Exercises for the chest: an effective complex for men and women

Hello! Let's take a look at the best chest exercises that can take your chest workout to a whole new level. Naturally, I will give specific practical schemes for different levels of fitness and note many interesting features in training the pectoral muscles.

Articles with exercises for the pectoral muscles:

• Dumbbell bench press on an incline bench;
• Incline barbell press;
• Guillotine press;
• Dips;

About the anatomy and growth rules for the pectoral muscles

I will not dwell on these points in detail, because... I looked at all this in great detail in an article on how to pump up your breasts at home.

The most important thing that you must pay attention to and be sure to remember is that the pectoral muscles consist of:

• pectoralis major muscle (m. pectoralis major);
• pectoralis minor muscle (m. pectoralis minor);
• serratus anterior muscle (m. serratus anterior);

Another very important point is that the pectoral (pectoral) muscles are unique to some extent because they are attached at different angles to the sternum and collarbones, forming the letter “L”, which is why they need to be trained at different angles.

As you can see, everything is not quite complicated. We must train different parts of the pectoral muscles from different angles.

Now a little about the rules for growth not only of the pectoral muscles, but of all muscle groups, in principle.

For high-quality powerful growth of any muscle group, you need to follow only three basic rules:

1. Progressive load (creating conditions favorable to the body for growth).
2. High-quality recovery (fractional meals 6-12 times a day + 8-10 hours of sleep).
3. Muscular feeling (the load must hit the target exactly, you can find out more in this article).

I already talked about this in an article about training the pectoral muscles at home, I gave the link above, read it.

The load should increase (weight on the bar, number of approaches, repetitions, exercises, super techniques, etc.).

You should recover well (eat frequent small meals 6-12 times a day and sleep well for 8-10 hours).

You should feel the muscles you are training and turn off all other muscles.

That, in fact, is all that can be said about this.

Pushups

This exercise for pumping up the pectoral muscles is basic and involves the middle, bottom and top of the chest, as well as triceps, anterior deltoids, forearms and abs. Recommended for everyone from beginner to advanced athlete at the beginning, middle or end of a chest workout.

Exercise technique

1. From a standing position, kneel with your feet together. Take a lying position with your hands shoulder-width apart. The back is straight, the head does not look at the floor, but forward. 2. Take a deep breath, hold your breath and lower your body to the floor until your chest touches it. 3. Without delay at the bottom point, return to the starting position with a powerful movement. 4. Exhalation must be done at the moment of overcoming the most difficult section of the movement.

Technique tips

• You can shift the emphasis of the load to the upper chest by placing your feet on an elevated platform.
• You can shift the emphasis of the load to the lower part of the chest by placing your hands on an elevation.
• You can shift the emphasis of the load to the outer part of the pectorals by placing your palms wider than your shoulders.
• You can shift the emphasis of the load to the inside of the pectorals by placing your palms together.
• If your level of training does not allow you to perform the exercise on straight legs, you can keep the emphasis not on your toes, but on bent knees.

The main mistakes when training the pectoral muscles

Many people make the same mistakes when training their chests. These errors severely hamper possible progress.

Too much weight on the apparatus

In any gym you can see a similar mistake when, even if not always a beginner, uses too much weight on the barbell or dumbbells.

He writhes, grimaces, helps himself with his legs, back, all parts of the body, just to squeeze the weight, believing that the more he presses, the better the progress of the pectoral muscles.

This is wrong. The load is thus simply “spread” over other muscles, leaving the chest. Naturally, breasts do not grow.

The body always strives to save energy, so it will tend to violate the technique of performing exercises.

Your task is to monitor the progression of the load, but in such a way that you maintain the correct technique.

We will talk about it further.

Using only a horizontal bench in exercises

Many people overestimate the importance of the flat bench press for pectoral muscle growth.

As we said, the pectoral muscles (pectorals) are attached to the collarbones and sternum at different angles, accordingly, they need to be trained at different angles of the bench.

The bench press on a horizontal bench affects primarily the lower chest area, which itself grows much easier than the upper chest, but is much smaller in size.

Accordingly, for the development of the pectoral muscles, this is not the most preferable bench press option.

Only by experimenting with the sensations of the pectoral muscles at different angles of the bench can one achieve their comprehensive development.

By the way, I don't do flat bench presses at all, I only do incline bench presses (20-30 degrees), and my pecs often look better than those of many people who focus on flat bench presses.

Few basic exercises and many isolation exercises

Some beginners focus on isolation exercises, believing that in this way they will expand the chest and work on their form. this is mistake!

It is possible, but not in the form in which they do it. More on this a little later, but in general, the classic version: first basic exercises (presses), and then isolating exercises (dumbbell flyes, crossover exercises, pullovers, etc.).

