Working out the pectoral muscles is an integral part of every athlete’s training program. Loads on this muscle group can not only increase muscle mass and volume of the upper body, but also at the same time strengthen the shoulders, back, and arms. Exercises with dumbbells for the pectoral muscles, which can be performed in the gym or at home, will help with this.
Purpose of chest exercise
Before performing popular exercises from the Internet for the chest muscles, it is worth learning a little more about it. You should know that working out will not make your breasts bigger because breasts are made up of fat, glands, and connective tissue.
But it is possible to pump up the pectoral muscles by working out for a couple of months. First you need to find out whether your breasts need “physical training”?
Complete the following task - prepare a simple pencil, you should put it under the mammary glands, now look: if you help him hold on with your hand, then everything is fine, but if he is held in the fold under the breast without help, then this is a reason to work on your breasts. Stretch your hands up, if the pencil still holds well, then this is a more difficult problem.
Our breasts are covered with a thin layer of skin; it stretches and, accordingly, tends to sag. If you are the owner of large breasts, then you definitely know about this phenomenon. By following a diet, doing chest exercises, and doing special procedures, you can prevent sagging breasts and maintain their beautiful appearance.
What are the advantages and necessity of training with dumbbells?
Many dumbbells are captivated by their accessibility: you can exercise with them anywhere, and it does not require any special financial expenditure. In addition, dumbbells have a number of advantages:
- Simplicity - working out with a barbell is much more difficult, since this method requires a special technique;
- Lack of opportunity to exercise in the gym or under the supervision of a trainer;
- Lack of effect from other workouts: for many, the muscles of the arms and shoulders are much stronger and more resilient than the pectoral muscles. Therefore, during exercises with a barbell, they take on the main load, and the chest remains indifferent. This type of training does not bring the desired effect and does not pump up the chest. In this case, dumbbells can act as an alternative;
- They provide complete freedom of movement, which allows you to stretch and put stress on a certain part of the body;
- Dumbbells make it possible to correct asymmetry in the development of the pectoral muscles: very often the right one is more developed than the left one;
- Ability to work each pectoral muscle in turn for balance and balance;
- Freedom of movement, which allows you to work the muscles in all directions.
Why does the appearance of breasts deteriorate?
The breasts begin to change for obvious reasons, banal lack of self-care, and as a result, the breasts that you want to see in front of you in the mirror appear.
Below are the main reasons that can “spoil” breasts:
- Constant weight fluctuations. As soon as we gain weight, our breasts also get better; if we lose weight, they also get smaller. It can quickly change its shape, just like our body mass.
- Wrong bra size. When buying a bra that is too loose, think about the fact that wearing it, you will involuntarily stretch the skin on your chest; if it sits tightly on you, you will thereby impair blood circulation.
- Posture. Many people think that posture has no effect on breast shape. But, compare women with an even posture and those who constantly sit slouched, clearly the former have very different breasts than the latter. Watch your shoulders and back so that they always stay straight and you will notice a significant difference.
- Ultraviolet. Fans of this type of tanning should think about the dangers of exposure to ultraviolet rays, because they are harmful and lead to the development of cancer and burns.
- Hot water. Water at this temperature is not beneficial; on the contrary, it has a bad effect on the skin of the chest. But taking a contrast shower can become an everyday procedure, because the benefits from it are much greater.
- Diet. In fact, despite many controversies and myths, diet can affect breast size; if you follow it properly, your breasts will remain in the same shape as they were many years ago. If you eat foods that contain a lot of vitamins and protein, your workout will be more effective.
You should not eat too much fat and fast carbohydrates, as they cause changes in breast volume.
For some reason it seems that you don’t need to take care of your breasts at all, that they don’t need anything anyway, they are there and that’s the main thing. But in fact, she also benefits from certain foods, proper nutrition, and care. This is the same part of the body as the face that needs to be lubricated with some kind of moisturizer.
Personal experience
It is believed that the main exercise for building chest muscles is the bench press! Things are a little different for me. Why?
When taking my first steps in sports, I, like many others, used the barbell chest press as the main exercise for working this muscle group. The first 100 kg were very difficult for me. I put on a weight that was obviously too heavy for me and tried to do at least one repetition. This, of course, is not entirely the right way, but being a beginner, I was little aware of it. A magic number loomed in my head 100.
Oddly enough, this method allowed me to quickly reach the desired indicator and realize the goal set at that time. Then I was very surprised that the working weights in this exercise went up so quickly.
After some time, I reached a bench press figure of 170 kg for 2 reps. It was cool, but I had to point out the fact that the pectoral muscles themselves progressed very, very little in terms of volume!
“Lifting” a lot of weight is not enough; you need to do it in accordance with the technique that best promotes muscle hypertrophy, unless, of course, the goal of the training is not strength results.
Ivan Vlasov comment
I just learned to “press” heavy weights. Yes, then for me it was a lot of weight, given the fact that I did not rely on strength indicators. It became clear that I had simply mastered the technique of moving a load from point A to point B , while the involvement of the chest muscles was not sufficient to track any progress in this part of the body.
I started looking for alternative solutions. At first, one of these solutions was the dumbbell press. However, later I slightly modernized it for myself and it worked. See what happened below.
Exercises for the pectoral muscles
If you want to change something in your chest, you can do this perfectly by doing chest exercises at home.
But keep in mind that if you are worried about more serious problems, only a doctor will help you with this, if everything is in order. start training and wait for the results.
- The most famous exercises for the chest are push-ups and dumbbell presses.
- They help strengthen and lift the chest, and they are also good for the back.
- Push-ups are performed from a wall, from a bench, from the floor; such exercises will help you develop endurance.
- Dumbbells will help add volume, they should be done carefully, after time you can notice an improvement.
