Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Chest


Chest is straightforward. As a beginner, you will want to do bench press as your isolation chest exercise. Start out with low weight (even just the bar at first) if you need to, so that you can concentrate on getting your form correct before adding weight. Below I only have pictures of traditional flat bench press, but I highly recommend including incline and decline presses in your chest routine (It's even okay to do them back to back). Form for flat bench and the other two benches is the same, so don't be afraid to try them out. Also it is very important to use a spotter. Bench press is a dangerous exercise especially if you're not used to doing it, and you will absolutely need to get someone to spot you for your sets with this exercise.


As you can see in the picture above, the guy in the black shirt has spaced his hands on the barbell out a little wider than shoulder-width. This is perfect, you don't want your grip to be too wide or to narrow. Placing your ring finger on the small rings around most barbells is a great way to know how wide to grip and to ensure that your grip is symmetrical.


Once you've established your grip, firmly grasp the barbell with both hands keeping your elbows locked. Make sure your holding the bar straight up (it should be above the bottom tip of your sternum). Take note of your breathing and take a couple deep breaths before beginning your first rep. You should be taking deep breaths in as you lower the bar each time, and exhaling as you lift. Breathing is critical. You will not only be able to lift a lot more with good breathing, but you will also reduce the risk of injury and improve the results of the exercise. Remember to always lift the bar straight up (arms point straight up to the ceiling).


When you bring the bar down for each rep, make sure that you bring it all the way down so that it just touches your chest. This can be a bit daunting for beginners, but it is perfectly safe as long as you control the lowering of the bar. Do not ever use your chest or body to lift or bounce the bar up. This technique in form is not commonly used, and it will dramatically improve the results you see from doing this exercise.

Practice this exercise and when you feel comfortable, start doing incline and decline bench press. These are all you really need to know when starting chest isolation, but you should see huge results if you've never done this before.

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