The Chest!

Caught by the flashing lights, you see them approaching you out of the dim recesses in the club. Two voluminous mounds of flesh are coming your way. Curvaceous. Desirous. Tactile. Dare you put out your hand for just a touch? [Oh dear, it's all getting a bit Jackie Collins or Harold Robbins?] Whether it’s filling out a t-shirt or looking good on the beach or in a club, nothing impresses more than a well-shaped chest.

So how do you get a great chest? The secret is, as for all body parts, don’t overtrain it. Whatever type of routine you are on, your split should make the chest PART of your workout – not the WHOLE workout.

A program should have no more than four exercises for the chest. I prefer three myself. Some guys will tell you different. They’ll go on about how they do six or seven exercises for anything up to an hour and a half on the gym floor. Some guys get big despite their training – not because of it!

Now when I say we are training the chest, we are really training the pectoralis major or pec. Minor gets a look in but that’s not important right now. Always remember in all these exercises that you must focus on the eccentric phase. This is where you are lowering the weight against gravity. This is what causes the most growth.

There are a myriad of chest exercises you can do in the gym. I’m going to give you the five best chest exercises I have found over the years that work for my clients.

1. Dumbbell Press.

Sit down on bench with dumbbells resting on your lower thigh. Kick weights to shoulder and lie back. Position dumbbells to the sides of the upper chest with elbows under dumbbells. Make sure the elbows stay out wide during the whole exercise. Press dumbbells up with elbows to the sides until arms are extended. Lower weight to the sides of the upper chest making sure you feel a deep stretch in the pecs. Repeat.

2. Smith Incline Press.

Lie supine on a bench with the top half raised to an angle no more than 40 degrees. Your upper chest should be under the bar. Grasp bar with an overhand grip wide enough so that when the bar comes down, your forearms are vertical. Unlock the bar and lower weight to upper chest. Press bar until arms are extended. Repeat.

Now with this exercise, make sure that the angle is no greater than 40 degrees. This exercise tends to work the upper fibres of the pec. However, if you put the bench any higher, it tends to bring in a lot more of the shoulder – thereby defeating your target.

3. Bench Press.

Now this exercise comes in and out of favour every few years. Yes, it CAN be a good exercise but it does also bring in a lot of shoulder, tricep and even back. Also, the chances of performing it incorrectly are higher. For instance, NEVER let your lower back come off the bench. This may mean putting your feet on the end of the bench.

Also, I find that the taller you are, the less effective a chest exercise it is. I’m 6’4’’ and I only do bench presses about once a year just for a change. I tend to do the dumbbell press above as it isolates my pecs better. As with all things, the proof is in the pudding….try it. If you aren’t ‘feeling’ the exercise, change it.

Lie supine on a flat bench. Dismount barbell from rack over the upper chest using a grip similar to the Smith Incline Press. Lower the weight to your upper chest slowly. Press bar until arms are extended. Repeat.

The next two exercises tend to work the inner chest - giving you more definition than a cross-your-heart bra!

4. Cable Flyes/Crossover.

Grasp two opposing high pulley attachments. Stand in the middle and perpendicular to both pulleys. Bend hips, knees and elbows slightly. Rotate your shoulders so that the elbows are back initially. Bring cable attachments together in a hugging motion with elbows in a fixed position and shoulders rotated so elbows are to the sides. Slowly return to starting position until chest muscles are stretched. Repeat. To get even more fibres activated, you can crossover the handles.

5. Dumbbell Flye.

Grasp two dumbbells. Lie flat on a bench and get in to position similar to a dumbbell press. Support dumbbells above the chest with the arms fixed in a slightly bent position. Rotate your shoulders so that your elbows and dumbbells are parallel to your side.

Lower dumbbells out wide until they are horizontal and your chest muscles are stretched. Do NOT bend the elbows in this exercise or else you make it a dumbbell press. Bring the dumbbells together in a hugging motion until dumbbells are nearly together or you hear a slight clink. Repeat.

If the slight clink becomes a loud clink, then you aren’t controlling the weight properly. Lower the weight you are using to ensure correct form.

And there you have it.

Choose your favourite three, do three sets of ten to twelve repetitions, resting between sets of no more than one and a half minutes.

Building a great chest takes time, patience and consistency. It’s a large muscle group so progress will be slow – at first. If you stop going though, you’ll never get it!

Now, hit the gym!

Taken from Scott Sherwood's Facebook group Personal Training