Get The Best Out of Your Chest
Perhaps one of the most misunderstood elements of sculpting your shape for women is the chest. As one of the major muscle groups of the body, the fan-shaped pectoralis major muscle are on either side of the chest, directly beneath the breast tissue. A smaller muscle, known as the pectoralis minor, is located in the upper part of the chest, beneath the pec major. Collectively, these muscles are known as the pecs, and they cover the entirety of your chest.
As a primary element of your physical foundation, incorporating its development into your fitness routine will be very beneficial. From lifting your breasts to improving your strength and posture, chest exercises offer a host of benefits and are a must for women of all ages. Here are the benefits.
- Chest exercises won’t make your breasts bigger or smaller, but what they can do is lift them a little higher. They offer cost-effective ways to get rid of breast sagging.
- Chest exercises do not make your breasts rock hard. They enhance the pectoral muscles that lie at the base of your chest. This results in higher and relatively larger-looking breasts, improving their shape.
- Working the chest muscles has the added benefit of toning and strengthening the muscles in your arms and upper back as most of the chest exercises also work on your triceps, biceps, and deltoids.
- Chest exercises will help strengthen and tone your upper body. And a great upper body will make you fit and strong, thereby helping you do your day-to-day tasks easily.
Before we get to the type of exercises that are most beneficial to building and developing these muscles, here are some things to keep in mind:
- It might seem like a good idea to use light weights for "tone," but remember that muscles respond best to a challenge. If you lift light weight for high reps, you'll be making very few fitness improvements and won't be doing much besides burning calories.
- You won't gain muscle mass unless you're eating a high-calorie diet -- all the heavy lifting you do on a standard or fat-loss diet will increase fitness and strength, but you won't get big, so don't be afraid to lift heavy!
- Keep your reps within the 8-to-10 range for bench press and incline bench press. For flyes, take it up to 10-to-12.
- 2-to-3 sets of each exercise will be perfect for strength gains. Any more or less may not produce the results you want.
- For compound lifts like the bench press, rest one minute between sets. Also, try to hit your compound lifts at the beginning of your workouts.
- Between sets of flyes, decrease your rest to 45 seconds. Because you're just using your body weight for push-ups, rest only 30 seconds between sets.
The Simple Approach
There are three basic exercises that will help you build and develop your chest muscles:
Bench Press
What to look/feel for:
This is a compound exercise - meaning that it engages more than one muscle group: in this case, chest and triceps. When you are lowering the weight, you are looking to feel your chest muscles stretching. When you are lifting the weight, you are looking to feel your chest muscles and your triceps contracting. Squeeze the muscles at the top of the movement.
Chest Fly
What to look/feel for:
This is an isolation exercise - meaning that it specifically isolates and targets the chest muscles. It’s super important for combating poor posture, and it will help make doing pushups easier. Move slowly through the motions in order to get the best results from the movement. When you contract your muscles as you bring your arms together, you are going to feel the squeeze in your inner chest.
Push-ups
What to look/feel for:
Don’t be afraid of push-ups. A woman who does push-ups can strengthen her chest, firm and tone her arms and stabilize her core, or abdominal, muscles. Your legs and buttocks will also grow stronger and leaner since your legs help support the weight of your body when performing push-ups.If you need to ease your way into being able to do more, here are some alternatives:
Wall push-ups:
Chair push-ups:
Knee push-ups:
You don’t have to dedicate a day to chest workouts. They can be incorporated into your full-body workout, or if your are doing a push/pull split, you can add it to your “push” workouts. You can try and work on your pushups throughout the day or you can dedicate some time before or after your routine to specifically target this area.
Consistency is key. Keep up the good work.
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