It is the basic exercises that will allow you to take more weight on the apparatus and progress the load more easily.

Then there are isolation exercises that can tire your muscles even more deeply, and fill them with blood.

There is an option when you can do isolation exercises instead of basic ones, namely when training slow muscle fibers! This is the so-called static dynamics!

In order to ensure that the pressure in your body does not create problems during MMV training, you need to focus on isolating exercises and give preference to “seated” exercises instead of “standing” ones.

However, we talked about this in this article. And we’ll talk in more detail in other articles.

Too much rest between sets and exercises

This point is very important. If you want beautiful, aesthetic breasts, then you should not rest for more than 1-1.5 minutes. Maximum 2 minutes!

With each approach, fatigue should become stronger and stronger.

A good indicator that you are doing everything right will be a decrease in the number of repetitions in each approach!

If you perform a set to failure every time, then you most likely will not be able to perform the same number of repetitions in the next set. It will be something like this:

1. 80 kg x 10;
2. 80 kg x 9;
3. 80 kg x 8;
4. 80 kg x 7;
5. 80 kg x 6;

Too many exercises in chest training

Thus your efforts are dissipated. I always believe that it is better to do 3-4 of the most effective exercises for one muscle group, but increase the number of approaches to 5-6, or even 7, than to perform 7-8 exercises, doing 2-3 approaches each.

When people run from one machine to another, first with a barbell bench press, then with a dumbbell press, then with parallel bars, then with a hammer, then with flyes, then with a crossover, etc., then, most likely, as strange as it may sound, they are not giving enough load.

I'm not talking about professional athletes who can train for 2 hours or more. I am targeting the average person who wants to develop impressive sized breasts.

And in professional training you can often find only 4-5 exercises per muscle group.

Bench press on a horizontal bench

The exercise targets the middle, lower and upper parts of the chest. It is the best basic exercise for the growth of the pectoral muscles, their mass and strength. Recommended for everyone, from beginner to experienced athlete, at the very beginning of chest training.

Exercise technique

1. Lie down on the bench so that the barbell is at eye level. The head, shoulders and buttocks are pressed against the bench, the back is slightly rounded at the lower back, the feet are wider than the shoulders and rest on the floor. 2. Grasp the bar with a wide grip so that the distance between your palms is wider than your shoulders. 3. Having removed the bar from the supports, your arms should be straightened, but not locked at the elbows. The bar should be above the middle of your chest. 4. Taking a deep breath, lower the barbell to your lower chest. As soon as the bar touches your chest, exhale and press the bar upward powerfully. 5. Lower the barbell at a slow or moderate pace. You need to squeeze it from the chest at a moderate or fast pace. 6. Don't pause at the bottom. As soon as the bar touches your chest, immediately press it up.

Technique tips

• By relaxing at the bottom, you relieve tension from the chest, and in order to squeeze the bar you will have to make irrational efforts
• Holding your breath before exhaling will help you sway less and better balance the weight on the bench, which will make the exercise somewhat easier.
• When performing a pressing force, do it while exhaling, this will greatly help you push the bar to the end. You can also ask a partner to help you.

Correct "bodybuilding" technique

These tips are specifically for a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter. The main goal of bodybuilding is to increase muscle volume while maintaining an aesthetic physique.

Not overcoming maximum weight, but increasing muscle volume while maintaining ideal proportions! Do you feel the difference?

In order for muscles to grow, the load must increase, we talked about this at the very beginning of the article. But the load should increase not only bluntly due to the increase in weight on the apparatus, but also due to “switching off” the remaining muscles from work and complicating the work on the target group, i.e. breast.

Naturally, this way your weight on the bar will decrease, but the load will hit the target.

To complicate the work of our chest, the following conditions must be met:

