Welcome to another entry for the GETBIG Series! Hope you had a great week in the gym or just about doing anything physical, which you ALL should be doing!
Back again with another edition of the GETBIG series! The focus for this week’s blog is
THE CHEST!
Anatomy
As always, before jumping into exercises, its important to know the anatomy of the chest to understand its functions and how you can specifically target certain areas of the chest with certain exercises. The chest is comprised of the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor. The pectoralis major can be further broken down between the upper and lower pectoralis major. It is the largest muscle in the chest (hence the word major...lol) and is primarily used for pushing and for bringing the arms together in front of the rib cage. The pectoralis minor is a smaller muscle (hence the word minor...lol) that sits beneath the pectoralis major. The main function of this small muscle is to assist in raising the rib cage.
I prefer to split the chest into three sections: The upper chest, middle chest, and lower chest. Much more simple right? Below are my favourite exercises that have helped build and develop my chest:
Upper Chest
The upper chest is an area which is highly undervalued. There are many gym goers who have great middle and lower chest definition but little to no upper chest mass. I think the main reason for this is that the upper chest is a small area (near the clavicle) and can be difficult to target. However, having a developed upper chest gives your chest that “poppin” look and makes it appear larger.
Here is my favourite exercise for the upper chest:
INCLINE BARBELL CHEST PRESS
There has been much debate between dumbbells vs barbell for chest exercises. I put in a ton of research to find out which you should use more of and have concluded….DO BOTH on different days. They both build muscle having their own pros and cons but are both beneficial in building muscle.
Barbell Press
PROS
Can put more weight on a bar
Compound movement (stresses secondary muscles too)
Can progressively overload easier with plates
Great for strength (1-5 reps)
CONS
Limited range of motion
Can lead to muscle imbalance in chest
No spotter can be a safety concern
Dumbbell Press
PROS
Better range of motion
Can fix muscle imbalance
Can get a much better ‘pump’
Safer than barbell
Great for hypertrophy (8-12 reps)
CONS
Cannot lift as heavy as you could with barbell
Can’t progressively overload as well as you would with plates
Mostly isolation for chest with little stimulation for secondary muscles (which isn’t entirely bad…)
Personally, I prefer the barbell for incline press because I don’t have a muscle imbalance between my left and right pectoralis and I can overload the weight and lift heavy. See below on how to do it:
Middle Chest
You know the saying “I like doing things the old fashion way”. Well when it comes to building your middle chest and getting that thickness, the traditional bench press is the best way to achieve that. The barbell bench press will always be the king of the chest exercises in my opinion. It’s the best way to put on size and get stronger.
BARBELL BENCH PRESS
Its simple exercise but so many people get it wrong. Here are a few pointers to achieve proper form:
The bar should be directly under your line of sight
Before lying back on the bench, squeeze your shoulder blades together and keep them squeezed on the bench (You should not be lying flat. There should be an arch in your back)
Your feet should be tucked by the bench, with your knees protruding. Lifting the weight off the rack should come from the power of your legs if you don’t have a spotter.
Your arms should never be behind or in line with your shoulder. Make sure they are a tad bit forward and diagonal. Your hands should be shoulder width apart. Forearms vertical in proportion to the floor.
The bar should touch across the middle to lower part of your chest. Do not bounce the bar off your chest, that is cheating!
BREATHE. Its very important for all exercises. Breathing makes a huge difference.
See below for the form:
Lower Chest
A strong and defined lower chest is an integral part in attaining an aesthetically pleasing look. It separates your chest from your upper abs which isolates and distinguishes your chest. Done correctly the cable cross over fly will keep constant tension on your lower chest and give you an amazing pump.
CABLE CROSS OVER FLY
Like the bench press, this is an exercise I see so many gym goers get wrong. People try to lift heavier weight then they should and start to use their back and shoulders to bring the weights forward. This exercise is more so about slow and controlled high reps, than explosive short reps. This exercise is mainly used for hypertrophy purposes and helps chisel your chest.
Conclusion
Before I end off, some of you may be thinking that I missed several chest exercises and I did. However, to re-iterate, these are my favorite exercises per region on the chest. There are many other great chest exercises such as:
Flat dumbbell bench press
Incline dumbbell bench press
Dumbbell fly
Pec dec machine
Dumbbell pullovers
The list goes on and on. Watch youtube videos if you are not sure on how to get the form down correctly. That’s the best way. Athlene X is a great instructor. I highly recommend his channel.
That’s it for this week! Stay tuned for next week’s muscle of focus.
As always thank you for your continued support and feedback/questions. Highly appreciate them!
Follow TheElore on Instagram/Facebook and myself @huuusss_p
Peace,
Hussain
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