So… How much do you bench??

If I had a rupee for everytime some one asked me that question I would surely have enough money to buy a nice car.

A good number of people hitting the gym primarily go to the gym with either of the two objectives, building a good presentable chest or building impressive arms. I am sure a poll of a good numbers of gym goers both new starters and seasoned gym goers will reveal an interesting inclination to Chest building & conditioning. Somehow a barrel chest has been ingrained in our collective consciousness as a true mark of a great and phenomenal body.

Why does the Chest command the respect it does? The simple reason for that is that the chest is the most visible muscle in the human body for both the genders. A barrel chest draws a lot of attention and signifies well balanced muscular development.

I am from the school of thought that every body part is critical and deserves equal attention. There are muscles and muscles groups more impressive than the chest when fully developed but for the sake of my readers out there let me begin with the chest first.

The objective of this blog is to share my knowledge of chest development and should hopefully help you to understand the mechanics of operation and be able to develop the chest to the best of your ability

Before we get into how to build the chest, I suggest we understand the basic musculature of the chest. 

Chest Anatomy:

The human chest is made up of 2 major muscle groups, 

1.      The Pectoralis Major

2.      The Pectoralis Minor

These are collectively known as the “Pectoral Muscles”. I am sure you must have heard the term “pecs” used a lot in the gym or even in everyday common speak.

The pecs are found attached to the humerus of the arm, right near where the shoulder joint is. They then run across the front of the body and originate on the breastbone (picture a chicken breast).

The pectoralis major is a large fan-shaped muscle that covers the rib cage. It consists of two parts, upper and lower. The upper portion, which originates from the clavicle, is known as the clavicular head, and the lower portion, which originates from the sternum, is known as the sternal head. The pectoralis major's primary functions are to flex, adduct, and medially rotate the arm. 

The pectoralis minor is a small, triangular muscle, located deep under the pectoralis major. Its primary functions are to depress and rotate the scapula downward.

The pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor combine together to create that iconic movement commonly known as the “bench press”.  I shall of course in interest of my reader’s tackle the bench press is greater detail, but for now let us focus on the chest.

Different Parts of the Chest: A workout perspective

From strength training perspective the chest can be broken up into 3 major exercise areas that need to be hit hard with a series of compound motions. The areas are the upper chest, the middle chest, the lower chest. 

The Upper Chest: 

The upper chest is something that some gym rats forget about. The best exercise for hitting the upper chest is incline barbell presses. For this you want to have the bench on an incline where you can specifically feel it working your upper chest.

Different people feel the exercise at different angles (45 degrees works for most people) - but the best thing to do is try different angles to see what works for you.

If you feel the exercise more towards the middle of your chest then you have the angle too low and it will feel more like a flat bench press. On the flip side, if you feel the exercise more in your shoulders, then you have the angle too high and you need to decrease the angle. 

Personally I feel the 45 degree angle to work the best for me. But again that’s just me!! 

The Mid Chest:

The mid chest is hit with the famous exercise - the bench press. Everyone does it in the gym (unless you are injured, have a disability, or simply have no idea what you are doing in the gym). 

Too many people are in the gym trying to impress everyone with how much they can bench, yet more than half of them are doing the exercise incorrectly in which they can cause serious injury to themselves. 

The famous saying, "What do you bench?" is said around the gym more than any other saying-I cringe at the sound of it. Not because I don't care what they bench, but because I know that person is one of the many that I mentioned above that are probably executing the exercise incorrectly. 

So let me say it once and get it over with... It's not how much weight you can lift, leave your ego at the door - concentrate on feeling the weight and using the correct form.

The Lower Chest: 

This is a part that is more often than not neglected. Proper chest development cannot be achieved without developing the lower chest. Sadly, this is a fact lost on many gym rats and many gyms as well. I have visited a number of gyms and have been saddened by the absence of a “Decline” bench. 

The decline bench helps develop the lower chest which adds to the entire appeal of the chest. One look at the best of the best in bodybuilding and you will find overall development. I will let you know why I am making a case for lower chest development, If someone neglects the lower portion of their chest you will notice fullness in the upper half but below mid-chest they will be flat and without the roundness at the bottom portion.

