How to Build Chest Muscles

The chest is made up of two muscles known as the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor. The pectoralis major is the muscle attached to the breastbone, which located in the center of the chest. This muscle expands out towards the upper ribcage and connects to the shoulder joint.

The shape of this muscle is like a fan, which enables the movement of arms across the chest, and different upper-body movement. The pectoralis minor is located below the pectoralis major, and it starts from the mid ribs. This muscle controls the shoulder-joint movement.

Therefore, it is essential to include arm and shoulder exercises along with chest exercises in the workout regime.

It is not mandatory to use weights during exercising to build the chest muscles. The best chest exercise without weights is push ups. This is an exercise which you can easily perform at home. Following are the steps for performing this exercise:

• Lie on the floor face down. The legs should not be too close or too far away from one another. Place the hands such that they are exactly below your shoulders.

• Slowly lift your thighs, belly, and chest off the floor as you straighten out your arms in the process. This is the starting position.
• Lower your body slowly towards the floor till you are about to touch the floor and bend your arms in the process, but make sure that no part of the body touches the floor. Hold this position for a few seconds and come back to the starting position.

This exercise is a must in any pectoral exercises for men. If you are looking for a dumbbell-chest exercise, then this is the exercise for you. One can do this pectoral exercise either on a flat bench or on an inclined or declined bench. Following are the steps for performing this exercise:

• Lie back on the bench with dumbbells in both the hands. Hold the dumbbells out to the side such that your elbows are bent at a 90 degree angle. The hands should be at the shoulder level.
• Slowly, lift your hands up towards the ceiling such that the dumbbells come closer to one another and the elbows are straightened up.
• Gradually, lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.

This is the best chest exercise for men. There are different kind of bench presses which one can perform such as the flat-bench press, incline-bench press, and the decline-bench press. It is the way one places the bench is all that is different in all these bench-press exercises. Proper bench-press form is important when you do this exercise. Following are the steps for performing this exercise:

• Lie back on a bench and place your feet flat on the floor.
• Hold the barbell with both the hands, but place the hands at a little more than shoulder-width distance.
• Gradually, lower the barbell towards your chest and then slowly push it up towards the sky. This is one repetition.
• Repeat it for 7 to 9 repetitions.

To build the chest muscles, all the exercises should be repeated about 7 to 9 times in every set. Once you get used to the workout, you can increase the number of sets, but not the number of exercises. Ensure that you do some warm-up exercises before you start with your workout. This will make sure that you do not injure yourself.

Disclaimer: This story is for informative purposes only. Always consult a physician before starting any physical fitness program in order to reduce the risk of injury.