How to swing the pectoral muscles. How to build pectoral muscles at home? Dumbbell row lying on an incline bench

25.01.202127.05.2017

- Half done. Some gym goers fail pump up your chest precisely because this muscle segment chronically lags behind them. But in order to gain breasts muscle mass, has become truly powerful, beautiful and balanced, it still needs to be given width and work out the middle. These are the aspects of building pectoral muscles that I will talk about in this part of my article.

How to make chest wide

And in this case, I was again out of luck. I am naturally tall, skinny, but rather broad-shouldered, and my chest is also broad. On the one hand, this is certainly not bad, but on the other ...

All my efforts pump up your chest crashed about the problem of insufficient elaboration of the contours of this muscle group. In addition to the top of the chest, it was very difficult for me to outline the outer outline of the chest. For a long time I could not give it a finished look and pack the wide chest that I inherited from nature into an armor of ideally shaped muscles. I suffered especially strongly with the bottom of the chest, I could not stretch it across the entire width and close its outer borders, make a clear undercut, resting, as it should be on the serratus muscles.

But, since I have always been theoretically savvy, the answer to the question: how to pump up breasts in width I knew very well. Of course, a pullover. Thanks to this exercise, as all the books of grandfather Joe Weider claimed, the great Arnold Schwarzenegger swung his chest to unimaginable sizes. And I included this exercise in my training program.

Years have passed since then, but I still see in gym people trying to do something with their pecs with a pullover.

Namely, something, because to expand, and even more so to pump up the chest with a pullover on horizontal bench will not work. And there are three reasons for this:

REASON 1 | Width chest, just like shoulder width is a question genetic potential, but only. If by nature the chest is narrow, it will not be possible to expand it. The most striking example of this is Phil Heath, the seven-time Mr. Olympia. The insufficient width of his chest is especially noticeable against the background of gigantic hands. But, as we know, this unfortunate miscalculation of nature did not prevent him from gaining muscle mass and becoming the best bodybuilder on the planet six times. A logical question arises: “Why then bathe with the width of the chest?”

REASON 2 | The impression of simplicity and ease of making a pullover is highly deceptive. This is a rather difficult and traumatic exercise. At least some stretching effect from its use can only be obtained by working with a heavy dumbbell. But the more weight a gym visitor uses, the more discomfort he feels from a pullover. Shoulder and elbow joints receive an unusual and very tangible load. If a heavy dumbbell is replaced with a lighter one, then the theoretically possible effect of performing a pullover will simply disappear.

REASON 3 | But, if you still believe that with the help of a pullover you can expand your chest, then this exercise must be done by combining it into a superset with deep squats. Moreover, in this duet of exercises, 10–15 slow squats are first performed, and then the pullover itself. The idea of this bundle sounds like this: the first, heavy exercise with a barbell fills the lungs with oxygen and momentarily increases the volume of the chest. Pullover, performed second, stretches the chest filled with air in width.

Unfortunately, I did not manage to get any tangible dividends from performing a pullover on a horizontal bench. pump up chest, or at least improve its shape, I could not use it. But when I began to do the pullover exercise on a bench with a reverse slope, I felt its charm in all its glory.

When I stopped fooling myself with the old advice of Joe Weider and approached the construction wide chest on the practical side, it turned out that the solution to this problem was in front of my eyes all this time. It's just that the mind, clouded by the training programs of bodybuilding stars, refused to accept it.

But one day I realized that I feel the maximum stretch of my pectoral muscles during the dumbbell press. Moreover, the lower I lower my hands, the more they stretch. How simple it is, right?

Therefore, I corrected my dumbbell press technique, and as a result I got an excellent exercise that allows the chest to simultaneously gain muscle mass and stretch it across. I have already described in more detail the technique for performing the dumbbell press, I will not repeat myself. I advise you to read it.

But, one little secret trick that I spied on one of the eminent bodybuilders helped me to make my chest really wide. And it consists in using a super-innovative device called a gymnastic mat for dumbbell presses. It was a joke, but seriously, it all looks extremely simple, but extremely effective:

I take a rubber gym mat and fold it repeatedly so that it becomes a flat but tall roll that fits between my shoulder blades. And during the bench press with dumbbells, I put it on the bench, and then I lie down on top.

Thus, already at the start of the exercise, my chest is in a more stretched position than usual, since the body, lying on a folded rubber mat, turns out to be raised up. Speaking humanly, I artificially lengthen the trajectory of movement by the height of the convolution.