Bench push-ups
Stand with your back to the bench, support yourself with your hands, and stretch your legs forward. Bend your arms and begin to squat as low as you can, keeping your breathing even. This exercise is performed 8 times.
Dumbbell press
This is a common exercise that many people know: you bring and spread your arms with dumbbells in front of your chest, it is performed lying or standing, while the dumbbells are pulled behind your head.
Mixed dumbbell press
You need to lie down on a bench and raise your arms straight above your chest. Bend your elbows, then press them to your sides and press the dumbbells up. Spread your bent arms as wide as possible and bring them above your chest.
Power press
Place your feet hip-width apart, with your arms hanging down with dumbbells. Raise your arms so that they are at chest level, spread them to the sides, when performing this action, rise on your toes, bring your arms together and lower your heels.
Exercise Skis
This exercise is recommended for those girls who want their breasts to grow.
- Stand up straight, holding dumbbells in your hands, perform movements forward and backward, elbows will be bent, it should feel like you are working with ski poles. Do everything slowly, smoothly, take your time.
- The arm should be raised at chest level, held for a few seconds, while the pectoral muscles are tensed, the other arm should be pulled back in a tense state. Then relax and give up.
This exercise is also done in a slightly different way: The arms will move not scattered, but both, you need to do the exercise 10 times until you feel tired.
The best chest workouts
Chest workout to gain muscle mass
If you're one of those people who celebrates International Breast Day every Monday like clockwork, then this workout is for you. It focuses on heavy presses, but ends with high-rep dips. Do you have any strength left? Next will be the triceps.
Set of exercises:
- Bench press on a horizontal bench - 4 sets of 6-8 reps (rest 2 min.)
- Incline Dumbbell Press – 3 sets of 8-10 reps (90 sec rest)
- Reduction of arms in a crossover - 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions (rest 1 min.)
- Dips - 3 sets of 12-15 reps (90 sec rest) If you can't do at least 8 reps with your own weight, use a resistance band or machine.
Workout focusing on the upper chest
Want to develop your upper chest? This is your workout. It's great on its own, but it's also an ideal approach if you like to train your chest twice a week.
Set of exercises:
1. Incline dumbbell press – 4 sets of 6-8 reps (rest 2 min.)
Superset:
2A. Reduction of arms in a crossover lying on an inclined bench - 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions (without rest)
2B. Push-ups with legs raised - 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions (rest 90 seconds) Perform the exercises in order, resting as little as possible between them and 90 seconds each. between approaches.
3. Hammer chest press - 4 sets of 12 reps (1 min rest)
Chest training on machines
Don't have a bench press bench? No problem. This high-rep workout with short rest periods will allow you to use heavy weights and push yourself to failure. Feel free to add some drop sets and get a good muscle pump!
Set of exercises:
- Smith Incline Press - 3 sets of 10-12 reps (90 sec rest)
- Hammer Chest Press - 3 sets of 10-12 reps (1 min rest) At the end of the final set, perform a single drop set.
- Machine push-ups - 3 sets of 10-12 reps (1 minute rest) At the end of the final set, perform a single drop set.
- Reduction of arms in the simulator - 3 sets of 12 repetitions (rest 1 min.) At the end of the last two approaches, perform one drop set.
Photo exercises for the pectoral muscles
Why are chest exercisers so good?
Exercise machines for working out the pectoral muscles can be useful to you for a number of reasons:
- As a replacement for free weights. Let's remember the situation: you came to the gym, you want to bench press more, but there is no one to find for backup. No problem, head to the Hummer or Smith Machine. The number of muscles involved in the work will decrease slightly, but in general the effect of such exercises will be similar!
- As a “finishing” exercise. You've done a good job pumping your pecs, but your body is demanding one last control shot. Exercise machines that maximally isolate the chest and allow it to stretch well will come in very handy here. We are talking about butterfly or Peck-Deck and crossovers.
- Great opportunities for working the target muscle. Let's take dumbbell flyes, for example. The pectoralis major muscles will receive maximum load only in the lower part of the trajectory, when the arms are spread out. In the positive phase, when bringing your arms together, the load will decrease significantly. A completely different picture is observed when using a crossover or butterfly, where the load is constant throughout the entire trajectory of movement.
- In case of injury. Of course, after receiving any damage in the shoulder girdle area, you should not continue training, even in simulators. You need to first heal your wounds, and then start training. And this is where butterflies, crossovers, hammers and other simulators come in very handy. The advantage of them is that they set the trajectory of movement and thereby protect against repeated damage.
Well, now you know the benefits of exercise equipment, but what good is it if you haven’t seen the “beast” in the face. A beginner might even argue that Hummer is a car brand: what does a simulator have to do with it! So let's take a closer look at the hardware.
Dips
Dips are a basic functional exercise for working the chest and triceps.
Technique:
- Take the starting position with your arms straight. The legs should be suspended and the body in an upright position.
- As you inhale, slowly lower yourself down until you form an angle of 90 degrees.
- As you exhale, press your body up.
Recommendations:
- To emphasize the load on your chest, tilt your body slightly forward. Try not to hunch over while doing this.
- Do not swing your body or jerk.
- Do not press your elbows to your body so that your arms do not take the load.
Smith machine press
This exercise is a simplified version of the classic bench press. Here the bar moves along a strictly specified path.
Technique:
- Position yourself on the bench so that the bar of the barbell “looks” at your upper chest. Place your feet on the floor, make a slight arch in your lower back, and grab the barbell with a straight, wide grip.
- Remove the bar from the hooks and, while inhaling, lower it under control to your chest, spreading your elbows to the sides.
- As you exhale, press the barbell up (you don’t need to straighten your arms completely).
The number of sets and repetitions is the same as the standard bench press.
