Strickland Fitness

To really define your chest, you have to hit it from all angles. A lot of people focus on one or two chest exercises to work the pecs. In fact, the list of chest exercises is long, ranging from light to intense. There are also ways to challenge yourself outside of just adding more weight. Let’s take a look at a few common and a few not so common pectoral exercises.

Most gyms have stationary machines and free weights. Each of these can vary how you work your chest along with the rest of your body. The stationary machines where you sit down and press the weight forward are very one dimensional. They stabilize the rest of the body while focusing the isolation on the chest. This is great if you are doing very heavy weights or are a beginner to weight lifting. The chest fly machine is also great for chest shaping and isolation while stabilizing the rest of the body. In both of these exercises, the shoulders will be working as well to move the weight, but the little muscles that help stabilize the muscles in the shoulders aren’t as active.

The next set of chest exercises add a little less stabilization of the shoulders causing them to work a little harder. A standard flat bench press is a great chest builder. Being that the bar is free in movement, the shoulders have to work to keep the bar in one plane of motion. The rest of the body is stabilized by the bench you are laying on. When doing the bench press, concentrate on keeping your spine in a neutral position and not letting it arch when pressing the weight up. An incline bar press changes the angle at which you work your pecs and adds a little more shoulder work than a flat bench. To finish it off, hit the decline bar press for an all around chest blast.

The last set of exercises adds size and shape to the chest while forcing the shoulder stabilizers to work extra hard. A dumbbell press on a flat, incline, or decline bench leaves the arms to move in all directions while pressing or lowering the weight. This is what causes the shoulders to work even harder while trying to keep the weight in one plane of motion. Using cables for a chest press or flys are great for the pecs, shoulders, and the core. Being that you don’t have a bench to lay on, the cables force your core to engage.

For an all around strong and defined chest, mix up the chest workouts. Do some with free weights or bars to keep the shoulder stabilizers strong. Use cables to work your core. Use machines to hit it hard. Again, if you are new to working out, begin on the machines and work your way up to the free weights and cables.

Looking for a great chest exercise without any weights? Try the push-up pyramid.

I learned this chest blaster from a fellow trainer at my gym. This exercise is best done with a partner. Begin by doing one push-up. When you stop, your partner does one push-up. You then do 2 push-ups. Your partner will do 2 push-ups when you finish. Continue this alternating push-up sequence to 10 push-ups. If you can make it to 10 push-ups, continue back down to one.

Form is very important!! If your form begins to fail as the push-ups get harder, drop to your knees and do knee push-ups to complete the pyramid.

Good luck!