How to build chest muscles?

Every man wants to have perfect pectoral muscles, but it does not mean that you can have them just by arranging them. It requires a lot of time and hard work. Therefore, pectoral muscle training is a long-term project. During the long practice, we mainly need to persist. Especially when exercising muscles, it is particularly boring, so we need to pay special attention to this. So, how do you train pectoral muscles? For such problems, we will understand them through the following introduction.

1. Design and Practice of the Bench Press Barbell

When doing barbell and dumbbell exercises, the muscles being trained are mainly affected by factors such as the weight of the bar, the way of holding the bar, the grip distance, the lifting angle, the lifting speed and the number of sets, and the pectoralis major is no exception.

The bar diameter of the bench press barbell should be slightly thicker, with an outer diameter of 35-40 mm and a wall thickness of 2.5-3.0 mm. A thicker lever can reduce the unit pressure on the palm, increase the force-bearing area, and facilitate pushing the arm up. The distance from the grip to the bell plate should be short, about 100 mm, so that the weight (force) is concentrated on the vertical plane close to the pectoral muscles and the generation of force couple can be reduced.

The lever must be raised and lowered in the area of ​​the chest muscles being trained (from the diaphragm down to the clavicle up). The chest should be trained from bottom to top and from wide to narrow, that is, first train the lower chest (lying on the side), then train the middle chest (lying flat), and finally train the upper chest (lying on the side). First, use a wide grip, then a medium grip, and finally a narrow grip. Using a wide grip bar will train the width of your chest muscles, while using a narrow grip bar will train the height (thickness) of your chest muscles.

As for the bench press, a short bench is used for the incline bench press (20-30 degrees) and the flat bench press. When pressing, only the upper back touches the bench surface, which can make the chest stand up and increase the unit pressure. Using a seated curved bench (30-45 degrees) for the incline bench press can lift the upper chest and make it horizontal, allowing the barbell to act vertically on the upper chest muscles.

2. Breathing for the Bench Press

Inhaling when exerting force can increase the amount of myoglobin that stores oxygen and muscle glycogen that supplies energy, expand the muscle capillaries, and facilitate exertion. If you exhale while exerting force, you will be deprived of oxygen and insufficient muscle glycogen energy supply, which will reduce muscle strength and the number of muscle fibers involved in exerting force will also decrease. In addition, insufficient "burning" of muscle glycogen will produce more lactic acid, causing muscle soreness and fatigue. Therefore, the correct breathing method for the bench press is to inhale when pushing the barbell up and exhale when lowering the barbell.

3. Bench Press Speed

The use of fast contraction (1-2 seconds) and slow stretch (2-4 seconds) contradicts Wade's slow continuous tension rule (4 seconds of contraction time and 2 seconds of recovery and stretching time). The author's experience is that the recovery time should be the same as the contraction and lifting time (2 to 3 seconds). Lifting too fast or too slow means the weight you are lifting is inappropriate.

4. The influence of triceps on chest muscles

While training the pectoralis major, you should also strengthen the triceps in your upper arms. Without well-developed triceps, it is impossible to bench press a heavy barbell, and it is impossible to develop well-developed pectoralis major muscles. Generally, the weight of the bench press should be three times the weight of the triceps training.

The above is about how to train the pectoral muscles. When practicing the pectoral muscles, we must pay attention to the correct methods and standardized movements, and we also need to do each movement carefully. This is also the most critical. We should also pay attention to our diet and eat more protein-rich foods. In addition, we should also pay attention to our mood.