Friday, August 12, 2011

Basic Chest Exercises

This guide will demonstrate some basic exercises for chest. First, lets take a look at this diagram so you know what you're working with.
 The chest is basically the pectoralis major which is on top of the pectoralis minor. The pectoralis muscle is a large flat, fan shaped muscle that covers the entire upper rib cage. It originates from attachments along our breast bone, collarbones, ribs, and it inserts on each side of your body via a large tendon through your shoulder joint to your upper arm bone. 


Now lets walk you through some basic exercises for training chest.

Bench Press
 This is a great upper body exercise. It works the entire pectoral area, delts, and triceps. Secondary stress is applied to the lats , biceps, and forearms to help stabilize and balance the weight.
Place a barbell on the rack of a bench pressing bench. Lie back on the bench. Place your feet flat on the floor on each side of the bench. Grab the bar just a bit wider then shoulder width. Straighten your arms to lift the barbell off the rack. Position the bar so it is at arms length over your chest.
Lower the barbell until it is close to your chest.  Do not let your upper arms go straight out to the sides because it will place too much strain on your shoulder joints. Do not bounce the bar off your chest. Push the bar up until it is back to the starting position. Repeat.
**Note**For barbell you may want to have a spotter if you are trying weights you've  never done before.

Incline Bench Press
This is very similar to the bench press, it works the same muscle groups but  incline bench press works more of the upper chest.

Lie back on an incline bench pressing bench. Place your feet flat on the floor on each side of the bench. Grab the bar just a bit wider then shoulder width. Straighten your arms to lift the barbell off the rack. Position the bar so it is at arms length over you upper chest.

Lower the barbell close to your upper chest.  Push the bar up until it is back to the starting position. Repeat.
**TIP** Try not to arch your back so much or it becomes a flat bench. You tend to arch your back with heavier weights but if you specifically want to target upper chest; add the right amount of weight.


Dips
This exercise works the entire chest area, but it emphasizes the lower chest. It also works the deltoids and triceps.

Grab a pair of parallel bars so the palms of your hands are facing each other. Straighten your arms and bend your knees. Support yourself between the bars.
Lean your torso forward as you do the exercise. Slowly bend your arms and lower your body between the bars until your elbows are close to 90-degree angles. Hold this stretched position for a second. Steadily push yourself back up to the starting position. Repeat.
**TIP** If you're new and you're unable to support your body weight; you may use an assisted dip machine. For more advanced people; try using a dip belt with added weights.
Dumbbell Flyes

This exercise works the entire chest area, but you can target specific areas of your chest depending on the angle of the bench. For example, a flat bench will target the entire chest, an incline bench will target the upper chest, and a decline bench will target the lower chest.


Grab 2 dumbbells and lie back on a bench. Extend your arms straight above chest with the palms of your hands facing each other. Keep a slight bend in your elbows.
Without bending your arms, slowly lower the dumbbells in semicircular arcs until they are level with your shoulders.Using your chest strength bring your arms back together in semicircular arcs. Repeat.

Machine Flys
This exercise isolates the entire pectoral complex.
Adjust the seat to a height that places your upper arms parallel with the floor when you are seated. Sit down and grab the handles of the machine, keep a slight bend in the elbows. Allow the weight of the machine to pull your arms back to stretch your chest.

Using your chest strength bring your arms together in an arc motion until your hands touch in front of your chest. Hold this position for a couple of seconds to maximize the peak contraction in the chest. Slowly move your elbows back to the starting position. Repeat.

Push Ups
This is a basic exercise that works the entire chest area. Secondary stress is placed on the shoulders and triceps.
Lie face down on the floor. Place your hands palms down on each side of your body. Keeping your legs and torso in a straight line push yourself up and support your upper body on your arms.

Slowly lower yourself until your chest is about an inch from the floor. Hold this stretched position for a second. Push yourself back up to the starting position. Repeat.
**TIP** Push ups are great for warm ups. It gets your upper body's blood flowing with the right amount of weight (your own body weight).

43 comments:

  1. good post easy to read and cool pictures...keep up the hard work

    ReplyDelete
  2. great tuts hanh. hope that u could share more about the reps and sets to gain weight. would love to hear your advice. I finally feel that Im on the right track after your following your blog and videos. Both your youtube page and blog are visited by me everyday! Thank you very much! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post and thanks for all this info.

