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The Best Chest Exercises For Muscle Building

The Pectoralis major (popularly known as pecs ) is a thick, fan-shaped muscle, situated at the upper front ( anterior ) of the chest wall. It makes up the bulk of the chest muscles in the male and lies under the breast in the female.

The Pectoralis Major has three actions. It flexes the humerus, as in throwing a ball side-arm, and in lifting a child. It also adducts the humerus, as when flapping arms. It also rotates the humerus medially, as occurs when arm-wrestling.


There are many chest exercises you can do to build up size and strength in the chest muscles. Pushing movements tend to put the most stress on the chest and therefore help develop the muscles.

When lifting weights you need to be aware that the pecs are a fairly large muscle group and for proper development you need to work them from all angles. Upper, middle and lower.

The king of chest exercises

The flat bench press

1. Lie on back with head underneath bar, eyes aligned with bar, and feet flat on floor.

2. Position hands on bar wider than shoulder width or lower the unloaded bar to chest and position grip to where forearms are perpendicular to the floor.

3. Start position: Lift bar off rack with bar directly over head.


Lower bar to chest at the nipple-line. Press bar up to starting position.

The barbell bench press is probabily the most common of all exercises and usually when you tell someone that you lift weights the first comment to go into their tiny little heads is 'How much do you bench'. This exercise focuses mainly on the middle part of the chest. People who tell you that all you need to do you chest development is bench presses are wrong you need to work upper and lower chest aswell.

A greater stretch can be achieved by using dumbbells.

The Incline press

1. Start by lying on an inclined bench and hold dumbells at chest level with your palms facing forward.


2. Press the dumbells straight up towards the ceiling until your arms are extended.


3. Return to the starting position and repeat according to the prescribed repetitions.

This is one of the best chest exercises for building the upper part of the chest. Adding muscle to the upper chest gives it that huge look. This exercise can be done with dumbbells or a barbell.

Dont have the incline on the bench to great or you will work the shoulders more then the chest. You will find that with this chest movement you cant lift as much as the flat or decline version.

Decline Press

1. Start by lying on an declined bench and hold dumbells or barbell at chest level with your palms facing forward.

2. Press the dumbells or barbellstraight up towards the ceiling until your arms are extended.

3. Return to the starting position and repeat according to the prescribed repetitions.

The decline press as with all of the above chest exercises can be preformed with either a barbell or dumbbells. This is a great exercise for working the lower part of the chest muscles. Be sure to have a spotter as this movement can be fairly akward.

Flyes

1. Lying flat on bench, hold dumbbells directly above chest.


2. Bend elbows slightly and maintain throughout the exercise.


3. Open arms to sides. Elbows should remain 'locked' in a slightly flexed position.


4. When upper arms are parallel to floor, return the weights to the starting position and repeat

Maintain a slight bend in your elbows. Keep your hips and shoulders flat on the bench and your feet on the floor. Lower the dumbbells to the sides of your body in an arc-like motion. At the lowest point, your bent elbows should be on a horizontal plane even with the bench. Slowly bring the weights back up over your chest in an arc. The bend in your elbows should be consistently the same throughout the exercise.

Good for developing the MASS of your chest area and great for developing the centre of your chest. These can also be preformed on an incline bench for upper pec development.

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