How to Build a Bigger Chest

How to Build Muscle

Question: My question is about how to build a bigger chest. I heard that the bench press is a crappy chest exercise. Is this true? If it sucks, what’s better?

Answer: The bench press is a decent exercise, if somewhat risky and dangerous. I’m not a huge fan of it because it beats up your shoulders pretty good and doesn’t target the pecs that effectively.

Some people try to combat this problem and target the pecs more by bringing their elbows out wide and lowering the bar up higher on the chest (the way that bodybuilding magazines typically show you how to do it). This is a shoulder injury waiting to happen, so that’s not an option to even consider. I did these many years ago for a few months before I knew any better and my shoulder has never been the same since. Don’t make the same mistakes that I did.

If you’re going to bench press be sure to keep your shoulder blades pulled tightly back and use a grip no wider than shoulder width.

My personal preference and a much better option for building the chest is the low incline bench press with the bench set at no higher than 30 degrees. This reduces the injury risk and hits the pecs far more effectively; especially the upper pecs which most people are deficient in. The thirty degree angle keeps the stress on the pecs and off of the front delts more effectively as well. I would recommend that over flat bench presses every single time. Former six time Mr. Olympia, Dorian Yates used this as his staple chest building exercise and it would be hard to argue with his results.

Again, use a somewhat narrower grip, as this is safer and has been shown to target the upper pecs more effectively. I’d recommend about shoulder width and no wider. Also, to keep the tension on the pecs instead of the front delts, and off of the joints and connective tissue I’d recommend stopping the bar 2-3 inches off your chest and 2-3 inches shy of lockout.

Equally as effective is the low incline dumbbell bench press. The dumbbells allow a more natural range of motion and are much safer. The dumbbells also give you the option of pressing with your palms facing each other, in toward your body. This is known as a semi supinated grip and places less stress on your shoulders. It’s the only way I do dumbbell presses. Doing them pronated with heavy weights can be a bit awkward and more stressful to the shoulder because your elbows will have to be flared out more.

Any discussion about how to build a bigger chest wouldn’t be complete without mentioning pushups. Pushups of all varieties will always remain among my top chest builders. My favorites are weighted floor pushups (either having a partner hold a plate on your back, wearing a weighted vest or using the Power Pushup), suspended pushups using the Jungle Gym or gymnastics rings, 1 arm pushpups, or Aligator pushups with your feet in the Power Wheel.

When performing suspended pushups remember that the function of the pecs is to draw the arms across the midline of the body. Because of that it’s best to set the straps about five feet apart from each other to make the exercise harder. By setting the straps far apart from each other, you make the pecs function in this way as you press/pull yourself back up from the bottom position. You have to do it and feel it to appreciate what I’m talking about, but I don’t think you will find a better chest exercise than this. If, like Frank Rizzo of the Jerky Boys, you have a chest like a wet blanket, then I highly recommend you give this exercise a try.

If you’re an advanced lifter and have been training for several years, having built up considerable size and strength and your chest is still lagging behind you can consider adding some fly type movements in on occasion. These should only be done after you have completed your big pressing exercise. Typically this should be done for only 1-2 sets of 10-15 reps with constant tension. I prefer suspended flyes but cable flyes or low to high cable crossovers can work as well.

Just remember that the most muscle mass is built with big compound exercises and that nobody with less than 2-3 years of training experience has any business messing around with flyes or any isolation movements in general.
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Now you know how to build a bigger chest. For more highly effective mass building exercises visit MuscleGainingSecrets.com.