It may seem like absolute bullshit until you try it yourself. An additional 5-6 cm of height, rolled rug, force pectoral muscles involuntarily stretch in width and reluctantly acquire perfect shape.

In addition to the horizontal press, I periodically use this secret mat in all dumbbell and machine pressing movements to lengthen the trajectory of movement and force the muscles of the chest to stretch further. Thus, the only exercise I use for targeted muscle building and chest expansion was and remains the dumbbell bench press on a horizontal bench.

How to outline the bottom of the chest

I also managed to solve the problem with giving the correct shape to the lower segment of the pectoral muscles, although this took a lot of time. Three helped me great exercise for chest:

Dumbbell press upside down

In my opinion, this exercise will give odds to any others, because it allows you to direct the load exactly on target and at the same time not only builds the muscle mass of the lower pectoral muscles, but stretches it in width.

The conclusion suggests itself, you want gain muscle mass and pump up your chest - forget about the barbell, press the dumbbells!

Push-ups on the uneven bars

It's as old as the world, but still effective exercise Unfortunately, I don't use it as often as I would like. Having injured my elbow many years ago, I have to be extremely careful in exercises that put a lot of stress on my elbows. But if you don’t have such a problem, push-ups on the uneven bars must be included in your pectoral muscle training program.

Thanks to technological progress, this movement in many gyms can be performed not on the usual "old school" bars, but in a more comfortable and modern gravitron simulator. But the performance efficiency chest exercises for mass this does not decrease. On the contrary, due to the fixation of the body, performing push-ups in the gravitron, you can focus on work exclusively in the lower, most stretching phase of the pectoral muscles.

Reduction of hands under the chest in a crossover while standing

But in this exercise, I come off 100%. I love this machine, and consider it the best for targeted work on individual parts of the pectoral muscles. In the crossover, you can work equally well on the top, and on the middle, and on the bottom of the pectoral muscles. The main thing is to understand how to direct the load exactly to the right place.

When I try pump up your chest and I’m working on the formation of the lower section, I do the information in the crossover exactly as shown in the picture: I stand exactly in the plane of the simulator, without tilting and bring my hands together exclusively under the chest.

My chest mass training program, with an emphasis on the lower segment:

Exercises	Approaches	repetitions
dumbbell bench press incline bench	5-6	10-12
push-ups on bars	3-4	12-14
reduction of the upper blocks while standing in a crossover under the chest	3-4	10-12

Conclusion: in order to give the pectoral muscles an ideal shape, it is necessary to include exercises aimed at developing the lower segment in your chest training complex for mass.

How to pump up the middle of the chest

In my opinion, this muscle section is the easiest and fastest to build. The muscles of the middle of the chest are small in size and quickly respond to the load, since they practically do not work in ordinary life. And besides, the developed middle of the chest adds width and power to it. All professional bodybuilders know this, so they work out this part of the pectoral muscles almost as actively as the upper segment.

There are few exercises for pumping up the middle of the chest, they are all similar and use the same principle - bringing the hands together in front of the chest. The most effective in this case will be the information of the hands in the butterfly simulator or in the crossover. At the initial stage of work on the middle of the chest, these two exercises will be quite enough.

But after a while this was not enough for me, and I found two more excellent exercises for developing the muscles of the middle of the chest. They not only help gain weight, but also make the muscles work in an unusual, stressful way, giving the chest a more refined outline.

Reduction of hands in a crossover lying

I haven’t done classic chest raises with dumbbells for a long time, since this exercise, in my opinion, is much more effective. Due to the fact that the force vector in this movement is not directed downward, as in the case of dumbbells, but along an arc, the load on the chest muscles is maintained throughout the entire trajectory of movement. pump up chest and adding muscle mass to her with this exercise becomes much easier.

But that's not the point. I, once again, modified the usual exercise, added a little zest and increased its effectiveness specifically for the middle of the chest. And the whole trick is that in the upper part of the trajectory, when the handles of the lower cables are already in contact in front of the chest, I turn my hands from a parallel position into one line and wind them up for each other. The load on the middle of the chest increases many times, and becomes peak.

Dumbbell bench press with a narrow parallel grip

Unfortunately, I recently started doing this exercise, having once again peeped it from the inventor Charles Glass. A very unusual, slightly difficult, but quite effective exercise. In addition to the fact that this modification of the bench press allows gain muscle mass the middle of the chest, it still actively affects the upper segment of the pectoral muscles, if performed on an inclined bench.