• Partial range of motion is an excellent solution for bodybuilding because... allows you to keep your muscles in constant tension (no rest). Due to the reduction in amplitude, the weight on the bar will practically not fall. You can work at your previous working weight.
• The trajectory of the barbell movement – ​​the barbell must move in an arc! Start at the bottom of the chest, and end at the top of the chest.
• Leg Position – A bodybuilder’s legs should be higher than a powerlifter’s. You can put them on a stand or move the bench to the row of dumbbells and put them there. This way, you remove the “bridge” (you don’t arch your back), thereby isolating the pectoral muscles even more. Plus, in this position, you do not help yourself with your legs, without involving other muscles in the work.
• Pectoral contraction at rest - you must learn to contract the pectoral muscles at rest, i.e. as if to “twitch” them. Focus on reducing them, so it will be easier for you to feel them while working in the gym.
• Grip width and position of the forearms - the grip width should be such that at the lowest point of the range of motion of the barbell, the forearms become parallel to each other. If you are working in partial amplitude, then the grip should be slightly wider than usual.
• Do not squeeze your shoulder blades together - this helps you squeeze out more weight, but takes the load off your chest. You will press more weight, but your chest will receive less load.
• The inclination of the bench - approximately 20-30 degrees upward from the horizontal - allows you to distribute the load more evenly across the entire chest.
• The number of approaches and repetitions is the classic repetition regime for a bodybuilder: 6-12. This applies to training fast muscle fibers. For slow ones, the range is slightly different (they focus on the failure time of 30-50 seconds). As a rule, approaches should not be done less than 4. After all, the chest is a large muscle group.
• An open grip is a grip where the thumb does not close the hands into a ring around the bar. This helps to better focus on contracting the pecs, but this grip is dangerous for beginners, so it is only suitable for more advanced athletes.

Dumbbell bench press

This exercise for the pectoral muscles is basic. It thickens and inflates the middle of the chest, its upper and lower parts. Recommended for all athletes, from beginner to experienced. Most often used at the beginning of chest training, mainly after bench presses.

Exercise technique

1. Take dumbbells from the racks or the floor. Sit on a bench and place dumbbells on your lap. Taking a lying position, you can push them with your knees to their original position. 2. Lie down on a bench and make sure that your shoulders and buttocks are pressed tightly against it. You can slightly round your back at the lower back, place your feet wider than your shoulders and rest them on the floor. 3. In the starting position, the arms are fully straightened, but not to the point of locking the elbow joints. The dumbbells in this position should be above the middle of your chest. 4. After inhaling, hold your breath and lower the dumbbells in a wide arc, so that at the bottom they are slightly wider than your shoulders. The elbows do not fall down, but diverge to the sides. 5. As soon as the dumbbells are at the bottom point of the amplitude, immediately, powerfully, in a wide arc, squeeze them up so that at the top point they lightly touch.

Technique tips

• The weight in this exercise should be taken slightly less than that with which you work in a similar exercise with a barbell. This is due to the complexity of coordination and trajectory of hand movement.
• Remember to keep your core tense at all times, as this helps significantly increase the stability of your body position on the bench.
• You should not try to help yourself by arching your lower back or lifting your pelvis off the bench. By doing this, you violate the technique of performing the exercise and reduce the effectiveness of the exercise.

Chest exercises

Exercises for the chest, whether for girls or men, should be divided into two large groups:

1. Presses (barbells, dumbbells, Smith).
2. Breedings (dumbbells, crossovers, hummers, etc.).

Presses are basic exercises (work 2 joints: shoulder + elbow), and fly-ups are isolating exercises (work 1 joint: shoulder). This is why we will start our workout with presses and end with flyes for deeper fatigue.

Presses (depending on the projectile):

• Barbell;
• Dumbbells;
• Rama (in Smith);

Presses (depending on the angle of the bench):

• Upside down;
• Horizontal;
• Upside down;

Presses (depending on grip width):

• Wide;
• Average;
• Narrow;

As you can see, there are a lot of options.

The higher the angle of your body, the more the upper chest works and the less the lower chest. But the tilt should not be more than 40-45 degrees, because... The higher the head tilt, the more the deltoids and triceps are involved in the work.

Therefore, I advise you to tilt your torso at about 20-30 degrees. This way the load will fall more evenly than without an angle of inclination.

If the inclination of the torso, on the contrary, is below the horizontal, then the lower chest works more, but the triceps are more involved in the work. Deltas at a negative angle of inclination are turned off.

The narrower the grip, the greater the amplitude of movement and the more difficult it is to press. But the narrower the grip becomes, the more the triceps are involved in the work.

Accordingly, if you highlight a certain ideal formula, then from the point of view of efficiency you need to reap:

With a medium grip, on a bench with a positive inclination of 20-30 degrees from the horizontal.

Now let's select the best chest exercises in terms of effectiveness.

Incline bench press

This exercise for the upper part of the pectoral muscles is shaping, expanding and lifting the upper chest. Recommended for everyone, from beginner to experienced athlete, at the very beginning of chest training, after or instead of bench presses.

Exercise technique

1. The exercise is performed on a bench with an inclination of 35-40 degrees relative to the horizontal. Lie down on a bench, place your feet wider than your shoulders and place them on the floor. Press your hips, shoulders and head into the bench. 2. Grasp the barbell with a shoulder-width grip. 3. Remove the bar from the supports and lower it to the top of your chest. Inhale and press the barbell up. 4. It is necessary to exhale only after overcoming the most difficult part of the barbell movement until the moment when the arms are straightened. 5. Inhaling and holding your breath again, slowly lower the bar to the top of your chest, then immediately press the bar up at the moment you touch it. 6. The exercise is performed slowly, at a moderate pace.

