How to Build Chest Muscles: Getting the Pecs You Want

Understanding Pectoral Muscles

Your chest muscles are the largest muscles in your upper body, and they are responsible for most pushing motions. However, you need to be careful when using these muscles. While the action is a pushing motion, they can only pull and shorten in their length.

The pectoralis major is the most significant muscle that makes up your chest, and it’s shaped like a fan that’s responsible for multiple motions in the shoulder, which include flexion, medial rotation, and adduction. The pectoralis major can get divided into several sections, so you can change the angle of your resistance training and stress the lower half versus the upper half.

You are going to see the pectoralis divided into thirds, but it’s vital that you understand that it’s not possible to isolate the middle portion of the muscle from the upper and the lower part.

How to Build Chest Muscles at Home

You don’t need to spend hours at the gym to build up your chest muscles, according to Visual Impact Fitness. Working out at home is sometimes preferred by people; especially beginners. The comfort of your home gives you the option to build muscle at your own speed without worrying about staring eyes or taking too much time on specific equipment.

Here are some commonly used workouts when learning how to build chest muscles at home:

• Dumbbell Presses

This exercise requires you lying on your workout bench with your feet on the floor and your back against the bench. You need to have your arms straight with the dumbbells held over your chest.

• Incline Dumbbell Press

This exercise works the same as the dumbbell press; however, your bench is at an incline. It is crucial that you remember that the higher the angle of your bench, the more stress shifts from your chest to your anterior deltoids.

• Decline Dumbbell Press

The decline press is the opposite of the incline press. It isolates the lower pectoral muscle, and it might not be an option for you depending on your bench.

Building Chest Muscles at the Gym

Many of the same exercises that you can do at the gym; you can actually do at home as well. However, some of you might like the overall experience of being in an environment with other muscle builders along with professionals who are trained to keep an eye on what's happening.

Even if you aren't using the services of a personal trainer, it's a reassuring feeling to know that someone is going to be around in case of an injury. Here are some commonly used exercises to build chest muscles in the gym:

• Bench Pressing

Bench pressing is one of the most classic and favorite chest-building exercises of all time—for a good reason. All you need to do to start is load a barbell with the weights that you want to lift. Keep in mind that it's safer to start at a low weight and slowly increase over time.

• Bar Dips

Bar dips are another popular exercise in the gym. They are great for stimulating muscle growth in your chest and use your body weight to do it.

You need to stand at a wide-grip, parallel to the bar and lift, and then lower yourself back down. It can be quite strenuous, but because of the amazing results, many people choose this method.

Other Tips

When you are working on building your chest muscles, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind and a few things that you need to do. Here are some of them:

• Work Out Hard

Working out as hard as you can is a key element to building your chest muscles; the more sets you can do, the better. One thing that you need to consider is the weight that you are using.

Working out as hard as you can is essential, but overtraining your chest muscles can be severely detrimental to not only your workout regimen but also your health and recovery.

• Get Rest

Because your chest muscles are the largest in your upper body, and because they are divided into three sections, they require more effort to reach the results that you are looking for. To repair the damaged that is done to your chest muscles after a workout, getting sleep and rest is vital.

Rest is important after any workout in order to heal the tissue and prompt muscle growth, but chest muscles require extra rest and free days in between workouts.

• Nutrition and Supplements

Like rest, nutrition is a critical part of any exercise including chest workouts. Incorporating a diet that is highly enriched with protein is going to ensure that you have the fuel needed to get you through the strenuous activities.

It’s possible that you might need to consume more calories than with standard muscle-building exercises because they burn more. Concerning supplements, many professionals recommend not only protein powder, but creatine as well.

Conclusion

There are so many exercises and methods for building chest muscles that it’s difficult to outline them all. If you are looking for some of the best techniques, look into Visual Impact Fitness to get modern ways of building your chest muscle.

Keep in mind that chest exercises can be dangerous, and slow and steady is what’s going to get you to the finish line. You might not see results immediately, but consistency makes sure they come.