You signed up for that lifetime special at the gym with the best intentions. Now that you have no time to make use of it, that sharply defined body you’ve been chiseling is going to grow a bit soft around the edges, right? Wrong. Following the correct workout plan, regardless of whether you’re exercising at home or at the gym, will create the outcome you’re looking for.
Lifting weights will always be the better method for building brute strength and big muscles, but there are quite a few bodyweight exercises that you can select from to add diversity to your workouts or to keep you in shape.
The chest is one of the most popular and easily noticed muscle groups to develop in the human body. The pectoralis major muscle is a large, flat, fan shaped muscle that covers the entire upper rib cage. There is also a smaller, deeper group called the pectoralis minor. Both muscles spread out over the upper body like plates of armor.
Possessing a developed chest demonstrates that you are in top form and you have hit the highest point in fitness. There are two basic types of exercises you can use when training the chest with the use of weights:presses, where the arms are extended away in front of the body in a pushing motion; andflyes, where your bent arms are drawn across in front of the body in a hugging motion.
Keep these goals in mind as you work out:
- Objective One– imposing power.
- Objective Two– a thinner waistline.
- Objective Three– more fat burning.
- Objective Four– an advantage in sports.
The bench press is a great upper body exercise. Place a barbell on the rack of a bench press. Lower the barbell until it touches your chest. Without bouncing the bar off your chest push it up until it is back to the starting position. Repeat. Here are some basic routines to help you develop the size and strength of your chest:
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
Flat Bench Press | 1 or 2 warm-ups then 3 or 4 sets | 6 to 10 (compound weights) |
Dips | 4 | 15, 12, 12, 12 |
Incline Barbell Bench Press | 4 | 8 |
Dumbbell Flyes | 4 | 8 |
Flat Dumbbell Bench Press | 4 | 8 |
Flat Bench Flyes | 3 or 4 | 6 to 10 |
Cable Crossovers | 3 | 10 |
Here are a few fundamental requirements for adding muscle naturally:
- Consume adequate quality protein.
- Do NOT use steroids.
- Learn to take pleasure in working out.
- Don’t lift too much weight too soon.
- Get sufficient sleep.
- Always warm-up.
- Get a good stretch.
- Make an effort to stay away from alcohol.
- Eliminate or limit your caffeine intake.
- Have patience when trying to gain mass.
- Don’t compare yourself to other people.
Uniting both strength and power training will give your body a look of raw power not seen on a lot of today’s bodybuilders who do “pumping” movements exclusively. Picking up some power moves may be the ticket if you’re looking to add massive size to your frame. And whether you’re benching, dead lifting, rowing or squatting, be sure to do the move like a bodybuilder.
Drop Sets For Increased Size And Strength
A drop set is basically a sequence of mini sets in which a trainee works to positive failure, rapidly decreases the load, works to failure again, rapidly decreases the load, works to failure once again, and so on until the desired number of mini sets are finished. Drop sets are a great way to attain maximal motor unit activation, muscular fatigue, and intramuscular tension as well as increase the tonnage of a given workout.
How Much Training Do You REALLY Need?
“Work out every day because it’s good for you.” We rarely hear that nowadays. In its place, we now hear about “radical advances” that let you train once a week and presto! – overnight muscle and instant abs! These pitches appeal to your lazy side. Do you believe it’s by accident that obesity is at an unprecedented high, riding in lockstep with these apathetic mind-sets?
If You Develop Your Chest, Will Your Breasts Become Smaller?
Developing your pecs won’t make your breasts smaller. Doing quality chest exercises will in fact tone the muscle under the breast tissue, so your chest will appear to be bigger. Steroid use can cause the breasts to shrink in female bodybuilders. In addition, the mixture of very well developed chest muscles and very low body fat can make a woman’s chest appear less rounded, more flat and sculpted.
Muscle Size And Strength Increase
There really aren’t shortcuts to muscle size and strength increase, apart from anabolics. Split the training of all the main muscle groups into three basic workouts, working out about five days per week. Use heavy basic and compound movements. Take into consideration the size of the muscle group when determining the number of sets to be performed for each muscle group.
Don’t do your shoulder workout too close to your chest workout. Your shoulders come into play when you’re doing bench presses, so you need them to be physically powerful to increase the amount of weight you can bench, even though it’s chiefly a chest exercise. Here’s the layout of a routine you can use:
- Monday – Chest
- Tuesday – Legs
- Wednesday – Shoulders
- Thursday – Back
- Friday – Arms
These days everyone is looking for the latest, greatest routine without ever really preparing the body for it. Eastern European and Russian sports scientists have written for decades about the need for children to have a broad diversity of skills. They recommend developing a solid base from which they can further build and improve. This can be applied to your quest for a bigger chest – you need base development before you can specialize on a particular area.