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What Are the Best Mass Chest Exercise Programs?
What should be done on Monday chest training day?
What are you doing on Monday? Monday is International Chest Exercise Day when we are passionate about chest exercises, but hundreds of chest exercises exist. I'm sure you won't spend all your time doing them. Still, you will want to know the best exercises to contact your chest. In this article, we have organized the best exercises for your chest muscles, so you can easily compare them with your usual training plan.
The chest movements we have chosen are based on the results of rigorous testing by our professional trainers. As anyone who practices powerlifting knows, the best exercises to build muscle are selected by measuring the electromyogram (EMG) activation. Still, in reality, all exercises are imperfect, so we have used some parameters to evaluate them.
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Ease of movement execution.
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Overall muscle stimulation and intensity of muscle stretching.
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Popularity of these movements among weightlifters and bodybuilders (this is important!) .
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Availability of equipment in a commercial gym or in a home gym in general.
10 Best Chest Exercises
Barbell Bench Press
Why is this movement on the recommended list? Now no matter what kind of bench press we do, the barbell bench press is the best movement for developing the pectoralis major. First of all, the barbell bench press allows you to use more weight, is easier to control than the dumbbell bench press, and the barbell bench press takes the brunt of the other movements. So don't be afraid to do this movement.
The barbell bench press also corresponds well with some of the bodybuilder's classic training programs, such as 5x5' s for chest muscles and muscular endurance training or even 10x10' s for pure chest pushing mass. If you take every bench press day seriously and have a bench press limit weight you want to hit, such as a bench press of 300 lbs, this movement will be a great choice for your chest workout.
In your workout： At the beginning of your chest program (after you have warmed up), do large sets with a weight bench in the higher range of the starting weight, such as 5-8 reps. After that, do many chest workouts with some other movements. The different movements allow for a more comprehensive chest development by changing your grip width and different power generation.
Dumbbell Bench Press
Which is better for chest muscle growth, the dumbbell bench press or the barbell bench press? It's an age-old debate that we can do both movements in one of our chest programs. Still, it is undeniable that the dumbbell bench press has a more powerful variation than the barbell bench press, the ability to do more compound movements, and more training uses.
Dumbbells have other advantages because each side of our muscles works independently, so dumbbells as a strength training can create a better level of balance and strength control for your training. In addition, the dumbbell bench press allows for a longer range of motion than the barbell bench press. Some studies suggest that increasing the range of motion within reasonable limits can be more effective in growing muscles and producing more stimulation.
In your workout： At some point, you start doing flat dumbbells press dumbbell flat bench presses with large sets with large weights. They can also be good for high reps later in the chest workout, either with flat lifts or with the weight bench angled or lowered.
Incline Bench Press
The incline bench press is the primary training modality for working the upper chest. Many lifters find they are more chest-focused than the flat bench press to reduce the stress of shoulder pronation. Using a barbell or other grip bar will be effective. Still, dumbbells may make your chest training more effective because you can increase the stimulation of your upper pecs depending on the size of your grip.
Tips： Many benches are fixed at a very steep angle, which is more effective on the anterior deltoids than on the chest, so this is not advisable. If possible, adjust your weight bench to a lower incline, such as 30 degrees, to focus on stimulating your Uber Pecs.
Decline Press
The common perception about the decline is that it only applies to lower chest training. While it has benefits in this regard, great figures in bodybuilding history, such as six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates, preferred to use this movement to work the chest in his 6-week training program because it made the engorgement of the entire chest feel more pronounced, allowing them to lift heavier and more comfortably than a flat bench.
Tips: Do free weight presses early in your chest workout, as training with them requires more strength and muscle control than using fixed equipment. Training on fixed equipment can be the last heavy exercise in your workout before moving to lighter-weight pump training.
Machine Chest Press
Doing free-weight presses on a flat bench is one of the best movements we can undeniably bench press. Still, machine presses and cable presses can be more pronounced for pec stimulation, arguably more friendly for newbies. First, it's easier to slow down your repetitions in centripetal and centrifugal movements. Compound machines are also good for doing compound movements quickly.
But does it feel worse than free weight training in practice? This is a difference in human psychological sensation. With EMG testing, we can find that machine bench presses raise far less power in the shoulders than free weight changes. This allows you to really target your pecs to make a deeper stimulation.
Push-Up
One of the obvious advantages of push-ups is that they don't require any equipment to be exercised anytime, anywhere, and this can be the core of a home chest workout. At the same time, you can also develop many other variations on this movement. Push-ups have great versatility, such as easy to adjust the range of motion. Some simple adjustments can be made by the position of the hands and feet to help us more effectively shift the point of force to the pectoral muscles or other target muscle groups.
You may say that push-ups and simple self-weight training won't boost your strength. But according to research, both push-ups and bench presses are similar in muscle activation and overall muscle growth. This doesn't mean that push-ups are all you need for your chest training, but it does mean that they should definitely take up a portion of your training program.
Dips
The dip was a staple in the training programs of the Golden Age bodybuilding gentlemen of the time, and there's an important reason for that. Because no movement stretches the chest as fully and stretches it as fully as this self-repelling movement. If you're strong, you can add extra weight with dip, or if you have trouble doing the self-weight movement, you can use an elastic band or machine for assistance.
All types of dip are great for the chest, but this movement can drain your chest dry on chest training days. Cross your feet behind you, lean your body forward as far as possible, and keep your elbows extended outward as you squat.
Chest Fly
Are you looking for a way to isolate your pecs for training? Now is the time to fly. You can't compare to cables regarding the angular variations of the fly. They allow you to keep your pecs across the whole range of motion under continuous tension trajectory, which is why it would be your no-brainer choice in a pec training program.
Cable crossovers are the preferred choice for most lifters. There are good reasons to go for this movement, but consider trying a lying version using dumbbells on a bench inclined at 30°. They are more stable and less risky than standing presses, allowing you to further drain your pecs.
Dumbbell Pull-Over
Pull-overs have been a favorite torso exercise for bodybuilders for decades. This training movement dates back to the 1940s and even earlier when weightlifters alternated 20 reps of deep squats in training designed to expand the volume of the chest cavity. The principles of this method may not hold true today. However, the movement is still worthy of being included in chest training today.
Rest your upper back on a flat bench and bridge upward, putting your chest fibers in a stretched state with a longer range of motion. Keep your elbows at a fixed, comfortable angle. The more you bend and flex your elbows, the more this is a triceps movement, and the less your pecs will be engaged.
Machine Fly
For most weightlifters, machine pec training (aka chest training) is an irreplaceable workout that is more effective and harder to do than dumbbell training. Suppose your gym has one of these machines. In that case, you should be thankful that you can get a strong pump in your pec training without needing other muscle groups to compensate or putting your shoulders at risk of receiving an injury.
But does it work in real training? EMG data shows that the activation of the pectoralis major in this movement is somewhat similar to that of the bench press, which suggests that even though the trajectory of your movement is on a different track, both are an integral part of chest training. But what is the biggest difference between these two movements? For pectoral machine training, you don't need a spotter. You can more safely increase the intensity of your pec training to true muscle failure.
What Are the Best Mass Chest Exercise Programs?
The best chest-building workout program features a workout plan that is just on time, and you will look forward to working out throughout the week. Lift dumbbells or barbells to get your muscles pumping and give your chest all the tears and nutrients it needs to get bigger. If there is still time after the pecs, you can do the same workout on your triceps for synergistic development.
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