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Chest (Pectoral)

      There are A LOT of different chest exercises out there, and they can be done either at home, with free weights, or with machines. Ever wonder which workouts will give you the best results? Or have you ever wondered what the differences are? Well your chest is one of your body’s larger muscles, so some workouts may work the upper region, some might work your inner pecs, and so on. For anyone who is new to weight lifting, or for anyone who is just looking for a way to increase their results, this is for you. I’m going to list some different exercises that will strengthen your chest, and explain exactly which area of your pectorals they are affecting.

Barbell Free Weights

Barbell Bench Press (Flat, Incline, Decline, Close-Grip, Wide-Grip)

      Barbell Bench Press gives you a good even chest workout because the weight on the barbell is distributed on both of your arms evenly as long as you have your hands positioned correctly and evenly on the barbell. There are many different ways to Barbell Bench Press like stated I stated above.

      Flat Barbell Bench Press will work your chest as a whole. Decline Bench Press puts more strain on your lower pecs. Incline puts more strain on your upper pecs and your shoulders. Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press will put more strain on your triceps, and Wide-Grip Barbell Bench Press will put more strain on your shoulders and outer chest. As you can see, these various types of Barbell Bench Press are all equally good in their own ways, it just depends on what muscles you’re trying to focus on most.

Dumbbell Bench Press (Flat, Incline, Decline, Flyes)

      Dumbbell Bench Press will force you to focus on your muscles more to help control to motion of the free weights. Because of this, using Dumbbells could prove to be more effective than using a Barbell. Like using a Barbell, there are various ways to Bench Press while using Dumbbells, I wont go over them because the variations are basically the same as using a Barbell.

      A difference between Barbell and Dumbbell Press is with Dumbbells you can “squeeze” at the end of your repetitions. You’re also able to get a greater range of motion when using Dumbbells. A word of caution, you may want to be more careful when Benching with Dumbbells because it can be easy to lose control of one or both of the weights, so it’s important to have a spotter when doing heavy lifts.

Push-ups (Close Hand, wide Hand, Standard)

      Push-Ups are a very basic but very effective way to strengthen and tone your Chest. Not only do Push-Ups work your chest, but they also will work muscles like your Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, Lats, and so on. The small variations of Push-Ups can make a big difference. This means that you may be able to do forty or fifty Standard Push-Ups, but only fifteen or twenty Close Hand Push-Ups. The reason for this is because when you use a Close Hand position, it will focus a lot of the strain on your Triceps.

      There are many more not-so-common variations than what I listed above, (Dive-Bomb, Elevated Legs, Etc.) that will focus more on different muscles, and give a wider range of motion in order to work larger portions of your muscles.

Dips (Chest Version)

      There are two different versions of Dips, Chest and Triceps. The Chest version is a very good way to strengthen your pecs. The way you do the Chest version is by slightly bending your torso forward and by focusing and squeezing your chest while you’re completing your reps.

Cable (Flyes, Crossover)

      Using Cables is also a great way to workout your Chest muscles. They give you a wide range of motion and use more tension than Dumbbells or Barbells.

      There are a couple variations you can use with Cables as well including Flyes and Crossovers. To execute Cable Crossovers, you want to raise both pulleys above your head, grab both cables while standing, step forward, and keeping your arms slightly bent, pull both cables until your hands meet together in front of you.

      Cable Flyes are slightly different. You position a bench between the two cable pulleys and position the pulleys at their lowest. You can make your Bench Flat, Incline, or Decline for this exercise. You just keep your arms the same way I explained for the Cable Crossovers, and pull the cables until your hands meet together in front of you.

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