And in order not to waste your attention on the description of the technique for its implementation, I suggest watching the video. This is Sean Rhoden's workout 4 days before his performance at the 2016 Mr. Olympia:

My chest training program with emphasis on the middle segment:

Sometimes I get bored of training my chest muscles the old fashioned way, doing one exercise after another. So I do a shock chest workout, breaking up the usual set of exercises into several supersets, combining two exercises into them.

But I select them with meaning, so that the first movement is stretching, the second, on the contrary, is reducing. For example, I combine the dumbbell bench press on an incline bench with the reduction of arms in a lying crossover, and the bench press in a free-weight simulator with a “butterfly”. I combine push-ups on the uneven bars again with a crossover, but I only work with an eye exclusively on the bottom of the chest. There can be many such options, the main thing is to follow the correct execution technique in each of them.

I hope that after reading my long story, you will find the answer to the question of how to pump up your chest and become one step closer to creating perfect body. May the force be with you. And mass.

A spectacular decoration for any man is good developed muscles chest. Standing out even under clothes, they are able to attract the admiring glances of ladies. In addition to the aesthetic side of the issue, there is another. Powerful pectoral muscles are the main support for the work of the hands; both the force of impact during self-defense and the ability to perform work that is considered exclusively masculine depend on them. Any exercises on the crossbar, designed to demonstrate strength and agility, are impossible without their participation.

Therefore, young guys with asthenic constitution often ask the question: how to pump up breasts at home? Many are worried about another problem: what to do if one pectoral muscle is larger than the other?

Anatomical features of the chest and basic rules for a beginner

An attractive bulge of the torso in men is formed by 2 paired (left and right) muscles:

The pectoralis major muscle is located in the form of a fan on the front of the chest and consists of 3 parts that diverge from the crest of the large tubercle of the shoulder bone to the clavicle, sternum and rectus abdominis.
The pectoralis minor is located under the pectoralis major, attached to the 3-5 ribs and the coracoid process of the scapula.

Due to the vastness of the sheet of the pectoralis major muscle, it can develop unevenly and form a “failure” in the middle part of the male torso, acquiring a bulge only at the shoulder, where it experiences constant loads during natural arm movements.

With an uneven load during work with your hands, a noticeable difference in the development of the left and right side chest.

Before you start doing exercises to strengthen and develop muscles at home, men need to learn a few simple rules:

Intensive training should be carried out for about 1.5 hours every other day. Daily exhausting workouts will not give any result. Each session trains different muscle groups, giving others a rest for 3-5 days. Physiological features organisms are such that it takes about 5 days for the recovery and growth of the pectoral muscles.

For growth muscle fibers protein-rich food is needed. The number of receptions should be 5-6 times a day after 3.5-4 hours. Products containing protein (meat, fish, eggs, dairy products) at one time should be consumed at the rate of 2.5-3 g per 1 kg of body weight. We must not forget about saturating the body with water: daily consumption of clean water should reach about 2 liters.

Lifting weights is due to the work of a large number of muscles. different groups, each of which is loaded slightly. Special (isolated) exercises aimed at developing large pectoral muscles help to pump up a man’s chest at home and in the gym.

The distance between the hands when gripping or resting affects the load of different parts of the chest in relation to the center, and too narrow grip loads not the pectoral muscles, but the triceps. For beginners, the ideal distance between the hands is slightly more than the width of the shoulders.

The position of the arms in relation to the head loads the chest muscles differently in the upper and lower parts. For beginners, this takes on special meaning, because the natural load extends mainly to the lower sections of the pectoral muscle. For the development of the top, the emphasis during push-ups should be done slightly above the projection of the collarbones.

Bending the arms should be done smoothly and more slowly than straightening. The optimal ratio will be 1: 2, that is, you will have to straighten your arms when doing exercises 2 times faster.

Breathing should remain even during the entire exercise. Exhalation is performed with effort, inhalation - with relaxation.

The best results can be achieved by doing 8-12 repetitions of the exercise and doing 4 sets. When working with dumbbells or a barbell, the weight of the burden is selected in such a way that the number of repetitions can be performed correctly, without jerks and excessive load on the spine.

If one pectoral muscle is larger than the other, you can not apply a large load to the “lagging behind”. Regular exercise will cause the underdeveloped part to gradually equalize in volume with the other half. With a very noticeable difference or to achieve a speedy effect, only 1 additional approach is allowed to load less developed muscles.

How to pump up a man's chest at home?

The most accessible exercises that do not require a visit to the gym and the purchase of dumbbells and barbells are push-ups, bench presses and lying dumbbells. By performing their various types, or by changing the distance between the hands with emphasis, it is possible to ensure the uniform development of all parts of the pectoralis major muscle.

