Chest training is one of the most important parts of a bodybuilder's entire training split. The peculiarity of the pectoral muscles is that they are always in sight, so pumping them up is one of the highest priorities, in addition, the pectoral muscles make up a large muscle group, and it is the large muscles that should be given attention in the first place. Nevertheless, although this article will consider all aspects of training the pectoral muscles, the anatomy of the structure of the chest, practical recommendations for working out different parts of the pectoral muscles, the causes of chest lagging, how to properly train the chest and what should be emphasized, but still in this In this case, we are talking about a training program that focuses on the development of the pectoral muscles, and not on the basic principles of chest training.

If you are just starting to work out in the gym, then we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the chest training scheme, as well as study the bodybuilding material for beginners. However, this article will also be useful to you, but before starting to study the intricacies, we recommend that you study the basic information. Also be sure to subscribe to updates so as not to miss the rest of the useful information!

What is a chest? The pectoral muscles consist of the external pectoral muscles, the internal intercostal muscles, and the diaphragm. Bodybuilders, of course, are primarily interested in external ones, since it is their hypertrophy that is most noticeable. The greatest value is played by the pectoralis major muscle, which is a steam room, that is, it is located on both sides of the chest. Less important is the pectoralis minor, which is of interest because it pushes the pectoralis major forward, causing the chest to appear larger. Athletes usually do not train the rest of the muscles, but this, of course, is wrong, since these muscles also perform important functions. Moreover, for example, if you feel discomfort in the collarbone area, then you definitely need to work out the subclavian muscle.

The pectoralis major muscle - occupies the lion's share of chest training, it is she who is trained with all kinds of barbell and dumbbell presses. The function of this muscle is to bring the hand to itself or away from itself, respectively, due to this muscle, a pushing movement is performed - bench press. This muscle also performs rotational function, it is due to the pectoralis major muscle that a person can rotate his hand, well, in this case, if we are talking about bodybuilding, then this is breeding dumbbells. This is very important, because during training, the athlete trains muscle fibers that perform certain functions, respectively, since the functions are different, then different muscle fibers are involved. This does not mean that the bench press trains some fibers, and the layout of others, but there is a shift in the emphasis of the load and, yes, different muscle fibers are additionally involved.

Since the pectoralis major is, one way or another, the target muscle, it will be given special importance in chest training. Conventionally, the chest can be divided into middle, upper and lower, although all this will be the same muscle. The point of dividing the pectoralis major muscle into segments is that the muscle fibers have different attachment points, some are attached to the middle of the chest, others to the collarbone, and they are all attached to the humerus. Accordingly, depending on the position of the body, different fibers will be at different angles, when the athlete lies on a horizontal bench, then those fibers that are attached to the middle of the chest are at right angles, when the athlete lies at an angle upwards, then those fibers are at right anglesthat are attached to the collarbone. And it is anatomically more convenient for you to use those fibers that are exactly at a right angle, therefore, to shift the load on the desired muscle fibers, you need to change the load vector.

The pectoralis minor and the subclavian muscles are similar in many ways, but the former is responsible for bringing the shoulder blades down and forward, and the latter for bringing the collarbone down and forward. To load these muscles, it is necessary during the wiring, and preferably on the block, to perform additional effort when bringing the hands together, bringing the shoulder forward. That is, you can simply bring your hands together, or you can additionally reduce the pectoral muscle a little more by bringing the scapula and shoulder forward, this is the training of the pectoralis minor and subclavian muscles. The rest of the muscle groups are not of interest to bodybuilders from a practical point of view. The only thing that can be useful for those athletes who use a strength training program is intra-abdominal pressure, which can be increased with the help of a safety belt. The pressure increases due to squeezing of the diaphragm, which allows you to shake heavier weight, so powerlifters train even the chest in the belt.

Causes of breast lagging

The lack of progression is the most important reason for something lagging behind, because if an athlete progresses the load at the expense of the target muscle group, then, one way or another, its hypertrophy will occur. From a practical standpoint, the keys to making progression possible are the training diary and the system. You can progress the load in different ways, but it is most effective to do this by increasing the working weights on the bar. In practice, no matter how effective your chest training is, you will progress, both due to the working weight, and by increasing the repetitions in the working sets. The optimal number of repetitions for building muscle mass is 8-12 repetitions per set. In this range, you will manipulate the number of repetitions.

After you have increased the weight on the bar, you will perform 8 repetitions, gradually trying to increase the number of repetitions per approach to 10-12, and then move on to a new weight and 8 repetitions. This does not mean that you should increase the weight or reps on all sets at once. Let's say you completed 12 repetitions in the first approach with your working weight, respectively, in the next workout you set the weight more and completed 8 repetitions in the first approach, and 7 repetitions in the second. So, in the third approach you drop the weight to the previous one and perform with it the maximum number of repetitions. In the next workout, you perform 8 repetitions in the first approach, in the second you try to complete 8, if it works out, then in the third you try to perform 8 repetitions with a new weight. If you succeed, then the next workout you try to do more on the first repetition, and so on. If you follow the principle of progression in your chest muscle training, then it will not go anywhere and will still grow!

Poor muscle feeling is also an important reason, since the progression of loads should be carried out at the expense of the target muscle group, that is, when you increase the weight in the bench press, it should be due to an increase in the load on the chest, and not on the shoulders, the broadest back muscles, triceps, legs or anything else. What is needed for this? Correct technique! But not only, muscle feeling can be developed, so experienced athletes can afford cheating.

Wrong priorities - this reason can be expressed in the fact that the athlete prefers strength indicators, or the wrong segment of the chest. Chest training for hypertrophy is training the chest muscles, so if you use a power press and your chest is genetically lagging muscle, then there is nothing to be surprised that the chest does not grow. Lagging muscle groups need to be isolated, since stronger muscles will naturally steal the entire load. This is precisely the principle of the progression of loads due to the target muscle group. As for the lagging of the chest segments, everything is the same here! If your upper chest lags behind, and you stubbornly do a bench press on a horizontal bench, then your upper chest will never grow, because in order to shift the load to the upper chest, you need to press at an angle. The priority areas of the muscles should be those that are lagging behind!

Features of chest training

Skeleton expansion is a very effective technique that allows you to expand the chest not at the expense of muscles, but at the expense of bones, which not only makes the chest visually larger, but increases its ultimate growth potential. We already wrote about how such training looks in practice in an article about breast expansion.

Pre-exhaustion is a way of stressing the chest muscles when the accessory muscle groups reach positive failure before the chest during chest exercises. For example, you are doing a bench press, done 6 repetitions, the chest is still able to perform 1-2 repetitions, and the triceps are already tired and you cannot squeeze the bar anymore. Accordingly, under such conditions, the chest does not work well, but if you first tire it with an isolation exercise, then it will already be tired, and you will be able to achieve positive failure in the chest earlier than in the auxiliary muscles. In addition, this method allows you to stretch the chest well, filling it with blood, and tune the brain specifically to work out the pectoral muscles.

Supination and pronation are