    I've been doing the sick chest workout for about 4 weeks now. I want to target more of my upper chest since it's not growing as much as the middle. Should I switch and pyramid with incline bench doing 2 incline, 1 flat bench exercise with burnout of machine fly/pushup?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hanh,
    1. What is the best supplement for bulking?
    Been training for 5 months now. Month 1-2,
    studying technique(no supplement).
    Month 3-4, taking ON supplement
    (Serious Mass 1280 calories)
    serious training mon-fri. Weight gain 4kg,
    biceps gain 2 inch. Back, shoulder, chest &
    triceps improve. But i feel a bit fat using
    this product, however the result is
    fantastic in 2 months.
    Month 5, using Dymatize Elite Whey (117
    calories) already take it for 3 days. M i
    doing it right? is this supplement suitable
    for bulking? Still in serious training
    mon-fri (+ using muscletech nano vapor).
    2. I am using nano vapor (orange) but the
    result is disappointing. Energy 6/10,
    focus 5/10, pump 5/10. Crash after
    2hours. (1-2 scoop, 15min before
    workout). Should i change to BSN
    no-Explode?
    Hope to hear from you soon. Really need your help here. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Whats up Hanh, updated my blog finally lol. Got some new PRs you should check em out. Also I'm struggling my ass off on the bench while everything else seems to be going up. Is it all in my head you think?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey hanh, just wanted to say great blog, it's motivated me to start one up starting off from day 1. Hopefully it'll be able to motivate people like you have motivated me.

    On the other hand, I was just wondering, whats your opinion on supersetting, doing drop sets and burn sets? And if you do them, which do you think is most effective, especially for chest (cos this would be the one thing I'd like to improve on too)
    Thanks for everything

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post Hahn.

    You cover all areas nicely and easy to follow. Awesome pics too.

    Flex those pecs!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hanh, ive been dieting for 2-4 months now and have dropped 6-8 lbs in total but now i've hit a plateau. I want my weight to to go a little more lower but it just won't budge. What do you recommend for me to get over this plateau?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hanh says to slowly increase cardio and to slowly decrease carbs in his gym starter for beginners and his how to diet blog

    Links:
    http://hanhchampion.blogspot.com/2011/02/hanhchampions-gym-guide-for-starters.html

    http://hanhchampion.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-diet.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like your post bro.. let me ask you a question. i noticed that in the photo the placement of you guys hands. you guys had ur thumbs wraped around the bar with your thumbs in the lock position. i prefer the bar resting in the palm of my hands with my thumbs off of the bar. when i grip the bar this way i feel i get a better workout and i target ALL of my chest that way.. What do you guys think?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Really this is great body..and nice information about this..would love to hear your advice.thanks for share with us..
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  13. great tuts hanh. hope that u could share more about the reps and sets to gain weight. would love to hear your advice. I finally feel that Im on the right track after your following your blog and videos. Both your youtube page and blog are visited by me everyday! Thank you very much! :)
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  16. HOW MANY EXERCISES WOULLD YOU SUGGEST PER BODY PART... SAY IF MONDAY I GO TO WORK ON BICEP / BACK... HOW EXERCISES FOR EACH??? PLIIIZZZZ ANSWRRRRRRRR

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  17. You have managed to impress me by writing this thought-provoking informational article. You have used a lot of really great content to make your point. I agree with your views.

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  18. What do you prefer for Flat Bench, Incline Bench, Decline Bench Press, Dumbbells or Barbells?

    ReplyDelete
  19. I really appreciate your hard work. Actually, I'm from Korea and I luckily found your videos and your blog, too. I watch them a lot and use them as my work out routine. Thanks again that you've inspired me a lot! I can't wait to see other updates!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hanh, Very nice blog and info. I wanted to know how to increase bench or it just takes time?

    Thanks
    Dev

    ReplyDelete
  21. Full of useful resource and great layout very easy on the eyes. Keep up good work! chest exercises

    ReplyDelete
  22. hello,

    I'm 17 just started woking on my chest and I wanna see results soon, I can bench press around the 135, 6 time's and I want to improve it so i'm probably gonna follow your workout because it looks tough and good for your chest. But how many reps/sets should I do for each workout ? I guess 4 sets 8-10 rep each?

    hope to hear from you

    ReplyDelete
  23. Chest workout steps are very useful to exercise lovers..This is awesome post..please give information adout abdomens workout also... Thanks mate ...
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  28. Question hanh. So do you do all 6 chest workout and all 4 triceps workout in one day? Or do you just choose like 2-3 workout for chest and 2-3 workout for triceps. An also if you are Doing the cutting workout do you do the same amount of sets of 3-5? I wasn't sure about that. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
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