How to do push-ups

Before you start pumping muscles, you need to warm them up. For this purpose, simple push-ups from the floor are suitable. Initial position(ip) - hands rest on the floor at a distance slightly more than shoulder width, the torso is straightened, legs on toes. Slowly bending your arms, lower yourself down until an angle of 90 ° is formed in the elbow bend. The rise is made as sharply as possible. In this case, about 20 repetitions are performed, after a break of 1-1.5 minutes, another 2-3 approaches are done.

For those who are wondering how to pump up their breasts more effectively, fit exercise push-ups when the legs are above the head. In this position, the load on the necessary muscles is significantly increased. To perform the exercise, you need to take the I.P., resting your toes on a stable elevation (step, bench, durable chair). Hands are on the floor, as in the first case. The technique for performing the exercise is the same: slow bending and sharp straightening of the arms. Perform 10-20 repetitions and 3-4 sets. Pain or burning in the chest area indicates the work of the muscles.

A variant of this exercise can be considered push-ups with stretching. In this case, it is necessary to pump muscles, resting both arms and legs against any stable elevations. The main requirement for execution is to keep the back in a straight position. Perform 10-20 repetitions in 3-4 sets.

You can complicate and diversify push-ups by performing this exercise with one hand resting on a stuffed ball, tearing your hands off the floor while moving up, with a clap, or on one hand, bringing the other behind your back.

You can pump the pectoral muscles with dumbbells in different ways:

performing a bench press (straight and tilted up or down);
spreading and bringing hands with dumbbells over the chest;
producing projectile thrust from behind the head.

The bench press will help both pump up the muscles at home and divide the relief of the right and left halves of the male chest. The weight is selected so that when raising the arms it is not required to bend in the lower back or raise the pelvis. These parts of the body should be pressed against the bench during the exercise. It is important to ensure that both hands rise and fall equally and strictly in a vertical direction.

I.p. lying on a bench, legs bent and standing on the floor. Dumbbells before the start of the exercise are on the hips, they are lifted in turn so that the hands are approximately above the shoulder joints, the elbows are almost straightened, the palms are facing each other, the wrists are straight. Slowly bend your arms, moving your elbows to the sides, until the dumbbells reach a position just above the chest. Return to I.P. Perform 8-12 repetitions, 3-4 sets. It is recommended to get up from the bench between sets, especially when doing head-down bench presses.

I.p. for breeding-reducing the hands resembles that for the press, the elbows are slightly bent. The arms are slowly spread apart, moving only in the shoulder joints and following the fixation of the elbow. Lower your arms to the sides until the dumbbells are almost at chest level. Then you should smoothly return to the I.P. Do 8-12 repetitions in 3 sets.

Variants of the exercise also involve changing the slope of the bench into an up and down position with your head. This changes the load on the upper and lower parts of the pectoral muscles.

When performing traction, the dumbbell is held with 2 hands above the chest. I.p. - arms are extended almost completely, palms up, wrists are straightened and fixed. In an arc, the dumbbell is lowered behind the head until the shoulders are on the same horizontal line with the body. Return to ip, perform 8-10 repetitions. Do 3 sets. This exercise helps both pump up the pectoral muscles and load the deltoid, triceps and back.

Such exercises that do not require simulators can be performed at home. Regular classes help in a few months to purchase beautiful relief male chest.

Pumped up breasts are beautiful and attractive. The muscles of the upper body are closely interconnected, so pumping the chest separately from the rest of the muscles of the upper body is quite difficult. The main functions of the pectoral muscles are to provide various movements hands, shoulder blades. Training the upper body and arms will pump the pectoral muscles, however, for significant progress in the formation of volume, such training is not enough. This requires a separate study, not only in terms of the type of muscles, but also in terms of its separate parts.

How to pump up the chest?

The main rule of training is their frequency. Should be done 2-3 times a week. It is not advisable to train more often, as the muscles need time to recover. The best results are achieved with weight training. At the same time, the weight gradually increases. Exercises should be varied, because this muscle has the shape of a fan and, depending on the angle of inclination, different parts of it work. Include 2-4 new exercises in each workout.

Do not forget that when training the pectoral muscles, the body spends a huge amount of energy, which has a beneficial effect on the burning of adipose tissue.

