OUR TRAINERS:


Jay Blahnik

(Tips | Profile)


Jeanette Jenkins

(Tips | Profile)


Gregory Joujon-Roche

(Tips | Profile)


Kathy Kaehler

(Tips | Profile)


Gina Lombardi

(Tips | Profile)


Rob Parr

(Tips | Profile)


Keli Roberts

(Tips | Profile)



Pump up your pecs, boost your confidence

Posted: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 7:04 PM
Filed Under: , ,

By Rob Parr

 

When you think of a buff chest, celebs like Matthew McConaughey probably come to mind. Pumped-up pecs look good on guys at the beach, but they also wear well at the office. Strong chest muscles can help men -- and women -- stand up straighter and carry themselves with confidence.

 

Here’s a workout that will really challenge your chest.

 

Start by warming up on the floor with some push-ups. If you can’t do the full military push-ups right away, modify them by pushing up from your knees rather than your toes. Do a set of 20, then 15, then 10 and 5, with a 20-second break in between each set.

 

Next, you’ll need a set of dumbbells for a combination of two chest exercises. Start by lying down on your back on a weight bench or the floor with your knees bent up.

 

The first exercise is the chest fly. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms out to your sides, slightly bent at the elbows. Then press your arms straight up so that the dumbbells just come together (don’t bang them). Pause and then lower to the starting position. Do a total of 10 repetitions and then move directly on to the next exercise, the dumbbell press.

 

For this move, bend your elbows and hold the dumbbells at your shoulders, with your palms facing forward. Then press your arms directly up. Just before the arms fully straighten, turn your wrists so that your palms are facing each other. Tighten your chest and then lower the dumbbells back to your shoulders. Do 10 reps.

 

When you’ve completed a full set of these exercises, you should feel the burn. Rest for a minute or two and do two more sets.

 

Aim to do this workout three times a week, as part of a well-rounded strength routine, and you should soon be sporting a chest you can carry with confidence.

MAIN PAGE

Email this EMAIL THIS

Comments

These kind of info is a public service.  Please publish more of these exercise tips which are  simple, useful for daily life. Thanks

Jose, Media,PA (Sent Wednesday, September 19, 2007 12:41 PM)

To do these exercises what amount of weight do you use? The chest exercises.  

George (Sent Wednesday, September 19, 2007 1:14 PM)

The weight you use is dependant upon what pound dumbells you can manage ten reps with without breaking form. If you are a beginner, 25-35 lbs. should be sufficient. You will always use 10-15 lbs. less weight for the flys vesus the dumbell presses. Good luck.

Tim Locke (Sent Wednesday, September 19, 2007 5:59 PM)

I'm a 53 year old right leg above knee amputee for 12 years.  I've also had carpel tunnel surgery on both wrists, two athroscopic surgeries on my left knee, and have a silght case of spinal bifida.  

Prior to my near death motorcycle accident in 1995
I worked out fairly regularily.  I'm not a slacker, I just have not modified any workout routine to accommodate the areas where I'm physically challenged.

Any suggestions?

Steve Wesolowski, Milwaukee, WI (Sent Wednesday, September 19, 2007 7:01 PM)

Hi Steve.

There are most definitely things you can do, though I'd avoid anything involving free weights.  You may not have the leverage to do them without injuring yourself.  However, you should be able to do a lot using various machines, especially with cables, which can provide good weight resistance without the risk of injury from from free weights.  Some lighter dumbbells can also be good until you work up more muscle in those specific areas, as well as your back and torso.  You'll likely want to look into wrist braces and some sort of back support.  I would talk with your doctor and a professional trainer (not some joker at the local Bally's) prior to starting a routine.

Rob, Chicago, IL (Sent Wednesday, September 19, 2007 7:55 PM)

True story. I am a 73 yr old, student at CSUSB, San Bernardino, CA. I go to the gym three days a week. For chest I do cable fly's for warm up, Then straight bar bench press, incline and flat, 4 sets, 10 reps. I currently hold the over seventy flat bench record at 285 lbs. do you think the free weight dumbbells would work better for my. or should I just keep on with what I'm doing. If that's you in the picture, nice upper body. but i think my tri's are better.

Walt Elliott,, San Bernardino, CA (Sent Wednesday, September 19, 2007 10:07 PM)

Thats Mathiew Mcconnahey or however you spell it..  Anyway I heard that most people that work on just straight bar bench cant do dumbells as well.  But by working on your dumbell bench the flat bar bench will increase.

