For men – and we all know this stands true for women – having a large chest is one of the most prominent features of the body. True; no exercise will increase breast size, but, if you are a man and looking to build your chest muscles to give yourself that important, dominant look, you’ll need to know where to start.
The chest muscles are known as the pectorals, or ‘pecs’ for short, and developing them will eliminate that sunken look many guys have about their physique, and give you a chest which stands out, almost proud.
Like most of bodybuilding, there are fancy exercises and machines which for the most part, are a waste of time. Sure, some do work, and work well – but I advocate the usage of free weights where possible, and firmly believe free weights beat out machines and always will do.
So, free weights it is. But what free weight exercises do we need to build the chest?
Well, by far the most important exercise you can use to build the chest muscles is the bench press.
When most people bench press, they think the only muscles they are really hitting are the deltoids and the triceps. And… they are. But that’s because they are benching too high, with their arms flared out too far.
To bench press and hit the chest muscles – as a bench should be performed – the bar should be lower on the body, and the arms tucked closer into the body when the bar is lowered. And when the bar is lifted up, the chest should be given a squeeze, and you should concentrate on ‘feeling’ and letting the chest muscles do their job of stabilizing the bar. Do it this way, and you’ll notice a huge difference.
I advocate working the chest this way no more than twice a week.