbells with a firm grip straight up over your chest, with your elbows slightly bent, and your palms facing inwards. Now, lower the weights in a wide arc outwards by your sides, stopping at shoulder level, and then return the weights up again. Repeat 8-12 times per set, increasing the weights and sets, as you get stronger. You can do variations of this exercise by using an incline bench or a decline bench.

Pushups: Pushups are another great chest exercise which not only work out the chest and the arms, but also the abs, since you have to hold them in, not allowing them to sag, your back, since you need to hold it in a rigid plain, not allowing it to arch, as well as your thigh muscles.

To begin with, get down on all fours with your hands placed directly below your shoulders, your weight on your hands and knees, which are pushed back. Then, bending your arms at the elbow, allow your chest to go down until it is just a couple of inches off the floor, and then, straightening your arms push yourself up, being careful not to lock the elbows. Repeat 8-12 times per set, and increase the sets to 2 or 3, as you get stronger. Once the pushups on the knees become easy, you can straighten your legs out, resting your weight on your toes and hands. You can vary this basic pushup exercise by placing your hands wider than shoulder width, or bringing your hands close together until the fingers of each touch in front of your chest. Plus, to make it more challenging, you can place your toes on an elevated platform.

After your chest exercise work out do a few stretching exercises to help cool them down.