Everyone who spends time in the gym dreams of achieving a well-defined, muscular chest. Many people have developed all different workouts designed to increase lean muscle in the chest. The reality is that a few simple movements, when performed correctly, will work the upper, middle and lower pectoral muscles.
Push-Ups
Perhaps the oldest and most effective chest exercise known is the push-up. While push-ups can be performed in a variety of ways, no matter how you do them they all primarily work the chest muscles. According to the American Council on Exercise, push-ups also work the deltoids and triceps. Working from a plank position on the floor or on an exercise mat, place your hands shoulder-width apart. Keeping your body tight, use your chest muscles to push your body up until your elbows are nearly straight. As you move back toward the ground, continue to keep your body stiff and lower until your chin or nose almost touches the ground. Perform push-ups for two to three sets to failure, resting for 30 seconds to a minute between sets.
Bench Press
Bench pressing is the standard exercise used to develop better definition in the chest muscles. While bench pressing is a very effective exercise, many people use excess weight and sacrifice form during the movement. Whether you complete the exercise using a barbell or a dumbbells, or do it seated, inclined or at a decline, you primarily use your chest muscles during a bench press. The key to successful completion of this exercise is to push the weight until your elbows are nearly locked, and then allow the weight to slowly move down towards your chest until it nearly touches, then repeat. The negative, or downward movement, should take twice as long as the upward movement. Start with three to four sets of 10 to 12 reps of various bench pressing exercises.
Dumbbell Fly
The dumbbell fly is another effective exercise to build lean muscles in the chest. This movement isolates the pectoral muscles, especially the inner pectorals. Most chest movements employ pushing weights directly over or under the chest, like bench pressing or push-ups.The dumbbell fly, completed from a lying position, stretches the chest muscles by lowering weight to either side of the chest and then contracting the pectorals to return the dumbbells to the starting position. Much less weight is needed to complete the dumbbell fly than what is used in bench pressing.
Stability Ball Chest Exercises
All chest exercises, including push-ups, bench presses and flyes, can be done on a stability ball. Stability balls, also known as Swiss or therapy balls, allow you to work the same chest muscles, but also require all of your other muscles to work, too; this can result in better-defined lean chest muscles. As you stimulate the chest muscles, you also work the other muscles used to balance and maintain position on the ball. The result, over time, is a stronger core and stabilizing muscles which allow you to exercise the chest muscles with more weight, producing lean pectoral muscle mass.
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