Mass Building Workout – 7 Exercises For an Explosive Chest
The easiest way to gain mass and encourage muscle growth it to focus on and target the big muscles in your body. Your pectoral muscles are the large muscle group in your chest. Many exercises that target them also build up secondary muscles in your triceps and shoulders.
For these reasons your chest or pectoral muscles are a great place to workout when trying to gain muscle mass. I’d like to share with you 7 exercises that you should incorporate into your routine which are great for building up your chest muscles.
1) Dumbbell Flyes
Lie down on a flat bench and place a dumbbell in each hand. Rest the dumbbells on your thighs and keep your palms facing each other. Raise your arms one at a time until they are point straight up with your elbows slightly bent and the weights parallel to each other and your body. That is your starting position.
Lower your arm in a wide arch until you feel a stretch in your chest. All the movement should be coming from your chest, do not move or bend your arms. Follow the same path back up and squeeze your chest when you get to the top.
2) Bench Press
Lie down on a flat bench with a barbell rack. Line up in the center of the bench and take a grip shoulder length apart. Make sure your hands are evenly spaced. Push the bar up and out of the rack and bring it in line with your mid-chest. Slowly lower the bar until it touches your chest and then push it back up for one rep.
You can lift a lot of weight with this exercise, just make sure to stay safe and have a spotter behind you.
3) Push Ups
Classic exercise you can do in the comfort of your own home. Lie on your stomach with your hands shoulder with apart, palms on the ground. Push up keeping your back and legs straight, no sagging in the middle! Up and down is one rep. Alter the distance and angle between your hands to work different parts of your pectorals.
4) Pec Deck Butterflys
Sit down at the Pec Deck machine. Position your chair so that your arms are in a slightly bent L shape when you grab the handles. Bring both arms together and squeeze in the middle. Then return to starting position.
5) Pull Overs
Great exercise to extend the rib cage. Lie perpendicular to a flat bench. Only your shoulders should be on the bench, feet are flat on the floor. Use both your hands to hold one dumbbell. Arms should be bent at the elbow and weight should be directly in front of your face. Extend your hands backwards and down, then pull back up for one complete rep.
6) Dips
This is an excellent compound movement that works your chest and arms. Find a set of dip bars and position yourself on them. Keep your knees bent, legs crossed at the ankles and lean slightly forward. Lower yourself down, then lift back up slowly for one rep.
7) Cable Crossovers
Find a pulley machine which has one pulley on each side. Move each pulley into the ‘high’ position. Reach out and grab each handle. Stand up straight with your arms out like the letter T. Lean forward at your hip, keeping your back straight. This is the starting position. Then bring your arms together and down, squeezing your chest at the bottom when they connect. Slowly return to the start for one rep.