Technique tips

• Holding your breath during the upward movement of the barbell will help the muscles of the core and lower back to hold the body position more firmly and increase its stability on the bench
• No matter how hard it is for you, do not bring your elbows towards your body. This significantly shifts the load onto your shoulders and takes it off your pectoral muscles, so keep your elbows wider
• If you want to achieve maximum contraction of the muscles of the upper chest, try to straighten your arms completely, but again, not to the point of locking in the elbow joints
• You don't need to grab the barbell too wide. This will significantly reduce the range of motion and accordingly reduce the effectiveness of the exercise.
• There is no need to spring the barbell from your chest. In other words, do not throw it down so that it goes up, pushing off from the chest by inertia. So you can get injured
• There is no need to use excessive weight. The decisive factor in the exercise is the technique of its implementation.
• Keep your core muscles tense throughout the entire approach to ensure you have a stable position on the bench.
• If you use a bench with an adjustable incline, keep in mind that an angle of less than 30 degrees shifts the load to the middle of the chest, and more than 30 degrees shifts the load to the deltoids.

The Most Powerful Chest Exercises

These chest exercises should be in every bodybuilder's arsenal.

I really like working out my chest muscles, because... These muscles are quite easy to feel and not so difficult to pump up if you understand some of the conditions that we will talk about below.

Due to the fact that the pectoral (pectoral) muscles are attached with the letter “L” to the sternum and collarbones, as we discussed above, we need to train them from different angles. The variety of exercises plays a major role here.

Bench press exercise on an incline bench

Perhaps the #1 exercise for building huge pectoral muscles.

As I said, the optimal slope would be about 20-30 degrees. It is not necessary to go higher, because Deltas will definitely come into play.

Very often, sports equipment manufacturers make a fixed bench angle of 45 degrees. This is very shitty, because... necessarily includes deltas in the work.

Therefore, I would advise taking a regular incline bench with the ability to change the angle of inclination and placing squat racks on the sides of it, putting a bar there and voila. The bench press we need is ready.

About the grip width. We take the barbell with a medium grip, because... this gives us a greater amplitude of movement, and accordingly complicates the work, and does not allow the triceps to engage in work.

We try to work within the amplitude (do not touch the chest with the bar and do not straighten the elbows completely at the top point), this will prevent the chest from switching off.

Next important point, put your feet up! You can bring yourself a footrest, for example. This will prevent you from arching over the bridge so that the load does not go into your legs, back, etc. you need to press without a bridge (straight back). You lose the opportunity to “cheat”.

Now about breathing.

There's nothing unusual here. Exhale as you push, inhale as you lower the barbell down.

As for the elbows, they need to be spread apart! This way you will focus on the pecs and not the triceps (when your elbows are parallel to your body, the triceps work).

I also recommend doing 6-12 reps. I generally work in the range of 6-10 repetitions. Although, if you are just starting out, then you can do even more repetitions, about 15-20. Select the weight so that muscle failure occurs in this rep range.

You don’t need to do any other barbell presses for now!

Let's structure a little information received about this type of bench press.

Technique:

• Lie down on the bench, remove the bridge, press your back tightly to the bench! You can also raise your legs up to isolate your pectoral muscles. This way you can lift less weight, but the load will go directly into the pectoral muscles, and will not be spread across the front deltoid, triceps and back.
• Take the bar of the bar slightly wider than your shoulders (at the lowest point your forearms should be parallel).
• After this, we lower the barbell down without touching the pectoral muscles at the lowest point! Feel your pecs stretch. At the same time, we draw air into our lungs.
• Now with a powerful movement, focusing on working the pectoral muscles, press the barbell up.

Important: do not straighten your elbows completely, so as not to remove the load from the pectoral muscles and not to direct it to the elbow joints.

• Now squeeze your pecs using a peak contraction.

Important: Imagine that your hands are up to your elbows from your shoulders, this is just a connecting link, and your hands end at your elbows. Push with your elbows, not your hands! This way you will focus the load on the pectoral muscles, removing it from the front deltoid and triceps.

Exercise dumbbell bench press on an incline bench

Incline Dumbbell Press – The next super effective exercise. We will be working on an incline bench!

The dumbbell press is much more difficult to perform than the barbell press, so, for example, if you bench press a 100 kg barbell for one rep, then you will not be able to bench press two dumbbells weighing 50 kg each.

