Happy Friday Steemians!
Cplbiggs here with just some fitness excersises and tips for men’s favorite workout day: Chest Day! I will be listing some of my favorite exercises and what I do to get a full and powerful pectoral section! Ladies, feel free to get in on the action too. Some of these workouts that I utilize are compound exercises, which means these exercises will target multiple muscle groups. Let’s go over Chest Day.
First and foremost, I choose to do Chest on a random day, that’s not MONDAY! Men will take international chest day very seriously, and I do not want to fight over a bench. I chose Thursday. The gym was nice and empty as people prepare tonparty the weekend away. Before I begin to hop on a bench, I start with a dynamic warmup. A dynamic warmup are small exercises and stretches that will activate the targeted muscle groups, as opposed to 10 minutes of static stretching. I do arm circles to warm up my shoulders, followed by horizontal lateral raises. Some push-ups and small increment stretches, and I’m ready for my first exercise, Incline Bench Press.
A tip for any workout is to target the area you are weakest in first, while you have the most energy. So I target incline, to get a good workout in my upper chest. What works for me is nice and slow repetitions, without having the bar touch my chest. The negative Motion and not having the bar touch will allow constant activation and stress to the upper chest. Since I am bulking, I do 4 sets. 1st set as a warm up with 10 reps, followed by 3 sets of 6-8 reps of heavier weight.
Notice how my elbows are aligned with my shoulders. Lowering to this position will always keep a point of tension on your upper chest.
I also did the same amount of sets for flat and decline bench presses. Again, by Not having the bar touch your chest, you are creating the constant point of friction. This will help you build power. The great thing about the bench press, is that it is a compound exercise. It will target your chest, shoulders, triceps, and even your core.
Also... be sure to hydrate in between exercises or sets.
The next exercise I like to do are dips. Yesterday, the dip rack was taken, so I used the dip machine. This still works great, as it will still target your outer chest, as well as your triceps. When doing this exercise, make sure to try and keep your elbows tucked in. Allow your arms to raise until you feel a slight stretch, and then press down. Allow a slight split second hold once the weight has been pressed down. As you allow the weight to go up, make sure it is in that slow concentrated, negative motion. We want power and aesthetics, working in negatives is one of my favorite ways to get there! For this exercise, I did 3 sets of 10, 8 and 6 sets, increasing weight after each set.
That last exercise and one of my favorite ones to do, are flys. I read i believe from Hany Rambod, Creator of Evogen nutrition and creator of the FST-7 training program, that benches build power, and flys build size. I have to agree, as I saw my own chest measurements increase after implementing this exercise often. For this exercise, you will want a small bend at your elbows, about 45 degrees. Simply bring your arms together to the center of your chest. Make sure to squeeze your chest at the top of the rep. Then nice and easy to the starting point. I made this lightweight, and did 7 sets of 12 or to failure ( I failed, a lot!). If you begin to feel strain on your shoulders, like me, feel free to stretch between sets.
(My form is terrible is these pictures... sorry!)
That is pretty much my chest day! I know my the pictures only show so much as far as technique, so I will be sure to come back to chest day when I learn how to use D-tube! Please let me know what you think! What other chest exercise do you like to incorporate? Do you prefer dumbells over benches? Please leave a comment! The awesome part about fitness is that everybody is unique and there are different ways to achieve your goals. There is always room to learn.
Have fun tonight!
@cplbiggs