Your chest muscles are responsible for forward pushing motions of your arms. Building these muscles up can benefit you with daily tasks such as getting up off of the floor, pushing a lawnmower, painting a fence and stacking boxes on a shelf. To properly build your chest muscles, you need to perform exercises from various angles with multiple hand grips. This can make sure you recruit as much muscle as possible. You can do a combination of free weight and body weight exercises to do this.
Step 1
Perform a set of bench presses with a weighted barbell. Lie face-up on the bench with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Grab the bar with a wide grip, push it off the supports and hold it directly above you. Slowly lower it down until it lightly touches your chest, push it back up and repeat. Stop just short of locking out your arms when you push the bar up. This will insure that you always have resistance on your chest muscles.
Step 2
Execute a set of decline push-ups with an exercise ball. Place your lower shins on top of the ball and place your hands on the ground just wider than shoulder-width apart. Push yourself up in the air and tighten your core to get your back straight. Lower your chest toward the floor until you feel a strong contraction in your upper chest. Push back up and repeat. Do not completely lock out your elbows when you push up.
Step 3
Hook your legs under the padded support on a decline bench to do decline presses. Reach up and grab the barbell with a wide grip and push it off the supports. Slowly lower it down until it lightly touches your chest, push it back up and repeat.
Step 4
Attach two single handles to high settings on a cable machine to do cable crossovers. Stand in between the weight stacks with each shoulder facing a stack. Reach up and grab a handle with each hand and stand with your feet in a staggered stance. Lean forward slightly and hold the handles so your arms are parallel to the floor. Push the handles down and toward each other until they are right in front of your hips. Squeeze forcefully for a second, lift the handles back up and repeat.
Step 5
Lie face-up on a flat bench to do around the worlds with dumbbells. Extend your arms straight behind your head with your palms up and the weights an inch apart. Swing the weights in a circular motion away from your body then back toward your body. Stop the dumbbells right above your thighs with your palms facing up. Reverse the movement to get the weights back behind your head again and repeat.
Tips and Warnings
- Perform four to five sets and 10 to 12 reps of each exercise. Use the heaviest weights you can lift and work out every 3 days. Have a spotter on hand for assistance.
Things You'll Need
- Barbell
- Bench
- Exercise ball
- Decline bench
- 2 single handles
- Cable machine
- Dumbbells
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