When pressing dumbbells on a bench, there is no bar between the dumbbells, i.e. there is no additional stabilization that simplifies the work, so the body is forced to connect many stabilizer muscles, which are smaller in size and weaker in the generated force.

This is necessary in order to stabilize the movement of each hand individually.

Everything about the angle of the bench, the position of the elbows, etc. remains the same.

There will be two main differences:

1. Dumbbell level at the lowest point.
2. Method of lifting dumbbells to the starting position.

About the level of dumbbells at the lowest point. They will be slightly lower than with the barbell press, because... There is no “limiter” in the form of a neck in the middle. Therefore, we lower our arms down all the way, until the pectoral muscles are fully stretched.

The method of lifting dumbbells must be learned so as not to get very unpleasant injuries.

Just one disclaimer first: if you can't lift the dumbbells to the starting position on your own, then the weight is too heavy for you!

Technique:

1. We take dumbbells in two hands and straighten the body (dumbbells on the sides).
2. We rest the dumbbells just above the knees (on the front surface of the thigh), and smoothly sit down on the bench.
3. With a powerful movement, we lean back, simultaneously pushing the dumbbells with our knees so that they are in the area of ​​the shoulder girdle (dumbbells below).
4. Remove the bridge, press your back tightly to the bench! You can also raise your legs up to isolate your pectoral muscles. This way you can lift less weight, but the load will go directly into the pectoral muscles, and will not be spread across the front deltoid, triceps and back.
5. We spread our elbows to the sides (dumbbells parallel to the body), inhale lungs full of oxygen.
6. After this, we press the dumbbells upward with a powerful movement, while exhaling air.
7. Now squeeze your pecs using a peak contraction.
8. Slowly lower the dumbbells down, feeling how the pectoral muscles contract at each point of the movement! At the same time, we draw air into our lungs.

Exercise guillotine press

A great exercise for developing chest muscles!

This is a variation of the bench press, except that the bar of the bar is lowered towards the throat.

But why lower the bar specifically to the throat? Does this look like some kind of inconvenient nonsense?

Yes, everyone thought so, until one scientist in the world of “smart bodybuilding” - Bret Contreras analyzed the electrical activity of most of our muscles during a variety of exercises using electromyography (EMG).

It turned out that if you shift the load vector from the chest a little higher to the throat, then almost the entire array of pectoral muscles begins to be involved in the work.

This was amazing and shocked most scientists and athletes at that moment!

1. Starting position: Grab the barbell with a grip slightly wider than shoulder-width.
2. Grip: You can use an open grip if you are an experienced athlete. For beginners, I advise using a closed grip.
3. Remove the bridge, press your back tightly to the bench! You can additionally throw your legs up (as in the picture below) to isolate the pectoral muscles. This way you will be able to lift less weight, but the load will go directly into the pectoral muscles, and will not be spread over the legs, anterior deltoid, triceps and back.
4. We begin to lower the barbell strictly vertically above our neck, and while lowering we take a deep breath.
5. We lower the bar to a distance of 3-5 cm to our neck, feel the tension and stretching in our pecs, you can additionally linger in this position for 1 second.
6. After this, with a powerful movement we squeeze the barbell up above our neck, while exhaling air. Important: do not straighten your elbows completely, so as not to remove the load from the pectoral muscles and not to direct it to the elbow joints.
7. Now squeeze your pecs at the top using a peak contraction.
8. Again, slowly lower the barbell down to the neck, feeling how the pectoral muscles contract at each point of the movement! At the same time, we draw air into our lungs.
9. We perform the number of repetitions specified in our program.

Important: Imagine that your hands are up to your elbows from your shoulders, this is just a connecting link, and your hands end at your elbows. Push with your elbows, not your hands! This way you will focus the load on the pectoral muscles, removing it from the front deltoid and triceps.

Here's a visual of how it's done:

Also, to make it easier to remove the bridge in the back, to focus on the pectoral muscles, you can throw your legs on the bench:

Now, let’s move on to isolation exercises for the chest.

Dumbbell flyes lying on a bench

This exercise is isolating, i.e. It uses only one joint, which means you can work with much less weight than in presses or push-ups. It should be performed after basic basic exercises (presses and push-ups).

Very often people do not understand the fundamental difference between basic and isolation exercises. They say that basic exercises are “for mass”, and isolation exercises are “for form”. But this is not true!

You still work on a muscle for mass or for shape, it does not have a brain, it either contracts or lengthens due to some kind of load. And which one, it doesn’t matter to her either. That's not the point here.

An isolation exercise does not allow you to fully load the muscle and use significant weight, because Only one joint works, where there are a lot of weak links (ligaments, cartilage), so the progression of the load in such exercises is very problematic.

