Pectoral exercises help in building up and strengthening the chest muscles. These exercises are often known as chest exercises. Scroll down to know which are the best chest exercises…
The chest is made up of two muscle groups, namely Pectoralis Major and Pectoralis Minor. As the name suggests, pectoralis major is bigger of the two muscles. There is a misconception that when you do pectoral exercises, only the pectoral muscles are used. There are other muscles such as triceps, shoulders, etc., which are also used. Let’s see some pectoral muscle exercises which can become a part of your exercise regime.
Best Exercise for Pectoral Muscles
Both men as well as women do chest exercises. However the reason for the same differs. Men want to build a nice bulging chest, whereas women want to firm their breasts, so that they do not sag easily due to gravity and age.
Push Ups
This pectoral exercise can be done at home and is simple, yet very effective. It is one of the basic exercise for the chest muscle. This exercise can be done standing and as well as on the floor. Normally women start off doing this exercise against the wall and then graduate to the floor version. We will see the floor version of the exercise here.
- Lie on the floor, bend your knees and cross your feet at the ankle.
- Place your hands a little wider than your shoulders on the floor. Make sure your hands are in level with your chest.
- Gently push your torso towards the floor, but make sure your torso does not touch the floor.
- You will have to make sure you maintain a straight line from head to toe.
- Your core should be tucked in when you do push ups, as this will ensure you are lighter and are able to come up easily.
- This exercise should be repeated 10 to 12 times.
Pec Deck
This is another chest exercise for men as well as women. It can either be done using the pec deck machine as well as with free weights. We will see how to do this exercise with free weights. If you are doing this exercise at home, you can make use of dumbbells or cans or water bottles.
- Stand upright and keep shoulder width distance between your feet.
- Hold weights in both your hands. Your elbow should be in line with your shoulders, so that your hands are parallel to the floor.
- Bring your hands closer to one another. This is the starting position.
- Then move your hands away from one another, till your feel pressure on your pectoral muscles. Remember, all the while your elbows should be in line with the shoulders.
- Hold in the position and come back to the starting position.
- This exercise should be repeated 15 times.
Bench Press
This pectoral exercise is not only a very good exercise to work out the whole chest, but it is also known to provide an anabolic effect on the entire body. Let’s see how to do this exercise.
- Hold your bar a little wider than your shoulder width. Your knees can be bent either on the floor or on the bench.
- Lift the bar from the rack and hold it exactly above your chest. Now slowly lower the bar and bring it closer to the chest.
- Then press the bar back up powerfully.
- When you do this exercise, you will have to ensure you keep the natural arch of your back intact.
- This exercise can be repeated 12 to 15 times.
Dumbbell Fly
This exercise is a great exercise for sculpting the chest. If you are doing this exercise in the gym, you may want to do it using a bench.
- Lie down on a flat surface, either on the floor or on the bench.
- Keep your legs firmly pressed on the floor and hold dumbbells in either hands.
- Keep your arms straight and bring them directly over the shoulders.
- Lower both your dumbbells in a semi-circular movement. When you are bringing them down, they should come down straight.
- Keep lowering your dumbbells, till the dumbbells are in line with the shoulders.
- Then slowly push your dumbbells up towards the starting position.
- This exercise should also be repeated 12 to 15 times.
When you start with these exercises, you may initially experience slight pain in the chest muscles or shoulders and shoulder blade. This is normal, you will have to continue doing the exercises. To achieve best results from these pectoral exercises, you will also have train the rest of your body as well.