Anatomically, the large and small pectoral muscles are distinguished:

The large one begins with one edge in the center of the sternum from above and from the rectus abdominis muscle from below and is fixed to the large tubercle humerus. The upper part of the musculature is attached to the collarbone and goes to the shoulder. The main task is to bring the arm, turn the arm, respiratory movements of the ribs, bend the arm, rotate the arm inward.
The small one is attached with one edge to the process of the scapula, and with the other it goes under the pectoralis major muscle and is fixed on the ribs. The main task is to lower and feed forward and down the scapula, participates in active respiratory movements, abduction and lowering of the scapula.
Serratus anterior - attached to the ribs at one end and to the lateral surface of the scapula. Tasks - inward rotations, feed in the horizontal plane.

How to pump up breasts at home?

It is best to train in the gym. The trainer will draw up a program and select the simulators according to your wishes and possibilities. In the absence of this possibility, it is allowed to practice at home.

Push-ups are traditionally the best exercises at home. At the same time, it is important to follow the rules of training - do 2-4 approaches with a break of at least 1 minute. Multiplicity of loads per week - 2-3, for better recovery. Start any workout with a warm-up and end with breathing exercises, stretching.

The simplest and universal exercise, available to anyone starting to develop their body, are simple push-ups

Suitable for warm-up:

wave your hands;
mill;
twists of the upper body with a wave of the hand.

When push-ups, it is necessary to change the angle of the torso. To do this, you can use a bed or sofa to stop at an angle. Push-ups from the wall are suitable for girls. Do push-ups correctly. The torso, legs and head should be in the same plane. During exercise, the body loses a large number of energy, so do not overload. Depending on your general fitness, do 2 to 8 exercises for 2-4 sets.

How to quickly pump up the chest?

To stimulate growth, the chest muscles must receive good stress. A similar situation is created by a set of basic exercises with free repetitions from 6 to 12 times.

Basic exercises include:

bench press;
dumbbell bench press;
push-ups on bars.

With this load, the muscles of the hands work, shoulder girdle and chest. Due to this, the load can be significantly greater compared to exercises on insulating shells of the "butterfly" type of simulator. The higher the load, the greater the impetus to growth your muscles will receive. The pectoral muscles are large and it needs at least 2-3 days to restore all processes after a load, and up to 7 days after a heavy load.

To maintain the growth process, you do not need to switch to isolation exercises. It is necessary to increase the load in the base complex.

The presence of conventional dumbbells will allow you to significantly diversify the program of training sessions.

Best Exercises

Don't focus on how to build your upper pecs or how to build your lower pecs. For achievement best result must be taken as a basis basic complex exercise and stick to a workout routine. You will see the first result in 1-2 months.

Basic exercises:

Bench press. Performed on a horizontal bench. It is convenient for working with a lot of weight, which stimulates an additional release of hormones into the blood. Several muscle groups work. Periodically, it is worth performing only lowering the bar.
Dumbbell press. Gives you the opportunity to work with the upper, middle, lower part of the muscles. It all depends on the angle of the bench and the amplitude you choose. Pay special attention to the bench press at a 45-degree angle. In this position of the body, the stabilizer muscles and the pectoralis minor muscle are worked out.
Push-ups on bars. They involve triceps, muscles of the arms, chest and back. The harmonious development of all the muscles of the shoulder girdle subsequently makes it possible to work with a lot of weight when pressing the barbell. When push-ups, weights can be used. Bars can be replaced with regular push-ups for beginners.

chest muscles- one of the most important muscle groups in our body, and it is not surprising that so many people are interested in how to pump up the pectoral muscles.

The purpose of this article is to put together the basic recommendations for chest training. And, in my opinion, it is important not only to describe the exercises, but also to understand how everything happens. What I mean: understand how chest muscles grow and how long they need to recover, understand what their structure is and protect yourself from injury, understand how to change the load across the width of the chest in order to pump lagging parts.

Recovery of chest muscles

It's no secret that human body has excellent ability to adapt to stress. If it is confronted with influences that exceed its capabilities, the process of adaptation is activated, the body improves its physiological capabilities in order to be ready for repeated impacts.

Our body has a very clever mechanism of reaction to external influences. If it is repeated, then it continues to “adjust” to the impact, but if the influence was one-time and the expediency is not great, then the system returns to the previous state.

The magnitude of the force impact is of great importance. Small impacts do not include the adaptation process, since the body's resources are completely sufficient to respond to them. Too much exposure destroys our body, and when it cannot cope with a large amount of destructive factors, we get sick. In a diseased state, we are no longer talking about improving the characteristics of the body, the body tries to save itself in all possible ways.

Why is it all? And to the fact that in any sport, one of critical tasks– choose the right amount of load and recovery time.