I have out of extensive knowledge tried to compile a list of all possible chest exercises that I have used or read about or seen people use (mostly ones I have myself used). The list is as below,

 

1. Flat Barbell Bench Press
2. Flat Dumbbell Bench Press
3. Incline Barbell Bench Press
4. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
5. Decline Barbell Bench Press
6. Decline Dumbbell Bench Press
7. Flat Bench Dumbbell Flyes
8. Incline Bench Dumbbell Flyes
9. Decline Bench Dumbbell Flyes
10. Smith Machine Flat Bench Press
11. Smith Machine Incline Bench Press
12. Pec Deck
13. Cable Machine Flat Bench Fly
14. Cable Machine Incline Bench Fly
15. Bodyweight Pushups (different hand positions available)
16. Weighted Pushups (different hand positions available)
17. Bodyweight Incline Pushups on the Stability Ball (different hand positions available)
18. Bodyweight Dips
19. Weighted Dips
20. Pullovers

 

To end the post, which I am sure will be followed by many more that will detail each strategy to build each and every muscle part in the Chest; I would just like to say that make sure you are hitting each part of the chest equally (unless your chest isn't balanced then you need to work on that section more). Focus on compound movements for the upper, mid, and lower chest. Then utilize shaping movements such as flyes to finish out your chest workout.

Most of all have fun with your workouts. If you aren't having fun, then what's the point?

And just as an FYI the following are my max. Bench Press stats., 

1. Flat Bench Press – 360 lbs (8 plates of 45 lbs) for 6 reps
2. Incline Bench Press – 270 lbs (6 plates of 45 lbs) for 8 reps
3. Decline Bench Press – 270 lbs (6 plates of 45 lbs) for 8 reps 

Training 101— Hitting the Gym

 

A question I have come across in a variety of forms is how anyone starts training or rather what should be an ideal start for a training regime. This is especially true of people who hit the gym for the first time. Often you will find someone with a real good physique or some-one built like a tank (I know this I am one of those tanks) throwing up un-godly amounts of weight like u would throw peanuts and want to emulate them. Instructors with poor knowledge or with no knowledge of exercises and body dynamics compound the problem with really poor exercise program design that more often than not weans people away from exercising than anything else. 

People coming to the gym are of 2 types. One set of people are whom I would call the “cardio warriors” (Note the sarcasm and derision) and the others are the confused lot. I call people confused in the gym purely because they come with no real goals set for them other than the usual losing weight nonsense. 

So how then should one go ahead to begin a journey into the gym? Simple question that has a complex answer. I shall break up the answer into two parts, the pre gym phase and the gym phase.

 

The Pre-Gym Phase:

 

• The first and the most important thing is goal setting. By goal setting I mean realistic achievable goals. So “losing weight” as a goal is as random and flawed as the concept of weight is (another day another post!) and hence is not a real goal. On the other hand say losing 5 kg in 6 months or fitting into an old pant a couple of inches lower is a more realistic goal and hence achievable. 

• Get your self measured. Take measurements of your problem areas and make a note of them. I would recommend making a training journal or a log book with your goals and your measurement clearly written. All the great physiques of the past and present have done this very successfully and I see no harm in adapting something good. 

• Have a general health check-up done. This is mandatory especially for people with poor health history. Also doesn’t hurt to know where you stand health wise also. 

• Scout out good gyms around where you stay. Most good gyms offer trial sessions. Make use of them to have a feel of the surrounding, the machines available, and the kind of people around. Also make use of the time to assess the instructors, check if they can help you achieve your goals. 

• Once you have narrowed down on a gym, pay up and get set go to join!! 

 

The Gym Phase:

 

• Understand one thing, working out is no joke. This has to be taken up very seriously. Be very very careful as there is a good chance you could hurt yourself if you are careless or are over-confident. 

• Dress up appropriately in comfortable clothes and good shoes. I will deal with this issue in a separate post coming up soon. 

• To begin you first day, start with some basic warm up exercises. I would recommend the following, 

1. Cycling on a stationary Cycle – Full Body Warm-Up
2. Push-Ups assissted or free body push ups 2 sets of 10 to 15 reps
3. Free body weight squats 2 sets of 10 to 15 reps 

§         After the warm ups we are now primed to begin our work out. Being the first day, start slow. Use light weights and low rep ranges of around 10 to 15 reps per set. Maintain the same weight throughout the entire duration of the exercise. 

§         I would recommend breaking the work out cycle initially into an Upper-Lower body cycle. The upper body cycle would comprise of chest, back & shoulders. The lower body cycle would include legs and arms. 

§         Once the stipulated work-out has been completed, please spend around 10 minutes in good static stretches. It has been scientifically proven that static (deep stretches that are held for a specific time) are excellent for increasing body suppleness & injury prevention. I shall suggest some sample stretches below and shall deal with stretching separately. 

§         That ends the work-out.

 

Understand one thing going to the gym is a long term commitment and should be made after careful consideration of ones physical well being and fitness goals. What I talk about and will keep talking about is purely indicative and should under no way be treated otherwise. 

Go on now “HIT THE GYM!!”