SuperFitness

Getting it on Your Chest: Pectoral Muscles

A powerful chest often marks a winner. A strong upper body requires strong chest muscles which add much to a classic well-built physique. There are three muscles that make up the mass in the chest. These are the pectoralis major, pectoralis minor, and subclavius. The exercises which cause the pectoralis major to develop, also work the subclavius and pectoralis minor.

This simple fact makes your job both easy and hard. First, there is no need to have two hundred different exercises available to work the different pec muscles. Your underlying rib structure, however, may be different from that of the current champions. To mold these pectoral muscles to a winning shape takes some planning. In this column we will address exercises that build raw mass in the major chest muscles. A future column will deal with shaping exercises for specific genetics.

The important and popular chest exercises are shown below. Beginning and intermediate athletes in their first year or two of dedicated work will find these five mass builders the keys to the kind of growth necessary to make it to the winner's circle in record time.

1. Medium Grip Flat Bench Press - This is the most basic of the pec exercises. Start by lying on your back on a bench. Your buttocks should be flat against the bench with your feet comfortably at rest on the floor. Position yourself under the barbell weight so that it is about three inches above the center of your pecs.

Grip the bar at a distance even with your shoulders, and lift the weight straight up until the arms are almost fully extended. Pause just before you lock your elbows, and hold the position for two seconds. Slowly return to the starting position by consciously resting the pull of gravity.

2. Medium Grip Incline Bench Press - The second key mass builder for the pecs is a variation on the first exercise. To start this exercise, recline on an incline bench set to a thirty-degree angle. The barbell should be positioned just above your upper pecs.

Take a grip with your hands a little wider than your shoulders, palms forward. Slowly lift the weight until your arms are almost fully extended. Mentally concentrate on meeting the force of gravity with exertion based in the center of your pecs. Hold the top position for a long two seconds before you allow the bar to gradually return to the starting position.

3. Dips with Weight - This exercise is designed to be executed at a dip station that has the capability of adding additional weight to the standard dip motion. The added weight can take the form of a weight belt, or a lower cable attachment for your lifting belt. Hold yourself erect on the dip station bars, then slowly lower yourself by bending your arms until the biceps hardly touch. Pause for a moment before you allow your concentrated pec centered force to lift your body back to the starting position.

4. Ten Degree Decline Bench Press - Set a decline bench for a 10 percent decline, or raise the rear feet of a bench sufficiently to give the bench a ten-degree decline. Lie on the bench with your head at the lower end, and your chest positioned just below a barbell.

Grip the bar at shoulder width, and slowly lift the weight straight upward perpendicular to the floor. Mentally concentrate on the elbows following a straight upward path to just short of a lock-up position. Pause at the top of the motion, and slowly return the weight to its initial position.

5. Bent Arm Pullovers - Start this mass builder by lying on your back on a bench with a barbell on the floor near your head. Keeping your elbows as close to the body as possible, reach overhead and grip the bar at shoulder width. Gradually pull the barbell up and over your head until the bar is just above the central pectoral muscles. With a smooth motion, change the direction of the motion, and slowly return the bar to just above the floor overhead. Start the second and subsequent reps without allowing the weight to touch the ground overhead.

Contributed by C. W. Mann, who also writes
the syndicated column, SuperFitness.

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