Approximate time for complete recovery of the pectoral muscles, about 8-10 days. Also add a few days for over adaptation. Thus, if you are training without doping, there is no point in doing heavy chest workouts more often than once every 10-14 days. You will have to choose your own recovery interval yourself. The main criterion is as follows: if you have chosen the recovery time correctly, then next workout you can do more repetitions or increase the weight in your exercise - increase your load. This principle is called the principle of load progression. This is one of essential principles in strength training.

If you increase your performance (weight per exercise or number of repetitions) at each hard workout, it means that you have chosen the recovery period for yourself well. If you can’t increase your performance from workout to workout, then your body is not recovering.

Fashionable programs for pumping up a pile with chest workouts 1-2 times a week are designed for serious farm support.

Approximate recovery time is 10-14 days. You will have to choose your personal recovery time individually.

The structure of the muscles of the chest

Why is it important to understand anatomy first? This is necessary in order to understand how the muscle works and what needs to be done to load it. It will also help you see weaknesses and prevent injury.

The pectoralis major muscle (what we basically mean by the muscles of the chest) is attached to the humerus on one side, on the other - at three different angles: from above to the collarbone - a green stripe, further to the sternum - a pink stripe and from below to the cartilages of the upper ribs - yellow stripe.

This is very important to understand, as it means that in order to fully train the chest, you need to use several angles of application of force in order to pump all three parts.

Sometimes the part of the pectoralis major muscle, which is attached to the collarbone, is called the top of the chest, and the part attached to the sternum is called the lower chest, you can also conditionally divide the chest into 3 parts - lower, middle and upper.

Blue marks the attachment of the anterior deltoid muscle to the clavicle.

The main function of the pectoralis major muscle is to bring the arm to the body, the additional one is to rotate it inward.

As we can see, the contraction of the pectoral muscle is provided by the mobility of the shoulder joint and it is on it that most of the load falls. Therefore, it is worth treating it very carefully and at the slightest pain in shoulder joint- stop the exercise. Pain indicates overload of the joint and possibly incorrect biomechanics of movement. If you feel pain, you should definitely think about what you are doing wrong, take a break from the exercises until the joint is fully restored and in the future correct the technique with a lighter weight, choose the optimal angles in the position of the elbows and so on.

What conclusions can be drawn?

The upper and lower chest muscles require different angles of force application.
The upper part cannot be used in isolation from the front delta. Both of these muscles are attached to the collarbone, and in any case, the anterior deltoid will be involved.
You can also divide the chest into three parts - lower, middle and upper according to the type of attachment to the body.

Are you still counting calories? Are you sure that they are enough for you to grow? Check your .

How to pump up the pectoral muscles. Exercises for chest muscles.

Exist various exercises for chest training, here are the main ones. Exercises can be divided into two groups: basic and formative. Basic - increase volume, shaping - give shape.

Basic exercises:

Bench press lying on a horizontal bench. This is a basic free weight exercise that builds strength and mass in the pecs. The main load falls on the pectoralis major muscle, less load on the triceps and the front of the deltas. Recommended.
Bench press on an incline bench . The angle of inclination shifts the load on the front delta, the larger the angle, the more it turns on. The angle of inclination can vary from 20 to 50 degrees, while the emphasis of the load will shift. This exercise uses enough big weights, although they are smaller than in the previous exercise, but quite sufficient for a high-quality study of the chest. This exercise develops the less developed upper chest. Recommended.
Bench press on a bench with a negative slope. Focuses on the lower chest. In most people, the lower section itself is more developed. It is worth doing if your triceps work great in a power bench press, but your chest lags behind and you have problems in the lower part of the amplitude. Recommended only for those who know why they need it.
The same exercises, but with dumbbells . good exercise for volume and good breast shape. The main difference with dumbbell exercises is that the weight is looser. Movements with dumbbells make you turn on more muscle stabilizers. Also, the main nuance in the dumbbell press is stretching in the final phase. The increased range of motion and the need to turn on the stabilizers does not allow you to take the same weight as when pressing the barbell. The weights in this exercise will always be lower. But this does not mean that the effect will be less. It is recommended to alternate between barbell and dumbbell presses.
Breeding dumbbells . Applies to both isolating and basic exercises. The basic ones include wiring with heavy dumbbells. The exercise gives the chest a convex shape and promotes separation between the right and left breasts. Recommended.
Push-ups on the uneven bars . Basic exercise that focuses on the lower chest. An important note is to spread the elbows to the sides and tilt the body forward - to maximize the inclusion of the chest, or press the elbows into the body and keep the body straight - the emphasis on the triceps. If you do only this exercise for the chest, you can get an imbalance between the upper and lower pectoral muscles, in which you will have a good bottom and a very lagging top.

