Incorporating quality chest exercises is an important part of a balanced fitness routine. Whether you’re looking to burn annoying body fat, tighten and tone your upper-body or build serious muscle mass, your chest is one of your body’s larger muscle groups. Chest exercises are capable of helping you obtain a wide-variety of fitness goals. Just follow these tips and apply them to your routine and you’ll be on your way to your perfect chest.
There is an array of chest exercises at your disposal when you enter the gym, and deciding which are best for you can seem a bit daunting at times. The good news is you don’t need all the tools in the chest exercise toolbox to get started; you just need some basic guidelines to hammer out a productive chest workout.
Get started with these tried-and-true chest exercises:
Seated Pec-Deck Fly – Make the proper adjustments to the machine so that your feet are flat on the ground and your back is supported by the back pad. Keep your abs and core tight and your knees above your ankles. Once you’re in proper position, pull the handles towards each other by bringing your elbows together in front of you. Slowly release the weight back to its original position.
Push-Up – Lie prone on the floor with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Raise your body up off the floor with your arms fully extended. Lower yourself to the floor in a controlled manner while keeping your body straight. Push your arms up until they are fully extended once again.
Barbell Bench Press – Lie with your back flat against the bench and your feet planted firmly on the ground. Lower the weight until your elbows are at ninety degrees then press the bar upwards until your arms are fully extended once again.
As with any exercise routine it’s always a great idea to keep track of your progress and aim to improve on at least one area (e.g. sets, reps, weight) each week. If you use the exercises above, you should be seeing progress in no time.
Check back for Part 2 of this series to add a few new exercises to your repertoire, learn how to progress to more advanced exercises and continue working towards your perfect chest!
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I love L.A. fitness.. just moved from san jacinto to elsinore and had problems with my membership ..the hemet gymn wrote up my membership wrong, as a single club…I work for the school district and knew the district offers muliti club……. Claudio Maizares worked hard and figured it out that they left off codes and now it works!!! wahoooo THANKS ALOT ..Claudio
I’m glad that barbell flat bench was included, but I have issue with how much chest is really involved when instruction is directing elbows to 90 degrees. I always considered this the point where the tricep muscles begin their control of the exercise. Am I wrong in my understanding?