Mike Norfolk VA (Sent Thursday, September 20, 2007 8:54 AM)

The problem I find with dumbbell press, at least when reaching weight limit, is getting the weights into position to do the reps!  When rolling onto my back, with weights in hand, I can the stress on my rotator cuff - ouch!

Tony, Springfield, VA (Sent Thursday, September 20, 2007 9:26 AM)

Using dumbbells will help you have a more even development and will use more stablizing muscles.  With any barbell, you will always have a potential for you to "cheat" one side of your body, whether it be due to injury or just less strength in your non-dominant arm.  

R, Chicago, IL (Sent Thursday, September 20, 2007 10:02 AM)

When you are lowering your arms during the dumbell press, do you rotate your wrists so your palms face forward, or keep them facing each other?

Benjamin, St. Louis, MO (Sent Thursday, September 20, 2007 10:15 AM)

Mike, the reason people have difficulty with dumbbells is because a straight bar is easier to stabilize than dumbbells, but once you are able to stablize them, you shouldnt have a trouble with them and in turn may make a straight bar even easier to handle.....

Tony, if you are at the point where the dumbbells are difficult to get into position, i would definitely recommend a work out buddy for spots

another mike (Sent Thursday, September 20, 2007 10:16 AM)

I have always thought that there is no better exercise than flat bench press for your chest. I do some dumbell--as well as machine-flys, but they are always at the end of a workout when my tris are shot. Someone suggested that you could use more weight on the dumbell presses than the flys and while that is true, I think the featured exercise is supposed to be done without changing weights because the concept is that the flys will preexhaust your pecs without straining your tris allowing you to get more stress on the pecs than if you just did dumbell presses. If you take time to switch dumbells you diminish that effect. As to my question, I am quite barrel chested and would like to have a flatter looking chest. Any ideas?

Terry, Milwaukee, Wis (Sent Thursday, September 20, 2007 10:35 AM)

Um, this will work for women too right? If so, what weight do you recommnd women to start off with if they've really never done this before?

Christine (Sent Thursday, September 20, 2007 2:16 PM)

Yep it will work for women. If you're fairly new to working out, always start out slow at some weight you are comfortable with.  Most women use the 5-15 pound range for flys and press movements since they're going for tone and not bulk.  Basically, always use dumbells that will allow you to maintain proper form and range of motion for the movement.

Jeremy, Ames, Iowa (Sent Thursday, September 20, 2007 2:49 PM)

Variety is the spice of life. Vary the workout routine widely to keep it from being boring. Also, dumbells are superior to other devices and machines (if handled properly) because, as some of you have already mentioned, they force you to stabilize the weights with each arm independently using all muscles of the pectoral girdle, forearm and triceps. As for how much weight you should use, listen to your body. If you are not feeling the burn or soreness the next day, consider increasing sets, reps or weight. Low weight and many sets/reps will improve tone and definition. High weight and fewer sets/reps will build mass.

Scott, Lexington, Ky (Sent Thursday, September 20, 2007 3:52 PM)

*just not worth it*....Stick with dumbell press if anything...fly's are evil....To echo what Tony said, if you're new at this, you can destroy your shoulder VERY quickly as your form must be perfect, if you can't maintain form, youre lifting too much weight/game over.  I made this mistake years back and still feel pain to this day in my shoulder from 'flys'...I'll never do them again, my Physical Therapist said that was the most common injury he see's even among so called body building professionals who know what theyre doing...your shoulders were not designed to handle that type of strain/lift at that angle... Go with the dumbbell press, uses more tricept/arm strain vs shoulder...  You will eventually hit a weight limit were it is no longer practical/safe to use free weights for this type of excercise....ie getting into position/wrist strain etc....

matt pa (Sent Thursday, September 20, 2007 3:59 PM)

Everyone here has provided great insight, thanks.  I've found a few things to work well to improve strength, size, and tone the chest.  My typical chest work out consists of flat bench, incline dumbell press, incline bench press, decline bench press, incline fly and cable fly.  I usually go heavy for about a month, and then switch it up for a couple of weeks to a lighter-more focused work out.  For this I will start off with 2 or 3 heavy sets of dumbell press, followed by flat, incline and decline bar, light weight 4 sets of 10 reps.  I find that by mixing it up I don't burn out my muscles and I don't plateau.  It also provides enough excersize to burn fat and keep the muscle lean vs bulky.  

EK, South Boston, MA (Sent Wednesday, October 03, 2007 1:29 PM)



SEND A COMMENT

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.): 

 Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private)

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://fitlist.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=367156