Key to successful training healthy heart and take care of it.

Formative exercises:

crossover . In the first years of training, you do not need this exercise, in principle, like all the other exercises on this list. At the initial stage, you should concentrate on basic exercises. No isolation.
Bench press in the Smith machine . The same bench press, but excluding the work of the stabilizer muscles.
Reduction of hands in the simulator . An isolation exercise similar to dumbbell flyes, but without the inclusion of stabilizing muscles.

Now, understanding the anatomy of the pectoral muscles and knowing the basic exercises for chest development, we can consider some of the nuances in the biomechanics of movements during the development of the pectoral muscles. The most obvious and simple in this regard will be to consider the bench press technique.

Pump up the pectoral muscles: the nuances in pumping the chest

When performing basic exercises for training the chest, in any case, triceps will be included. As mentioned earlier, heavy chest workouts should not be performed more often than once every 10-14 days. But you can and simply must maintain the muscles. light workouts. Therefore, you can do the following: do one hard workout for the chest (it will also be easy for the triceps), the next time - a hard workout for the triceps (it will also be easy for the chest). In this way, you will maintain muscle tone in light workouts and catch over-adaptation in hard workouts. Watch to increase the load on hard workouts - this is a sure sign of progress. The progression of loads will force the body to turn on hypertrophy anyway.

The number of working approaches to the chest from 3 to 5. The number of warm-ups - any that brings you to full capacity. You need to be very careful about increasing the number of working approaches. If you have less than one year of training experience, you should not do more than 3 working approaches. The higher your training experience, the large quantity working approaches you can afford. Why? This can lead to overtraining and slow progress.

The number of repetitions is from 6 to 12. A smaller amount develops strength, a larger amount develops muscle endurance.

Pump up pectoral muscles: nuances in exercises for chest muscles

To summarize, anatomically, all basic exercises for the chest - these are bench presses. Either you are pushing the weight off yourself, or you are pushing yourself (bars or push-ups).

Therefore, to simplify the task, we will analyze the bench press, but the basic principles can be applied to any other bench press.

Why is it important to understand these nuances?

First, it helps to avoid injury. And this is your main task! Over time, you will be able to develop muscles to the volume you need, and it is not so important whether it will be fast or not. The main thing is that you do not stumble upon a trauma that can throw you away from your hopes and ambitions once and for all.

Secondly, it allows you to load what you need. You can pump the chest for a long time, and instead get a good triceps and front delt.

It doesn’t matter if you progress quickly or not, the main thing is what you do to meet your goal.

Influence of body tilt on load shift along muscle length

Allows you to shift the load along the length of the chest - lower, middle and upper. Bench press, push-ups on the uneven bars practically do not develop upper part chest, so it’s also worth including barbell or dumbbell presses in a positive slope in your program.

Example: positive incline press – upper chest, bench press – mid chest, negative incline press – lower chest.

The influence of the position of the elbows on the displacement of the load along the width of the muscles

The position of the elbows shifts the load from the triceps to the chest. If you press your elbows to the body, the load on the triceps is maximum. If you spread your elbows to the sides to an angle close to 90 degrees, then the load on the chest is maximum. A 45 degree tilt angle is used to engage maximum force.

To summarize:

elbows apart - emphasis on the chest
elbows at a 45 degree angle - maximum strength
elbows pressed to the body - emphasis on triceps

Poor elbow and torso angle- can lead to too much stress on the joint. Your personal anatomy may differ slightly from the standards. Therefore, when choosing the angle between the elbows and the body, these differences must also be taken into account. Certain angles can cause joint pain. Any pain in the joint is a signal that this variation of the exercise is not suitable for you and something needs to be changed.

Grip Width

Allows you to shift the load along the width of the chest - external, middle and internal. The narrower the grip, the more the triceps are turned on, so the width must be selected so that the load does not leave the chest, but too wide grip may be too uncomfortable. Mostly use a grip slightly more than shoulder width.

Example: close grip for triceps and wide grip for chest.

Other nuances in exercises for chest muscles

Bar Grip

not symmetrical about the center- leads to a skew, in which the bar is squeezed out unevenly ;
without a lock can lead to the fact that the bar at one moment can simply fall on your chest, very traumatic

Straightening of the elbows in the final phase.

