When most people think of building up their upper chest muscles, they think of doing bench press exercises. Furthermore, those same people usually think of the flat bench exercises.
The flat bench press is one of the best ways to build up chest muscle, and probably a guaranteed way to gain body mass and strength. The drawback to it is that once you get to a certain point, you will begin to plateau.
This will happen to any exercise that you do unless you change what you are doing. You can do this by alternating styles of presses. Incline, flat, and decline bench press are recommended when you are trying to pass the plateau point, and doing so can build size and strength faster.
Incline Bench Press
By adding this exercise into your workout routine in conjunction to the flat bench press, you will begin to target the upper pectoral muscles. Inclines are a great compound exercise that helps to build your upper body strength and size. The shoulders, triceps, biceps, chest, posterior deltoids, anterior deltoids, and stabilizer muscles are all worked in this exercise.
Performing The Incline Bench Press Correctly
When beginning this exercise, make sure that your back is up against the bench and is not arched. Make sure that your grip on the bar is just a little more apart than shoulder-width and slowly begin to lower the weight, deliberately thinking about your form and which muscles are being used.
As the weight bar touches your chest, push the weight back up, again deliberately. Use limited body movements when doing any of these exercises, making sure that you are not wiggling your arms or raising your chest during the repetition’s duration.
Be sure not to arch your back, because when you do, you are using muscles that are not supposed to be used, which is cheating the ones that are supposed to be used. Doing these exercises wrong increasing your chance of getting injured.
Decline Bench Press
If you want to develop your lower chest muscle mass, this is the exercise for you. Decline bench press targets the lower chest muscles and can be done using dumbbells or an Olympic barbell. Using a barbell for this exercise is recommended if you are just starting out.
Performing Decline Bench Press
First, lie down flat on your back on the bench. Position your hands slightly wider than the width of your shoulders and lower the bar slowly at a controlled speed. When you lower the bar, you want to aim the bar two or three inches below your chest line.
Once the bar touches your chest, push the weight back to the starting position and repeat for six to eight repetitions. Decline bench press is a very dangerous exercise because there is a whole lot of shoulder joint movement. You should make sure you do this exercise with good form due to the chance of injury.
Getting injured just because of your ego is not worth the time it will take you to heal back up
The flat bench press is one of the best ways to build up chest muscle, and probably a guaranteed way to gain body mass and strength. The drawback to it is that once you get to a certain point, you will begin to plateau.
This will happen to any exercise that you do unless you change what you are doing. You can do this by alternating styles of presses. Incline, flat, and decline bench press are recommended when you are trying to pass the plateau point, and doing so can build size and strength faster.
Incline Bench Press
By adding this exercise into your workout routine in conjunction to the flat bench press, you will begin to target the upper pectoral muscles. Inclines are a great compound exercise that helps to build your upper body strength and size. The shoulders, triceps, biceps, chest, posterior deltoids, anterior deltoids, and stabilizer muscles are all worked in this exercise.
Performing The Incline Bench Press Correctly
When beginning this exercise, make sure that your back is up against the bench and is not arched. Make sure that your grip on the bar is just a little more apart than shoulder-width and slowly begin to lower the weight, deliberately thinking about your form and which muscles are being used.
As the weight bar touches your chest, push the weight back up, again deliberately. Use limited body movements when doing any of these exercises, making sure that you are not wiggling your arms or raising your chest during the repetition’s duration.
Be sure not to arch your back, because when you do, you are using muscles that are not supposed to be used, which is cheating the ones that are supposed to be used. Doing these exercises wrong increasing your chance of getting injured.
Decline Bench Press
If you want to develop your lower chest muscle mass, this is the exercise for you. Decline bench press targets the lower chest muscles and can be done using dumbbells or an Olympic barbell. Using a barbell for this exercise is recommended if you are just starting out.
Performing Decline Bench Press
First, lie down flat on your back on the bench. Position your hands slightly wider than the width of your shoulders and lower the bar slowly at a controlled speed. When you lower the bar, you want to aim the bar two or three inches below your chest line.
Once the bar touches your chest, push the weight back to the starting position and repeat for six to eight repetitions. Decline bench press is a very dangerous exercise because there is a whole lot of shoulder joint movement. You should make sure you do this exercise with good form due to the chance of injury.
Getting injured just because of your ego is not worth the time it will take you to heal back up
