Chest

The chest is a fairly straightforward muscle group to train. A good routine should be based on various types of presses, flys, as well as pushups. It is imperative that great caution is used when training this muscle. Contrary to weight-training, this muscle is not often injured during other sports or physical activities. Almost all injuries are incurred during the bench press. This exercise can be a huge ego-booster for many guys in the gym when in reality, its value is quite overrated. The pectoralis major is at the highest risk of being torn when extremely rapid force is used to power a heavy weight up. When using such high force, the tendons are not given a chance to strengthen which can easily result in a tear in the muscle. In this situation, it is commonly the clavicular head of the pectoralis major (see diagram below) which is affected. The danger with a pectoralis major tear is that the injury can often be misdiagnosed. The reason for this is that while the injury is extremely painful, a tear in the clavicular head of the pectoralis major will leave a person’s range of motion in the arms unaffected. Although raising the arm in front of the body is partly accomplished by use of the muscles in the chest, the anterior deltoid is able to support this movement on its own when the pectoralis major has been injured. Abduction of the arm can also be performed without a problem as the other muscles in the chest will compensate for the injured area. This is why it can be difficult to properly diagnose a tear in the clavicular head of the pectoralis major before it is too late and permanent damage has been done to the muscle. This injury should obviously be avoided at all costs and serves as a reminder that a proper warmup cannot be overlooked when lifting heavy weights. It is vital that you begin your workout with a few sets of lighter weights, eventually working up to the heavy ones. Start with a couple of sets using 50% then 75% of the actual weight you want to use for your heavy sets. This will give your muscles a chance to warmup and allow you to get a feel for the movement before going all-out.

Best Exercises

As mentioned earlier, the bench press is actually quite an overrated exercise. Is it useful? Sure, but it is not the end-all be-all for building your pecs as many guys seem to believe. Performing the bench press will only work the middle part of your chest, leaving the upper area weaker and less proportioned. The upper area is actually larger, so the incline press is a good exercise to do. Not only will the incline press develop the upper part of your pecs, but it also places some effort onto the middle part as well (at least a lot more than the bench press places on the upper pecs). If you are only going to perform one pressing movement, make it the incline press. That’s not to say that the bench press is a bad exercise, however it should not form the basis of your chest workout. To get the best overall results, alternate between using the bench press and incline press at every workout. Flys are another very important movement that you should always include in your training. While pressing movements require significant contribution from the shoulders and triceps, flys really isolate the pecs and allow you to get a good squeeze, if performed correctly (more on this on the dumbbell flys page). Pushups are often overlooked by more experienced weightlifters when they are actually a very useful exercise for people of all levels of strength. Pushups are similar in motion to the bench press but they work more muscles than the latter. This is because you are forced to balance yourself as your entire body moves up and down during pushups, as opposed to just your arms moving during the bench press. As a result, your core and stabilizing muscles are called into play while performing pushups. Seeing how they work your muscles in a different way than most other exercises, pushups can actually help you improve your performance in weightlifting movements like the bench press or incline press. There are also many variations of the basic exercise that you can do which are listed below.

Anatomy

There are two main muscles to speak of here: the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor. The pectoralis major is the main muscle you use during chest training, while the pectoralis minor is much smaller and is located beneath the aforementioned muscle. The pectoralis major is further divided into three main parts: the clavicular head (or upper portion), the sternocostal head (or middle portion), as well as the abdominal head (or lower portion). It is important to perform different exercises at each workout so that you are able to train each area of your chest sufficiently and get the best results. To learn more about targeting different areas of the muscle with different movements, click on the links to the exercises below.