That's the whole secret. Basic exercises, due to the work of several joints, enable the body to distribute the load more evenly and make work more comfortable when working with heavy weights.

Technique:

• We take dumbbells in two hands and straighten the body (dumbbells on the sides).
• We rest the dumbbells just above the knees (on the front surface of the thigh), and smoothly sit down on the bench.
• With a powerful movement, we lean back, simultaneously pushing the dumbbells with our knees so that they are in the area of ​​the shoulder girdle (dumbbells below).
• Remove the bridge, press your back tightly to the bench! You can also raise your legs up to isolate your pectoral muscles. This way you can lift less weight, but the load will go directly into the pectoral muscles, and will not be spread across the front deltoid, triceps and back.
• We hold dumbbells parallel to each other along our body. Then we squeeze them up.
• We spread our arms to the sides to the point of maximum chest stretch. Stretch your chest well.
• Then with a powerful movement, maintaining tension in the pectoral muscles, we bring our arms back to their original position.

Important: Think about your elbows as you would for bench presses. Imagine that you are hugging a large tree.

Tip: When your arms are almost brought together, slightly rotate your hands with the dumbbells inward (supination) towards your chest, this way you will further shorten them.

Raising and closing hands in a crossover

I love working in crossover. It makes it possible to do the exercise in a mode in which it is impossible to do it with dumbbells.

These are also isolation exercises.

As I said, our muscle fibers in the pectoral muscles are located under the letter “L”, which is why they need to be trained at different angles. In a crossover, you can achieve this rule perfectly by simply changing the height of the rollers on the struts.

I would even recommend, if possible, to perform fly-ups not with dumbbells, but in a crossover, because... this allows you to never stop working the pectoral muscles.

The weight on the crossover cables always pulls! Therefore, it is difficult for you to both raise your hands up and lower them down. This is difficult to achieve with dumbbells, because, as a rule, at the top point the arms with dumbbells relax.

You maintain tension at every point in the amplitude.

The angles can be very different:

• above;
• below;
• horizontal;
• intermediate;

Now I will not consider this breeding option in great detail, because the crossover has a lot of useful features and it deserves a separate article.

I suggest that you first try doing crossover flyes while lying on an incline bench.

The technique will be the same as when doing dumbbell flyes on an incline bench, you will just feel a constant tension in the pectoral muscles. The only difference is that you don’t have to throw the dumbbells up, but just take the handles in both hands.

It’s better to tell you more about the technique for bringing hands together in a standing crossover.

Technique:

• Take the handles in your hands. Stand exactly in the middle of the machine.
• Now walk forward a little with your arms outstretched until you feel a stretch in your pectoral muscles.
• You can keep your legs together, or slightly apart, but on the same line! There is no need to step forward with one foot, because... this creates torsional stress on the spine due to torque.
• Bring your arms together in front of you with a powerful movement. Using a peak contraction, additionally squeeze your pecs at the point of maximum tension.
• Now spread your arms back until the tension in your pectoral muscles remains. Stop at the point where the tension still remains and bring your hands together in front of you again.

Incline bench press

This exercise for the lower pectoral muscles is formative. Its purpose is to tighten and clearly define the lower part of the pectoral muscles. Recommended for advanced and more experienced athletes. Typically performed in the middle of a chest workout.

Exercise technique

1. The exercise is performed on a bench with an incline of 30-45 degrees below the horizontal. Sit on the bench, put your feet behind the support bolsters and then lie down. 2. The head, shoulders and buttocks must be pressed against the bench. The lower back should be straight, there is no need to arch or round it. 3. You need to grab the barbell slightly wider than your shoulders. Remove the bar from the supports and press the barbell up until your arms are fully straightened. 4. After inhaling and holding your breath, slowly lower the bar to the bottom of your chest. 5. When the barbell touches your chest, immediately press it back to the starting position. 6. You need to exhale at the moment of overcoming the most difficult part of the range of motion.

Technique tips

• There is no point in using a barbell that is too heavy in the exercise. It will force you to pause at the bottom of the amplitude, and this will shift the emphasis of the load to the triceps.
• Exhalation is critical in this exercise. As you lie head down, exhaling lowers the blood pressure in your head.
• At the end of the approach, you need to get up from the bench or sit down in a vertical position. This will also help normalize blood pressure.
• Keep in mind that if you have high blood pressure or problems with blood circulation, this exercise is not recommended.

Breast exercises: tightening and enlarging the pectoral muscles for women

Everything is clear with chest muscles for men, but what about chest exercises for women?

It's not that simple.

The fact is that women have smaller pectoral muscles by nature. Now I'm talking specifically about the muscles, and not about the entire chest.

