Chest Routine

Man standing with Muscles

The chest routine that you pursue in bodybuilding plays an enormous part in shaping your overall chest development. You have to design and pursue it to meet your specific goals. This is true whether they are to increase mass and power, stamina and definition, or whatever you’re striving for. Beginners should work out 2-4 days per week. Intermediates 3-5, and advanced/competition 4-6.

Chest Routine – How Manys Days Should You Workout?

The best online workout program is the one that is specially designed for your requirements and your time schedule. One of the first things you must think about is how much time you’re willing to spend working out. You need to make a decision as to how you want to break up each day’s workout. You’ll do this once you’ve considered how much time you’re willing to spend. For split workouts, there are seven main body groups to work: back, delts, chest, abs, biceps, triceps, forearms and legs.

The chest is certainly the muscle group that the majority of people try to build up to the fullest. It is considered one of the “showy” muscles. Everybody wants an enormous chest, plain and simple. The bottom line for huge muscle gains is sweat, blood and hours upon hours spent battling the iron.

Chest Routine – Exercises

One of the best methods of stimulating strength and mass for upper body muscles is the bench press.

Barbell Bench Press

  • Rack a barbell with adequate resistance on the bar holder of a flat bench.
  • Unrack and lower the bar to your chest.
  • Push the weight up to the starting position.

Dumbbell Bench Press

  • Locate a pair of dumbbells of desired weight.
  • The initial position of the dumbbells should be at chest level, upper arms straight out to the side, forearms at right angles to the floor.
  • Gradually push the dumbbells to the top position directly over your chest.
  • Slowly lower to the starting position.

Machine Press

  • Set resistance and seat level to desired settings.
  • Seize the handles with an overhand grasp and gradually push out.
  • Slowly go back to the initial position being careful not to let the weight stack to touch the machine.
  • Refer to directions as each machine differs.

The following is an illustration of a general static stretching and mobility exercise that could form part of the cool down program at the end of a workout session:

Chest Stretch

  • Stand tall, feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent.
  • Hold your arms out to your sides parallel to the floor and the palms of the hand facing forward.
  • Stretch the arms as far back as possible.
  • You should feel the stretch across your chest.

Chest Routine – Other Chest Exercises 

  • Cable Crossovers.
  • Flat/Incline Flyes
  • Seated Chest Presses

Feel The Exercise

If your arms are big, but your chest is small, you may need to decrease the weight that you’re using. This is to allow you to concentrate on using your chest to push the weight on bench press or to squeeze the weights with your pecs on cable crossovers. You really have to be conscious of all that you are doing while you are focusing on your reps. You have to ensure that your feet are placed on the ground, for example, you must make sure your butt stays on the bench, and you do not drop the weight on your chest.

The whole time you’re doing any kind of pressing motion with your chest, you need to flare out your lats and squeeze your chest as much as possible. By doing this you just about force your pecs to stay taut. Flex your pecs and stretch between sets.

No other component of the male body indicates strength like that of an impressively built chest, located as it is over a set of defined abdominals and below a broad, sinewy set of shoulders. The Bench press is the foundation of any chest-building routine. You have to ensure that your body is lying flat on the bench, once you have established a set grasp. Benching with an arched back like powerlifters to decrease the distance the bar travels during the lift places unwarranted tension on the neck, and allows the lifter to use his legs to cheat.

The flat bench dumbbell presses the single workout that can come close to the bench press for building mass on the chest. Its range of motion is the advantage it has over the bench press. Whether it be with dumbbells or a straight bar, the incline presses also an outstanding way of building the upper chest. The only precaution is that you don’t go too heavy and damage or overwork the shoulders.

Chest Routine – Rep Performance

It’s important to understand how to do a rep and how to set up your chest routine. First, your routine should consist of compound movements. For example, the bench press, incline and dumbbell fly make up a good routine. 

 

Warm thoroughly. Perform 3-4 working sets using weights that allow no more than 6-8 reps per set. Perform each rep by lifting the bar explosively but under control. Take 4-6 seconds to lower the bar. There should be no momentum and no cheating. Your form should be perfect. You can extend the set by racking the bar and counting to 8. Then unrack, and knock out more reps. Finally, add weight to the bar every other workout.

Chest Routine – Nutrition And Supplements

If you aren’t already, take a prew-orkout before your training sessions. Follow this and all workouts with a post workout protein shake. You can also add such supplement staples as creatine and BCAAs. Also, it’s a good idea to use a good multiple vitamin and mineral supplement. 

In terms of food, keep your protein intake high – 1g per lb of bodyweight – and eat several times a day. Carb intake is baked on your goals. If mass is your primary goal, eat between 1.5 and 2.5 g of carbs per lb of bodyweight per day. If ft loss is your goal, cycle your carbs. Try 1-2 days 50g (or .5g per lb of your bodyweight) of carbs or less, 1-2 days 100g (1g per lb) of carbs, and 3-4 days higher carbs. This matches up to your workouts. On those days, go up to 150-200g (1.5g per lb). Eat most of these in the hours surrounding your workouts. 

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