By: Alex Stewart

Beginner's Guide To Building Your Chest

Does your chest resemble a sheet of plywood instead of the mountains of muscle you have always wanted? Do you spend countless hours on the bench press with no gains in size? Have you started to think that you were just not meant to have a big chest? Well stop right there, your wrong.

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Does Your Chest Resemble A Sheet Of Plywood
Instead Of The Mountains Of Muscle You Want?

I can't promise you will ever have the chest of the great Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I can promise that you can make a difference to your chest and put some great size on it if you are willing to just hear me out.

In the article below I will discuss the anatomy of the chest, its function, location in the body and some exercises for each area of the chest. Finally, and what you have been waiting for, I will include 5 of my favorite workout programs to help turn your flat chest in to massive slabs of muscle.

Chest Anatomy

The chest is made up of 2 muscles that work together to make the chest function. The muscle are the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor. Basically the pectoralis minor is located directly under the pectoralis major.

Location:
Starts at the Clavicle, inserts at the sternum and the armpit area (Humerous).

Function:

3 Different Functions:
• Side arm Pitching Motion
• Bring your arm up and down at your sides
• Arm Wresting Motion

Exercises:

Bench Press and Flyes.

Chest Building Pointers

Though the chest is made up of one single mass of muscle, it should be trained like it was broken into 3 parts. The upper, middle and lower portions of the chest are stimulated best from changing the angle in which you execute the exercise.

The upper chest is best stimulated from exercises done on a 30-45% incline bench. For example incline barbell and dumbbell bench press or incline dumbbell flyes are great upper chest exercises.

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Author, Alex Stewart, Displays The
Results Of His Hard Work.

The middle chest is best stimulated from exercises done on a flat bench. For example: flat barbell and dumbbell bench press or flat dumbbell flyes are great middle chest exercises.

The lower chest is best stimulated from exercises done on a 30-45% decline bench. For example: decline barbell and dumbbell bench press or decline dumbbell flyes are great lower chest exercises.

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I find all areas of the chest respond best in the beginning to low (4-6) or moderate (8-12) rep ranges. Rarely, I will include higher rep ranges for beginners, as I believe the heavier weight helps build a more solid foundation that beginners need. I also find that free weights should be your entire focus in the beginning, especially if chest is a weak point for you. The free weights just develop the chest a lot better than machines do in my opinion.

Now that you understand about what muscles make up your chest, their function, location and the rep range needed to stimulate them, let's give you some workouts to help you build your chest.

All exercises should be performed in perfect form because bad form or habits that you start now will follow you and will lead to lack of progress, or worst off injury in the future. Many if not all the exercises will be new to you. So make sure that you use the Exercise Guide on Bodybuilding.com to help you with your form.

Bodybuilding.com - #1 Exercises Guide Over 300 Exercises! Search for exercises and learn the correct form with picture and video guides! Get the best results possible and stay safe while lifting. There are many ways to find exercises using our new and improved exercise database. [ Check Out The Database Here ]

5 Of My Favorite Chest Building Workout Programs

1. Upper Chest Day:
• Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 4-6 Reps
• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 8 Reps
• Incline Dumbbell Flyes: 3 Sets Of 8-12 Reps
• Pushups*: 3 Sets Of 12 Reps

The lowering portion of the exercise should take 5-10 sec

2. Middle Chest Day:

• Flat Barbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 4-6 Reps
• Flat Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 8 Reps
• Flat Dumbbell Flyes: 3 Sets Of 8-12 Reps
• Pushups*: 3 Sets Of 12 Reps

*The lowering portion of the exercise should take 5-10 seconds.

3. Lower Chest Day:

• Decline Barbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 4-6 Reps
• Decline Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 8 Reps
• Decline Dumbbell Flyes: 3 Sets Of 8-12 Reps
• Pushups*: 3 Sets Of 12 Reps

*The lowering portion of the exercise should take 5-10 seconds.

4. Barbell Strength Day:

• Flat Barbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 4-6 Reps
• Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 4-6 Reps
• Decline Barbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 4-6 Reps
• Dips - Chest Version: 3 Sets Of 8-12 Reps

5. Dumbbell Size Day:

• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 8-12 Reps
• Decline Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 8-12 Reps
• Flat Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 8-12 Reps
• Dips - Chest Version: 3 Sets Of 8-12 Reps

These 5 workouts I use to this day to help bring up my chest which has been a weak point for me since my shoulder surgery back in 2005. Yes, I am using more weight than when I started but basic free weight workouts are the best for putting on dense thick muscle mass in your chest that you have always been looking for.

Conclusion

I want you to pick one of the workouts above and use it for 4-6 weeks trying to increase the weight each workout (while still using perfect form), then rotate to a different chest workout and repeat the process.

Now comes the fun part, "It's Chest Building Time". You have your knowledge and your workouts are laid out for you so "JUST GO LIFT".

Good Luck!

As always if you have any questions don't hesitate to drop me a message on my BodySpace.

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Alex Stewart Alex is an ISSA certified personal trainer, an ISSA certified nutritionist, sales representative for Myogenix, and a writer here on Bodybuilding.com. He has been training himself since 2001. [ Check Out His BodySpace ]

stewbid@comcast.net

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