In women, the breasts consist of:

1. Pectoral muscles.
2. Mammary glands.
3. Fat.

This is what a woman's breasts look like under the skin:

Basically, this is pure iron, and the pectoral muscles are very small and are located under the iron and fat.

That is why for women there is no need to train the chest separately; it is enough to include 1-2 exercises in your general set of exercises.

So what are the best exercises to add to your program?

I would recommend two exercises:

1. Dumbbell bench press on an incline bench.
2. Guillotine press.

Because In girls, the nutrient accumulation system works a little differently, and the consumption and accumulation of glycogen occurs more efficiently, then I would advise performing these exercises for 3-5 approaches and 12-15 repetitions in each.

I am sure that for the vast majority of girls these two exercises will be more than enough to pump up beautiful, sexy breasts and make them more toned after just a few weeks of regular training.

Information in the crossover through the lower blocks

This upper pectoral exercise focuses on the upper chest and is used to clearly separate the left and right pectoralis major muscles in the center of the body. Recommended for advanced and experienced athletes at the end of chest training.

Exercise technique

1. Attach the corresponding handles to the lower cable carabiners. Stand firmly in the center of the crossover and take a step forward to give your body a stable position. 2. Slightly lean your body forward, fix a slight angle at your elbows and keep it constant throughout the entire approach. 3. Take a deep breath and, holding your breath, bring the handles together in front of you, at chest level. At the moment of bringing together, the handles should lightly touch or even cross. 4. At the moment of contact, pause, hold a peak contraction in the muscles for a couple of seconds, exhale and slowly return the handles to their original position. 5. The body, legs and elbows are motionless throughout the entire approach. All movements are performed exclusively in the shoulder joint.

Technique tips

• Keep your core tense at all times, even in the negative phase when you return the handles to the starting position.
• If you perform the exercise with too much weight, you can break your technique and injure your elbow or shoulder joints.
• By bringing your arms too high, to chin level or even to eye level, you shift the emphasis of the load to the upper edge of the pectoral muscles in the collarbone area.
• To engage the serratus muscles, be sure to try not only to bring together, but also to cross your arms while bringing the handles together.
• To properly work out the entire volume of the pectoral muscles, it is recommended to alternate information in the crossover through the upper and lower blocks.

Chest exercises: effective training programs

By tradition, I will give several sets of exercises for developing excellent breasts for athletes of different fitness levels.

Chest training program No. 1 (for beginners)

1. Incline bench press: 2 warm-up + 3-4 x 6-12 reps;
2. Dumbbell bench press on an inclined bench: 1 size. + 3-4 x 6-12 repetitions;

To get started, this will be enough for you. There is no need to do isolation exercises yet. Learn to feel your pectoral muscles. Learn to shorten them wisely. This is the key to success in pumping up any muscle group.

Chest training program No. 2 (for beginners)

When the load becomes insufficient for you (after 2-4 weeks), you can move on to the second complex. Let's add one more exercise and an additional working approach.

1. Dumbbell bench press on an inclined bench: 1 size. + 4-5 x 6-12 repetitions;
2. Guillotine press: 2 warm-up + 4-5 x 6-12 reps;
3. Lying dumbbell fly: 1 size. + 4 x 10-15 repetitions;

Chest training program No. 3 (advanced)

So, your fitness has increased (after 1.5-3 months). It is necessary to increase the amount of work performed again. The next set of exercises is just for you.

1. Dumbbell bench press on an inclined bench: 1 size. + 5 x 6-12 repetitions;
2. Guillotine press: 2 warm-up + 5 x 6-12 reps;
3. Raises of arms in a crossover lying on an inclined bench: 1 size. + 4-5 x 10-15 repetitions;
4. Crossover while standing: 1 size. + 4-5 x 10-15 repetitions;

This is already a very serious load. You will already notice how your pectoral muscles have become fuller, larger and juicier.

Further, I think there is no point in listing possible sets of exercises, because for 99% of beginners this will be enough. There are a huge number of alternatives.

Next, for example, you can add training of the slow muscle fibers of your chest to the end of your workout. Fantasize, friends, look for the optimal solution specifically for yourself and listen to your body! It will never deceive you.

Dumbbell flyes lying on a horizontal bench

This exercise for the pectoral muscles emphasizes the load on their middle and inner part, which gives the chest volume and clarity in separation. Recommended for everyone, from beginner to experienced athlete, in the middle or end of a workout after bench press exercises.

