Build Chest Muscles

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Chest Anatomy   Tips For Building Chest Muscles   Chest Exercises   Sample Chest Workouts

Chest Anatomy The chest itself or pectorals major as it's formally known is a relatively large fan-shaped or triangular muscle located on the anterior of the body at the top of the torso. These muscles respond and build very well when using weight training exercises such as the well known bench press, the dumbbell press and the cable and dumbbell flyes. These exercises to build chest muscles have little changed since the dawn of bodybuilding and for a very good reason... They work!

Take a look at these weight training exercises below which are all designed for building chest muscles and can be incorporated into your workout routines. They are complete with instructions on how to perform and tips to improve your technique.

CHEST  (Pectoralis Major)	Difficulty	Other Muscles Worked
Barbell Exercises
Barbell Bench Press		Front Delts, Triceps
Dumbbell Exercises
Dumbbell Bench Press		Front Delts, Triceps
Dumbbell Flyes		Biceps, Front Delts
Machine Exercises
Smith Machine Bench Press		Front Delts, Triceps
Chest Press Machine		Front Delts, Triceps
Body Weight Exercises
Push Ups		Triceps, Quadriceps, Abs
Chest Dips		Front Delts, Triceps, Lats

The following chest building tips are ideal to maximize your results in adding lean muscle mass to the pectorals.

1). Don't Over Do It! To ensure that you're giving your chest muscles the best possible chance to build and repair it's important to make sure that you don't over train them. Try limiting the amount of exercises you perform to 3-4 per chest workout with a maximum of 3 sets on each. If you're training the chest every 5-7 days then this amount is more than sufficient to get your pecs growing.

2). Use The Right Exercises. Chest weight training exercises like all exercises have their builders, shapers and toners. If you want to build chest muscles then you need to utilize the main mass builders which are guaranteed to add size and definition. These are the barbell bench press, dumbbell bench press, and chest press machine.

Beginner Chest Routines – The chest workouts for beginners are an ideal starting point for adding some lean muscle mass and definition to the pectorals. The workouts encompass mainly the well known mass builders such as the bench press and vertical machine press which are notoriously effective at building chest muscles fast. Click here to jump down to the beginner workouts.

Intermediate Chest Routines – The intermediate workouts are designed for bodybuilders with a little weight training experience who are perhaps looking for a change in exercises or workout pattern. These routines break away from the beginner full body workouts and start to incorporate training splits and more advanced exercises. Click here to go to the intermediate routines.

Advanced Chest Routines – These are advanced chest weight training routines for experienced bodybuilders to build chest muscles. They focus on the more technical exercises and training splits. Check them out here.

This is a simple yet extremely effective beginners chest workout as it utilizes the bench press which is often described as the king of chest exercises. These exercises work best for a beginner when integrated into a full body routines and should be performed no more than 3 times per week to allow enough recovery time.

This beginners program contains a mixture of machine, free weight and body only exercises which together build chest muscles, working all areas of the chest. As mentioned in workout 1, this routine is also best used when mixed into a full body workout and should be performed a maximum of 3 times a week.

This intermediate workout has been designed to be part of a split body routine and could be combined with biceps, triceps or delts to be trained once or twice a week. It uses mass building exercises such as the bench press but also includes a few shaping exercises such as dumbbell flyes to add definition to the pectorals.

If you're bored of the same old bench presses for working the chest then this intermediate workout contains a variety of machine, free weight and cable exercises to build chest muscles fast. Again this workout is most effective when integrated into a split body routine and should be performed a maximum of twice a week.

Advanced chest workout 1. contains a few of the more technical exercises such as the cable crossover and exercises that require greater strength like the weighted push up all of which work great to build chest muscles.