The chest is made up of the pectoralis major and minor muscles. The pectoralis major muscle (pectoralis major) is the largest muscle of the chest, it originates at an extended distance from the collarbone to the sternum, attaching to the humerus. The main function of the muscle is flexion and adduction of the shoulder, as well as its internal rotation. The pectoralis minor is a small triangular-shaped muscle located under the pectoralis major, and generally duplicates its functions.

Features of chest training.

There is a lot of mixed information regarding proper chest training, but science and sports medicine do not stand still, and now there is already reliable evidence for proper chest training. To stimulate the growth of the pectoral muscles, it is not at all necessary to pump them in every workout and perform countless repetitions and approaches. If you systematically overload the pectoral muscles, do not be surprised why so far you have not achieved good results. To prevent this, the following are recommendations for effective training of the pectoral muscles:

1. Chest training is closely related to triceps, so when planning your training program, do not put chest and triceps on the same day. By doing a triceps and chest workout on different days, you get the advantage that on triceps day you will engage your chest, but much less than on chest day, and the same goes for triceps. Thus, the load on the triceps and on the chest will vary from light to heavy, this will prevent the muscles from adapting to the load, create supercompensation of different parameters, and, accordingly, will have a much better effect on muscle growth. Read more: Muscle adaptation to stress
2. Chest training should take place at a frequency not exceeding twice a week for beginners (minimum rest period 2 days). Read more: Optimal training frequency
3. Perform 4-8 sets per chest (the sum of the sets of all exercises). So, for beginners, one or two exercises of three or two approaches, respectively, are enough. The optimal number of repetitions for the chest in order to increase the mass is 10-12 times. To increase strength, the number of repetitions is 6-8 times. Read also: Optimal training duration and Optimal training frequency
4. Do the eccentric phase exercise slowly. For maximum effect, you can use negatives, but not more than 1 workout out of 3-4 on the chest.
5. The pectoral, like other muscles, are best pumped with basic exercises, in particular the bench press lying on a horizontal or inclined bench and push-ups on the uneven bars. For athletes with less than 2 years of experience, it is optimal not to use isolation exercises.
6. Anatomically, all chest exercises are horizontal presses.

Selective chest training.

Summing up, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that all exercises involve the pectoral muscle almost completely, but almost every exercise has its own emphasis on a specific area. The following are exercises to train individual areas of the chest

Upper chest exercises:

1. Bench press with the head end of the bench raised
2. Breeding dumbbells with a raised head end of the bench
3. Push-ups from the floor head down
4. Army press
5. Lifting a barbell or dumbbell in front of you

Lower chest exercises:

1. Bench press with the head end of the bench lowered
2. Pullovers
3. Push-ups from the floor
4. Push-ups on the uneven bars
5. Breeding dumbbells with the head end of the bench lowered

Exercises for the inner chest:

1. Bench press on a horizontal bench
2. Breeding dumbbells on a horizontal bench
3. Push-ups on the uneven bars

Bodyweight exercises:

1. Dips
2. Push-ups from the floor

Weight training exercises:

1. Bench press with the head end of the bench raised
2. Breeding dumbbells with a raised head end of the bench
3. Army press
4. Lifting a barbell or dumbbell in front of you
5. Bench press with the head end of the bench lowered
6. Pullovers
7. Breeding dumbbells with the head end of the bench lowered
8. Breeding dumbbells on a horizontal bench
9. Bench press on a horizontal bench
10. Breeding dumbbells on a horizontal bench

Exercises on simulators:

1. Standing crossovers
2. Pullovers прямыми руками