Exercise technique

1. Lie down on a horizontal bench, press your head, shoulders and buttocks tightly to the bench. Keep your back straight, place your feet wider than your shoulders and rest them on the floor. 2. Take dumbbells and lift them clearly above the middle of your chest. They should lightly touch each other. Bend your arms slightly at the elbows. The angle at the elbows always remains the same until the end of the approach. 3. Take a deep breath, hold your breath and raise the dumbbells to the sides. At the same time, the elbows always look to the sides. 4. At the lowest point of the amplitude, without delay, change the direction of movement and, along the same trajectory, bring the dumbbells back over the middle of the chest. 5. After passing the most difficult section of the amplitude, you can exhale.

Technique tips

• Too heavy dumbbells are useless in this exercise. They will force you to bend your elbows more, which will reduce the effectiveness of the exercise.
• Excessive weight will also negatively impact your range of motion. Under its weight, you will lower the dumbbells below shoulder level, which can lead to injury to the shoulder joint.
• Holding your breath allows you to group your entire body. This adds stability to your core position on the bench.
• It is recommended to exhale only after the most difficult part of the dumbbell movement, as this helps relieve excess pressure in the chest.
• Throughout the entire approach, make sure that the angle at your elbows is in a stationary position. The arm moves exclusively at the shoulder joint, the elbow and hand are motionless.

Superset training

Experienced athletes train using a completely different method than beginners who have come to the gym relatively recently. The difference in the training process is due to the natural adaptation of muscle tissue to loads. There comes a point when the usual activities simply cease to be effective, and in order to continue progress in muscle building, it is necessary to shock the muscles. Unusual training methods, including drop and super sets, help to do this.

A superset is a pair of antagonist exercises. They are done one by one without any break. Antagonists are muscles that perform functions that are opposite to each other.

For the chest - this is the back, for the quadriceps - the biceps, for the triceps - extension, and so on. Each of these muscle groups is involved when doing the opposite action, for example, bending and straightening the arms.

These antagonists are what the superset session is aimed at.

Benefits of Superset Training

The main advantage of supersets is the shocking effect they have on muscles that have managed to adapt to the usual loads. This quality manifests itself only when the athlete does not overuse antagonist exercises, that is, does not resort to supersets every workout.

This training method has other advantages:

1. Muscles recover much faster. If, after bench presses for triceps, performed with a narrow grip, you immediately move on to biceps curls with a barbell, then the triceps receive a slight degree of stimulation and are actively restored.
2. Accelerated growth of muscle tissue. Active loads on the working muscle group lead to intense blood flow, along with which nutrients are supplied. This process stimulates the renewal of muscle tissue, which causes an increase in muscle volume.

The benefits that supersets demonstrate are the reason for the widespread use of this type of training.

General recommendations for supersets

To take full advantage of supersets, you need to consider the following nuances:

• exercises should be selected similar to each other, that is, isolating “plus” isolating, basic “plus” basic;
• It is not recommended to use two antagonists that are located far from each other within one superset;
• breaks after approaches are not taken at all or very short if the rhythm has not yet become habitual;
• rest between individual blocks of supersets, on the contrary, is increased compared to the pauses that are made between regular approaches.

These few simple recommendations will help you get the most out of your superset workout.

Example of a training program with supersets

If an athlete sets a goal - to train his arms, or, more precisely, to achieve further progress in increasing volume, then they make a superset of:

• lifting the barbell to work the biceps;
• presses with a narrow grip to engage the triceps.

First, do two warm-up approaches. In total, you need to perform three approaches for each muscle group.

When the first block is completed, supersets give way to regular exercises, performed in three sets with 8-12 repetitions in each:

• hammers (biceps);
• extension in the simulator (triceps).

The end of the workout is a return to supersets, which literally “awakens” the muscles to grow in volume:

• barbell lifts performed with an overhand grip (biceps);
• French press (triceps).

Each muscle is worked three times. First comes the biceps, then the triceps, again the biceps and so on.

Supersets, as you can see, are quite simple to do. They allow you to avoid a plateau, which is why professionals use them during training.

Training program using supersets

The program consists of:

• Pull-ups on the bar with a wide grip (3-4X8-10);
• Military press (3-4X8-12);
• Wide grip lat pull-down (3-4X8-12);
• Seated dumbbell press (3-4X8-12);
• Bent-over barbell row (3-4X8-12);
• Swing dumbbells in front of you (3-4X8-12).

Both the military press and pull-ups are done at a normal pace. They are used for warming up. Working approaches begin with warm-up approaches. The next pair of exercises (latt row and dumbbell press) are done 1 approach at a time, alternating until there are 3-4 full cycles for each muscle group.

Guillotine

Not one of the best, but the best exercise for working the pectoral muscles.

Read all its details here: “Exercise Guillotine: everything from A to Z.”

I also recommend watching this visual video: