Read 43 times since Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The chest is one of the hardest areas of the body to develop. That is because of the awkward positioning above the abdomen.
Pectoral muscles are basically used for very few and very specific functions: squeezing your arms together and pressing things away from your chess. Those are the two maneuvers that most use the pectorals, but because the pectorals are such a large muscle they are used in most every action requiring any upper body movement at all.
For example if you are doing a handstand most of the tension is going to be caught in your triceps and deltoids, but secondary muscles are going to be the trapezius and the pectorals major. Also if you are even doing lateral arm raises or dips, you are still exercising your pectorals in a secondary fashion.
Knowing how the muscles work is very important when exercising. Because you now that the chest's main functions are to press things away from the torso and squeeze things, you can fashion your exercise routines to these functions.
Now when you are working with body weight things are pretty limited, you have your planking exercise, pushups, and even low suspension. All of these exercises are going to require a lot triceps tension, and it is likely that your triceps are going to burn out before your pectorals.
If you incorporate dumbbells into your exercises you can start getting those hard to reach pectoral muscles, by specifically targeting them through certain routines. For example use the butterfly press routine or the straight dumbbell press to get the chest working in high gear.
The butterfly requires a bench which can be troublesome to try and fashion if you do not have a bench specifically made for exercising. However, getting a bench for this will help your chest immensely.
The butterfly press is the best way to directly target the center of the chest. It requires very little force from any muscle other than the pectoral, so that allows your chest to absorb all the tension, strain and gain.
Without work there can be no gain. That is just the simple truth of life.
You have got to have the right amount of catalytic exercise to spur proper muscle development. You also need proper amount of sleep and nutrition.
So remember when working with dumbbells: any movement that is going to require pectoral strain is a good one to practice, and if you increase the tension with dumbbells you can expect more results. Along with that take rest days so that your muscles can properly repair themselves. Destry Masterson is a health, fitness and nutrition expert. She has written articles about exercise and recommends http://www.proform.com for information about exercise equipment.
Contact Info:
Destry Masterson - MyOnlineArticleWriting@gmail.com - Twitter: @DestryMasterson
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