Oh Those Pecs
A shapely chest is every one's dream. Although its quite easy to develope, I've seen some people who just can't get the expected gains! Once I read in a column about a guy who was doing push-ups for an year or so and couldn't get any results!! I hope unlike him you are aware that doing 1 set daily will never help. Most of the times, either people are overtraining or undertraining. Otherwise its very easy to develope good looking pecs. Chest basically constitutes three muscles groups namely, upper pecs, lower pecs and middle pecs. The general pecs exercises work these (in degrees), shoulders, back, biceps and triceps. So by doing compound exercises you work a variety of muscles. The isolation exercises are different for each muscle group. In all the exercises, you may inhale while doing negatives and exhale while doing positives.
The compound exercises are :
Push Ups : For beginners, this is a good compound exercises. It works almost all the upper body and it doesn't require any equipments the you can't find (a chair or some bricks etc). I hope everyone know how they are done. Just remember to keep your back straight, if you don't, you lower back is likely to get strained (injured). If you've a weak back or even if you are new to it and want to get into the form first, you may try lying on your knees (instead of toes). The distance between your hands matters. The more far apart your hands are, more your pecs and anterior delts get worked. If they are near enough, your back will get the exercise. Ofcourse, don't be a dope to keep your hands too far (or near). Shoulder length distance is ok. And try to get all the way down and don't lock. Finally, positive reps work triceps and negatives work biceps. Breathing doesn't much matters but you may try inhaling while going down and exhaling while going up. When you cross the 30 pushups boundary, they become more of stretching and warm up exercises. Some people put weight on their back to increase the resistance (like you saw in that zorro movie) but thats bullshit. It strains your back too much, so you better go for bench presses.
Dips : This exercise too doesn't require any special equipments other then bar and like push-ups is a good compound exercise. Contraty to the popular belief, this works mainly on lower chest (not the upper or all). If you lean back (you can't too much), you work your triceps so, for maximum pectorals workout, try to lean forward (just a little). Again don't lock the elbow joint. I hope everyone knows how to do them correctly and as far as I know no one has got injured doing dips! One last word, go all the way down to get the maximum stretch.
Bench Press : Now we get into the realms of weight training. Bench press is again a compound exercise but obviously better then push-ups. If you are serious into the pecs business you must do them. Usually people don't get injured while doing bench presses (unless you are trying to work an injured part or something really drastic) but you must have a spotter nearby (for the last reps). In all exercises, you needn't lock your arms, otherwise you won't get all the benefit. Form is important, so you better try very low weights if you are beginner, to get the feel of the movements. Also in the last few reps or if you've never done them before, you may find that one arm is working more than the other. I mean, your barbell is not parallet to the floor. Avoid that as it may hurt you. But thats what form is all about. In all the exercises, keep your wrist straight. Also, do the negatives with more or less the same pace as the positives (thats important and not doing so a very common mistake). Another sign of bad form is raising your shoulders. Don't raise them. Finally keep ypur feet on ground. Your feel should help you push the weight up. These can be done with dumbells or barbell. If you use dumbells, you strengthen your supporting muscles too. And if you are a beginner, I recommend dumbells. Personally too, I use dumbells wherever possible because they really test your form. In all the exercises, go up slowely, wait for a second and than come down with the same pace. The more you narrow your grip more you work your triceps. Also, try to actually feel the muscles working. The three types of bench presses are :Flat Bench Press : Its quite simple. Lie down, have a solid leg foundation, have a shoulder width grip on the barbell, keep you back arched and go.The weight should be almost touching your nipples when down. This is a very basic exercise and like push-ups, the grip-width matters.
Inclined Bench Press : Its similar to the flat bench press, just the bench is a little raised (inclined). The basic difference is that unlike flat bench, you lower the weight to your collar bone. This works more on your delts and upper chest. Its quite important for acquiring that full look (in he upper body). How much your delts get wok is prportonal to how inclined you are. Normally 30-40 degrees is ok.
Declined bench Press : As the name suggets, here the bench is adjusted downwards. The angle is about 23-30 degrees. Its a compound exercise and is very good for lower pecs. This or some other exercise like this must be a part of your chest routines.
The isolation exercises are :
Dumbell Flyes : This is a very cool isolation exercise. Even Arnold used to do them with about 100 lbs even in his mass gaining routines (even if they are isolation exercises). For pecs, they are my personal favourites too. You really feel your muscles working while doing them. To do them, lie down and hold the dumbells overhead and slightly bend your arms (important). Now lower the dumbells while keeping your arms in the same position (not straight) to a little lower then chest level (about shoulder level). Wait for a second (not more than that LOL) and with steady pace get back to the starting position. This makes one set. Remember to concentrate on your pecs throughout the set and try squeezing them in the positive rep to feel the isolation. Also never swing the dumbell while going down. If you can't help it, than that is a clear sign that you need to lower the weight. Going all the way down is important for a good stretch. Again they can be done in the flat, inclined and declined modes for all over, upper pecs and lower pecs developement. Just remember to lower the weight with a steady pace and watch your form.
Cable Flyes : Personally I don't like using those pulleys and all when I can use dumbells. But still I must say that they are excellent isolation exercises and are better than the dumbells version when it comes to proper isolation. And ofcourse, they are injury free. They will isolate and shape your lower pecs better too as in the upward movement (especially latter half), the the resistance is not vertical but sideways. They are done just like dumbell flyes otherwise.
Peck Deck Machine : This too is very cool isolation exercise for all over chest development. Also, this is very easy and cool to do. Just sit straight, grip hard and go. If you've never done it before, try using low weights (15-20 reps) to get the feel of it.
For complete pecs developement you need to do exercises which work the upper, middle and lower pecs. A standard routine would include inclined bench press, flat bench press, declined bench press and flyes. You may do either declined bench or dips (leaning forward). You may do 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps. For flys you need to increase the reps and decrease the sets. I won't suggest any special exercises other then these. Infact your workout routines should be as simple as possible. For good isolation (when you are satisfied with bulk), do flys with flat and declined benches.
