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Best Chest Workout Plan

Andy Griffiths
Writer and expert6 years ago
View Andy Griffiths's profile

Best Chest Workout For You

Chest day is easily one of the favourites among many a weight lifter, but as with many elements of health and fitness, it’s not the taking part that counts: it’s doing it properly.

 

To exercise your chest, along with the other muscles involved, you could essentially do several sets of high rep press-ups on a daily basis. To develop a bigger chest you need to increase the resistance and this is where a simple bench press comes in. The reason you shouldn’t let it stop there is that if you want to grow your pecs you will need to hit as many muscle fibres as you can. For many lifters, the chest is ‘one muscle’, which isn’t correct. Further to this, if you begin to identify different areas of your chest as well as its different functions you will achieve better coverage.

 

For movement there is a wide or close grip press, which can again be altered by inclining, meaning that you will summon different fibres.

build-a-bigger-chest-1

To get the most out of your chest day you should ensure that the muscles that contribute to the following exercises are rested, not just your pecs. Training the chest after a rest day means that your body will be fully charged with rest and nutrition. Avoid exercises for the delts or triceps beforehand so that they’re at their most-rested.

 

Barbell Bench Press

Flat Bench Dumbbell Press

Seated Machine Chest Press

Seated Cable Fly

 

Along with these, we have split up some further exercises that specifically target your upper and lower chest.

 

Upper chest

Incline Barbell Bench Press

Incline Dumbbell Press

Incline Bench Cable Fly

Incline Dumbbell Press – close lift. Angles are everything when it comes to isolating particular muscles. For this, hold the dumbbells together while flat on your chest so that you press them upwards and away from your centre. This will work your triceps a lot more than a standard incline press.

 

Lower chest

Decline Barbell Bench Press

Machine Decline Press Dips. These are usually part of your tricep workout, but if you vary the angle so that you are leaning further forwards you will target your lower chest.

Running Man Damien Deville | HIIT Chest Workout | Video

The longer term plan of this workout will see you alternate between volume and reps. It will look something like this:

 

Session 1

Make this day 1 of your workout week. Perform the exercises with a focus on lifting heavy. This will mean fewer reps at a higher weight. So that you get the most out of each rep, ensuring that your technique doesn’t falter for the higher weight, you should pick a higher number of sets. Look at 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps, lifting as heavy as you can.

 

Session 2

Make this the last day of your workout week with a minimum of 48 hours between the two. Choose different exercises to your previous week, but look at increasing the reps while lifting a lighter weight. Try 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps of a moderate weight. Keep to this pattern and select different exercises each week. With repetition you should gradually increase the weight you lift around 2.5 kg at a time.

Our articles should be used for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to be taken as medical advice. If you're concerned, consult a health professional before taking dietary supplements or introducing any major changes to your diet.

Andy Griffiths
Writer and expert
View Andy Griffiths's profile
Andy's journey in fitness started during his studies at Leeds Becket University in 2003, working in the university campus gym, he got a taste for a life in fitness. In the past 17 years, he has developed through various roles and has built a detailed experience in developing one-to-one clients, fellow team members and group fitness programmes in mainstream and boutique facilities. Training endurance athletes, martial arts athletes and simply those wanting to build a healthier life, he has built some great experiences and is now in a fantastic position to share what he has learnt with you. Being able to engage beginners into exercise regimes he feels is essential but has the ability and experience to adapt training techniques for those more experienced so everyone learns something new. He strongly feels that if you believe you are capable, you commit to achieving your goals that you will be successful!
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