Chest Exercises & Development

Chest Exercises are by far the most popular and most performed exercise moves in the gym by a lot of beginning and advanced athletes and bodybuilders.

It's understandable...many dream of having a giant chest like that of Arnold, Lee Haney, or Jay Cutler (Mr. Olympia 2008).

On this site you'll find a complete and comprehensive guide to Chest Workouts...

The Chest...also known as the pectorals are made up of two parts:

1. Upper - Clavicular2. Lower - Sternal

The upper part is attached to the Collarbone (clavicle). Along your mid-body line, the chest muscles attach to the breast-bone (sternum), and cartilage of many ribs.

The largest part of the chest attaches to the upper arm bone (humerus), right under the deltoids, which attach to the upper humerus.

The pectorals serve to cover the rib cage...almost like armor.

The chest plays a very important role as you may be already aware. Simple things like twisting a cap off a bottle, swimming, or swinging a bat are allowed by the chest muscles.

The primary function of the pectorals in chest exercises is to pull the arm and shoulder across the front of the body. The subclavius role in chest exercises serves to draw the shoulder forward. Lastly, the serratus anterior in chest workouts serves to rotate the scapula. In other words, it serves to raise the shoulder.

In training it is always best to target the weak points. You want to make the most of your time, money, and effort...so rid yourself of all your weak links first.

Following is a list of chest workouts sub-divided by different chest areas. Be sure when designing your weight training program, to include a good mix of each as no exercises works effectively in complete isolation.

Upper Pectorals

• Incline Presses - Use a Barbell, Dumbbells, or Smith Machine
• Incline Flys

Lower Pectorals

• Decline Presses - Barbell, Dumbells, or Machines
• Dips
• Decline Flys
• Cable Flys

Inner Chest

• Cable Crossovers - Hold contraction for several seconds.
• Presses or Flys - Hold contraction at top of lift for several seconds.
• Bench Presses - Narrow grip press.

Outer Chest

• Dumbell Flys - Focus on a full stretch and lower range of motion.
• Dips
• Flat/Incline Presses - Grip barbell wide and focus on lower range of motion, preferably a 3/4-movement.
• Dumbbell Bench Presses - Stretch at the bottom, come up only 3/4 of movement, but don't let dumbbells touch.

Rib Cage

• Dumbell Pullovers
• Barbell Pullovers