3 Exercises to Build a Well-Defined Chest
September 14, 2021
What’s most guy’s favorite muscle group? You guessed it! A strong chest not only enhances your physique, but will also help you out with daily activities and make you more proficient in most sports.
Unfortunately, most guys’ chest development is lagging like a bad internet service. If you’re in that category, here are 3 quality exercises that will help you sculpt some well-defined pecs.
1. Weighted Pushups
Muscles Worked: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs
If you haven’t done pushups since your high school P.E. teacher made you drop and give him 20, then no wonder you’ve been a skinny guy for this long.
From the military to the penitentiary, pushups have been to the go-to exercise to not only to build muscle, but to whip folks into shape period. In addition, it’s the best exercise that every quality workout regimen should incorporate, especially when building a massive chest is the goal.
Some people feel pushups are too easy and so abolish them to fitness purgatory. If that is you, I want you to carefully read the following: There is ALWAYS a way to do pushups that will challenge you.
A good rule of thumb is if you cannot do at least 20 solid reps of a given pushup variation, then you haven’t mastered it yet.
If you can bust out 20 regular pushups with your bodyweight, then it’s time to increase the weight. Using a book bag to add weight and strap it on your back while performing pushups. Add 5lb each time until you’re able to complete 20 solid reps.
Overtime, as you add weight, your body adds upper-body muscle, specifically to the chest.
2. Incline Dumbbell Chest Fly
Muscles Worked: Chest, Shoulders
While most chest exercises call for pressing/pushing movements, this exercise is strictly about expanding and contracting the chest muscles. The benefit of the dumbbell fly exercise is its ability to generate more muscle activity in your pecs than pushups.
According to a study the American Council on Exercise published in 2012, the dumbbell fly exercise, when performed on an incline bench, generates more muscle activity than standard pushups and stability ball pushups
3. Incline Bench Press
Muscles Worked: Upper Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Your upper chest needs love too! This exercise is superb at building the chest separation that guys covet and women love. That’s why it boggles me to see so many fellas in the gym blitz the regular bench press while treating inclines like a past due bill.
If you are serious about building tanktop-approved pecs, then the incline bench press needs to be in your exercise repertoire.
Now you know the exercises to build a well-defined chest, what are you waiting for? Use them so you can finally fill out that V-neck white tee!