Your pectoralis major muscles, or pecs for short, make up your chest and are responsible for drawing your arm across and down into the mid line of your body. Your pecs are important muscles for sports performance, shoulder stability and also appearance. Although the pecs are a single muscle, they consist of three distinct regions: upper, middle and lower. A well-designed chest workout includes exercises for all three regions to ensure balanced pec development. This can be achieved using dumbbells.
Step 1
Perform incline dumbbell presses. Adjust your exercise bench to a 30 degree incline. Grasp a dumbbell in each hand and lie on the bench. Place your feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart.
Raise the dumbbells to arms' length, directly over your chest with your hands facing forward. Inhale and bend your elbows and lower the dumbbells to your shoulders. Make sure you keep your wrists straight.
Exhale as you press the dumbbells back to arms' length. Continue lowering and lifting the dumbbells for the desired number of repetitions. This exercise emphasizes your upper chest region.
Step 2
Perform flat dumbbell flies. Adjust your exercise bench so that it is flat. With a dumbbell in each hand, lie on the bench. Ensure your feet are flat on the floor.
Raise the dumbbells to arms' length directly over your chest with your palms facing inward. With a slight bend in your elbow, inhale and lower your arms out to your sides until you feel a stretch across your chest. Be careful not to lower the dumbbells below the lever of your shoulders.
Inhale and lift the dumbbells back to the starting position. Try to keep your elbows slightly bent but rigid throughout this exercise, which focuses on your mid chest area.
Step 3
Perform decline dumbbell presses. Adjust your exercise bench so that it is declined to around 20 degrees. Grasp a dumbbell in each hand and lie down on the bench.
Ensure you anchor your feet so that you won't slide down the bench. Raise the dumbbells to arms' length and turn your wrists so that your palms are facing forward.
Inhale, bend your arms and lower the dumbbells to your shoulders. Exhale and press the weights back to arms' length. Repeat for the prescribed number of repetitions.
Tips and Warnings
- Complete this workout once or twice a week to develop your pecs. To build muscular endurance, perform sets of 15 to 20 repetitions; for muscle size perform sets of six to 12; and for muscle strength, perform sets of one to five. Use weights that are challenging but allow you to exercise with good form. Increase the weights as you get stronger.
- Always warm up before performing this workout to minimize your risk of injury. Make sure you also perform exercises for your upper back to ensure well-rounded muscular development. If you experience any shoulder pain, reduce the weights and shorten the range of movement.
Things You'll Need
- Dumbbells
- Adjustable exercise bench
References
- "The Body Sculpting Bible Express for Men"; James Villepique, Hugo Rivera and Marie Courtier; 2009
- "Strength Training Anatomy"; Frederic Delavier; 2010
- "Designing Resistance Training Programs"; Steven Fleck and William Kraemer; 2003
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