If you are preparing for a competition, then without straightening your elbows at the end point, you simply will not be counted as an exercise, but if you have other goals, then it is better not to straighten your elbows to the end. Why? Straightening the elbows at the end of the repetition is traumatic for the joints.

On the other hand, when you straighten your elbows, you partially relax your chest and allow blood to circulate, this takes the load off your heart. It just needs to be known. Pumping is on one side of the scale - your heart health is on the other.

Bridge in bench press

Allows you to squeeze more weight in the exercise removes the load from the chest.

Detachment of the heels and pelvis.

Like a bridge, it allows you to press more weight but takes the load off your chest.

Relaxation of the back muscles- may cause injury. Keep your back muscles "on" to protect yourself.

Forearms are parallel to the floor at the end point of the press.

Leg position

Leaning with your feet you can maintain balance, which is important when pressing a heavy barbell. Also, if the nom is in the wrong position, you can lose balance when pressing with dumbbells, you can simply be thrown back. When wiring with dumbbells, you can put your legs on a bench, this will allow you to focus more on your chest.

It is important to know the following - by working with your legs, you can squeeze out more weight, but remove the load from the chest. Footwork is one of the tools in your arsenal that allows you to include more muscles in the work, but the more muscles we include, the less percentage of the work falls on the chest.

Raising your legs on the bench - you complicate the work for the chest.

How the same exercise can be harder and easier

The "chips" described above are your tools in working with the pectoral muscles. Knowing them, you can make work with the same weight easier or harder.

And then - do what you want. If you want to bench more, reduce chest pressure, bridge, use elbow position for maximum strength, work with your feet and use all the tricks to achieve maximum strength.

If you want more chest volume - increase the load on target muscle. Do all the same, but vice versa - do not bridge, do not use your legs and turn on the chest as much as possible, minimize the work of the triceps and deltas.

They are one of the most massive and significant in our body. Some people train these muscles in order to take big weights on the bench press, some just want to have big pecs. All professional bodybuilders pay special attention to them, devoting a whole training day. How to pump the pectoral muscles and what exercises are best to do? Today we will devote an entire article to this topic. .

unshakablethe basis

In how to properly pump the pectoral muscles, the "base" will help us figure it out, namely the bench press. This is the first and most basic exercise that you need to do in order for your chest to grow. Without it, nowhere. The bench press effectively works out the middle of the chest, triceps and even shoulders, gives a static load on the legs and abs. You need to perform it on a vertical bench, lying down in such a way that the back is arched (the lower back and shoulder blades lie on the bench).

After the bar has been removed from the racks, the shoulder blades must be brought together and no longer moved. The projectile starts its movement from the top point, until it touches the middle of the chest. After a short pause, you need to exhale to bring the barbell to its original upper position. In no case should you tear your buttocks and lower back off the bench and raise your feet. This is fraught with injury. But when answering the question of how to properly pump the pectoral muscles, one cannot speak purely about their middle, because there are also upper and lower parts of the chest. The ideal lower chest exercise is the incline bench press. In many modern gyms, there are special loungers specifically for this. The technique and actions are absolutely identical to the usual bench press, only the legs are no longer on the floor, but are attached to the lounger, the upper part of the torso is tilted down, and the barbell is lowered to the lower part of the pectoral muscles. Exercise on the upper part - bench press 45 degrees. Among other things, it effectively pumps the shoulders. Starting position - sitting, the body is slightly tilted (by 45 degrees), the bar rises above itself and falls directly to the very top of the chest, thereby including the muscles in active work. All these 3 types of bench press are an excellent help and basis for answering the question of how to pump the pectoral muscles correctly.

Additional exercises

Also, the pectoral muscles can be trained with other shells. After the main exercises, it is advisable to do several isolating ones. How to pump muscles with dumbbells? Firstly, with them you can perform a bench press, and, secondly, wiring. These are two very useful exercises, effectively finishing the chest. The first option is performed in the same way as with the barbell. The difference is that the dumbbell exercise is an isolating exercise, which means that it works out the pectoral muscles more individually and deeply, speaking in this case. great option beat them to the limit.

The second option will tell us how to properly stretch the muscles of the chest. If possible, you should try to relax and stretch your muscles after all the various loads. Wiring is a great way to complete your chest workout. Performed lying down with dumbbells. Starting position - arms straightened, brought together. Then you need to slowly spread your arms to the sides, while slightly bending them in elbow joints. The fly is a great finishing exercise for the chest. All of the above options are absolutely effective. After completing them, you should no longer have the question: "How to pump the pectoral muscles correctly?" The main thing is correct technique, and more weights will come with time.