Best Chest Workout Routine

Archive for May, 2009

I know I focus on chest workouts mostly but if you are looking for a full body workout that has great ab training I have just the routine for you.

In the truth about abs workout you will learn:

The 2 worst foods that cause belly fat

The 55 best foods for burning fat

The best workouts to get ripped fast

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In order to understand chest workouts you must understand the anatomy.  The chest is made up of the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor.  Every muscle in the body has an origin and insertion point.  The origins for the pectoralis major are the medial portion of the clavicle (collar bone) and the sternum at the costal cartilages.  The pectoralis major inserts on the lateral lip of the bicipital groove in the humerus (the arm bone).  The nerves that innervate the muscle are the lateral pectoral and the medial pectoral.

Actions of the perctoralis major:

• Adducts the arm.
• Flexes the shoulder (from an extended position).
• Internally rotates the arm.
• Depresses the arm and shoulder.

The pectoralis minor is the much smaller underlying muscle and it originates from the outer surface of ribs 3 through 5.  The pec minor inserts on the caracoid process.

Actions of the pectoralis minor:

• Depresses the scapula (shoulderblade).
• Downwardly rotates the scapula.
• Stabilizes the scapula.

Now that you know the anatomy of the chest you can understand how every exercise will affect the chest.  To workout a muscle you need to shorten the distance between the origin and insertion points.  If a movement does not shorten these 2 points, it does not work out that muscle. For a great full body workout Click Here!

Chest exercises for men and women are essentially the same, only that men are able to lift substantially more weight.  There are plenty of chest exercises to lose man boobs and chest fat.  Building muscle on the underlying muscles of the chest will result in fat loss from the chest.

Best Chest Exercises

Dumbbell Chest Presses

• These are done with dumbbells and can should be performed under supervision of a spotter.  Use light weight until you are comfortable with the motion.
• Lay down on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand and press them up and together.  When they are at the top you want to focus on squeezing you chest to feel the pump.
• Lower back down to starting position, which is where the weights are almost touching the chest.

Upper Chest Workout

• Upper chest exercises are going to be similar to regular workouts only that the bench will be inclined and lighter weight will be used.
• Follow the steps above but perform them on a bench that is at a 45 degree angle.

Lower Chest Workout

• Lower chest exercises will also be like the original chest workout except you will be on a declined bench you will actually be able to lift more weight than on a flat bench.
• Follow the steps above except you will be on a bench that is declined 45 degrees.

Inner Chest Workout

• Inner chest exercises are going to focus on using a lighter weight and keep you hands closer together.  It is better to use a bar instead of dumbbells on this workout.  You will have your hands at least 6 inches closer together which will also involve your triceps a lot more but you will develop the inside of the chest muscles more.

To build chest muscles you need to focus on all parts the chest.  You can get killer home chest workouts by doing pushups and alternating hand position, rest in between reps, speed of reps, number of sets, and location of you feet.  The best chest workout routine will not always be the same for you.  As you get stronger in one area you will have to change your workouts and fill them with exercises that will hit different chest muscles harder because they will be stronger. Learn how to get rid of man boobs by Clicking Here!

What makes me qualified to design the best chest workout routine? Well, let me tell you a little about myself. I graduated with my bachelors degree in Exercise Science and have worked as a personal trainer for some time now. But more importantly I have used my own body to test different types of workouts to see which give the best results. I have realized that certain exercises in sequence will give great results with great looking chest. Every month your chest workout should change in almost all areas. Lets start with the first months routine. For a great full body workout that includes how to get a 6 pack Click Here!

Work out your chest 2 times per week. This will give it long enough to recover from each previous session.

Workout Day 1

• Flat bench dumbbell chest presses.  You need a spotter on these if you have never done them before.  Make sure the spotter spots at the hands and not the elbows.  When you get tired with these you could drop them on you if the spot is at the elbows.  Warmup with a light weight at 60% of your estimated 1 rep max for dumbbell presses.  A good way to figure your 1 rep max is to know that each time you add 5 pounds to each dumbbell your reps will cut in half.  Or just take 60% of whatever weight you can rep 10 times.  The warmup is very important because you need to focus on keeping your chest up and out.  Don’t let the chest cave in while the shoulder raise.  Squeeze the chest when the arms are straight and make sure you can feel it in your pecs.  After the warmup you will do 3 more sets with heavier weight for a total of 4 sets.  The second set should be your heaviest set.  Use weight that will be challenging to pump out 10 reps.  Next set drop down in weight to get 10 reps again.  Aim for 10 reps in every set, this means you might start by doing 80 lbs in each hand and end by doing 65 pounds in each hand.

Once you have done the flat bench move onto a muscle group that won’t affect your chest, such as legs or stomach.  We want to give your chest some time to rest before hitting the upper chest routine.

• Incline dumbbell chest presses.  Now we will move on to your upper chest workout routine.  You will simply repeat all that you did for flat bench press but on an inclined bench.  Everyone is significantly weaker in the upper chest so you will have to lighten the weight you use by 20%.  A good looking chest can do 80% of the weight lifted on flat bench press workout when the bench is inclined.  If you can’t do this much you will need to really hit the upper pecs hard to develop your chest.