Although all aspects of the body are important, and arms are undoubtedly the body part which garner most of the attention, no strong physique would be complete without huge pecs. I’m talking the wide slabs of muscle which jut out giving you a commanding presence. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Like every other body part in bodybuilding, there are literally dozens of ways to skin a cat. What I’ll give you is the methods which I’ve found to be most effective for developing your chest. You may be disappointed to find there isn’t anything too exotic here, but, treat these exercises with respect, and you’ll get superb results.
Dumbbell Bench Press
Why dumbbells? Because you have much greater range of motion. If you’ve ever tried bench pressing with a barbell before, and then switch to dumbbells, you’ll notice not only can you not lift as much, but, steadying and co-ordinating the dumbbells requires a lot of strength in itself. Also, because the arms are free from any restrictive bar, the exercise can be manipulated in a way in which you bring the dumbbells closer together at the top and give your pecs a good squeeze, and get an excellent stretch at the bottom of the exercise also.
Dumbbell Flies
Flies are, to some people, their favourite exercise for building the chest. Arnold loved them. Flies work with the grip turned inward, the arms slightly bent at the elbows, laying in an almost crucifix position, arms out keeping the elbows bent, using the chest, the dumbbells are brought together at the top, and then slowly lowered to the point you get maximum stretch in your chest.
Weighted Dips
If you can use dip bars, particularly those in a V bar station, use them. Vince Gironda believed that dips are a far better exercise for the chest than bench pressing, as it hits the outer area of the pec more, giving the chest a ‘slab’ like appearance, rather than the appearance of a woman’s chest, as some guys unfortunately develop. Obviously, like any bodyweight exercise, you can only take it so far before weight has to be added. Once you find your own bodyweight is no longer a challenge, use a dip belt, and begin adding weight to it.