Design Your Chest Workout to Build Muscle Fast
Are you one of the many people want to build muscle fast by focusing on their chest workout?
Do you know how to target the specific muscles of the chest for total development of your pectorals?
Before starting a chest workout, it is important to understand the muscles of the chest and how they work. With the proper information, you can design a chest workout that packs on quality muscle.
Additionally, in order to build muscle fast, it is important to understand the role proper rest and nutrition play in the muscle building process.
A thick, powerful chest is extremely important aspect of your body's overall aesthetic, so let's get started.
What are the Major Muscles of the Chest?
Your chest is composed of two muscles - the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor.
The pectoralis major (see picture below) is a thick, fan shaped muscle that lies above the pectoralis minor and is the visible muscle of the chest.
It is divided into two distinct sections. The sternal, or lower, portion is attached, appropriately, to the sternum (breast bone). The upper portion, or clavicular is attached to your clavicle (collar bone). Both the upper and lower portions flow into a flat tendon located near the armpit.
The fibers of the pectoralis major are multipennate, meaning that the fibers approach the tendon from many different directions. As a result, the fastest way to build muscle in your chest workout is to target the chest from several different directions and angles.
The pectoralis minor is often an overlooked muscle in the chest workout. Increasing the size of this muscle potentially pushes the pectoralis major outward, giving the chest a fuller look. Therefore, it may be beneficial to work this muscle if you want to build muscle fast with your chest workout.
The basic function of the chest muscles are to pull the arm and shoulder across the front of the body. They are also used in pushing motions.
What Exercises Should Be in my Chest Workout to Build Muscle Fast?
Any chest workout designed to build muscle fast, particularly the pectoralis major, should consist of two basic movements - presses and flys.
Presses to Build Muscle Fast in your Chest Workout
Presses are movements that involve pressing weight from the chest away from the body by straightening the arms. They are compound movements; that is, they involve the movement of several joints to lift the weight.
Middle Managers™ often call this "multi-tasking." Compound movements are the fastest way to build muscle in the gym. Because of the involvement of multiple joints, the chest muscle is supplemented by the shoulders (deltoids) and triceps (back of the arms).
The pressing movement that most people are familiar with is the flat bench press. The flat bench press is a general chest movement performed with a barbell on a flat bench. By changing the grip from wide to narrow on the bench press, you can target the outer and inner portion of the chest.
It is important to remember, however, the wider the grip on a pressing movement, the more strain that is put on the shoulder girdle, which can result in injury. Also, as your grip becomes narrower, the focus of the lift moves primarily to the triceps.
However, presses are available to target all areas of the chest. Incline and decline presses target the upper (clavicular) and lower (sternal) portions of the chest respectively. The can be done with dumbbells as well as barbells.
Additionally, other pressing movements such as dips can be added target the chest. Finally machine presses and presses performed on the Smith machine can be done to ensure that the lifter is safe when no spotter is available.
Flys to Build Muscle Fast in your Chest Workout
Flys are exercises where the arms are extended and brought together across the chest. They are considered by many to be an isolation exercise since they only involve the movement of one joint, the shoulder. This is not exactly true since there is some deltoid involvement in lifting the weight.
They do isolate the chest more than the pressing exercise, however, and are used to both build mass and as shaping movements.
Flyes can be performed with either cables or dumbbells. Variations of the fly include cable crossovers and "pec deck" machines.
You can do flyes from three basic angles: Incline to hit the upper, or clavicular, portion of the chest, decline to hit the lower, or sternal, portion, and flat to target the overall pectoral region.
What Injuries Occur to the Pectorals during my Chest Workout?
The pectorals can strain and tear during your workout. These most often occur where the muscles insert into the upper arm. Since you should be using heavy weights when you build muscle fast, you should be sure to warm up properly be stretching and performing warm up sets before moving to heavier weights.
Also, you should focus on proper technique when lifting. Letting the weight descend to quickly, or letting the elbows flare out can often lead to injury.
What Are Some Other Considerations when Creating a Chest Workout?
The upper chest area is often the most neglected area of the chest. This is because we mainly focus on the flat bench press, while it is a great exercise for overall chest development, tends to target the stenal portion of the chest slightly more than the clavicular. For this reason, when designing a solid chest workout to build muscle fast, you should begin ever other workout with a movement that targets the upper portion of your chest.
Dumbbells allow you to perform pressing exercises with a greater range of motion. By working your pectorals through the entire range of motion, you stimulate more muscle fibers, allowing you to build muscle fast.
Therefore, when doing dumbbell movements, both presses and flyes, you should concentrate on stretching the muscle as much as you are safely able to. This will allow for a more intense contraction of the chest muscle. After compound movements, working out through a full range of motion is arguably the fastest way to build muscle.
As with most other muscle groups, in order to build muscle fast with your chest workout, you should perform 8 to 12 reps per set. These reps and sets should be done using the heaviest amount of weight you can use and still perform the rep with proper form.
There are several free workout plans and chest exercise descriptions for your chest workout available here.
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