Bench Press

Bench Press

The Bench Press is the most popular lift in the gym. It's the upper-body exercise that lets you lift the most weight. This exercise focuses on both the chest muscles Pectoralis Major and Minor, hence can be regarded as a complete exercise for chest workout. This exercise is not recommended for females.

Method

1.    Lie on an upright support bench or a bench inside a Power Rack.

2.    Un rack the weight & lower it to your chest. 

3.    Press it back up until your arms are straight upwards.

4.    Lower weight to sides of upper chest until slight stretch is felt in chest or shoulder.

5.    Repeat again.

Who can do it

This exercise is recommended only for males and for females there are other versions of bench press which can be executed through dumbbells.

Ideal Weight

The weight that you should lift in this exercise must be as per your efficiency. Do not try to lift very heavy weights forcefully.

Breathing technique

·         Breathe out while lifting weight against the gravity on the upper side

·         Breathe in while coming downwards with weight.

Points to remember

·         Always remember to avoid jerky movements.

·         Don’t bend your wrists. This will give you wrist pain. Put the bar in the palm of your hand. Close to your wrists, not close to your fingers. Squeeze the bar so it doesn't move.

·         Too high is bad for your shoulders. Too low is inefficient. Put your elbows between perpendicular to & parallel with your torso.

·         Don't let your shoulders roll forward. Its bad posture, bad technique & a guaranteed way to get shoulder injuries. Keep your chest up, shoulder-blades back & down and upper-back tight.

·         Make sure that your glutes are on the bench.  It puts pressure on your back, especially when the weight gets heavy. You're more stable when your glutes are on the bench.

·         Your grip should not be too wide. It will give injuries to your shoulders.  It should not be too narrow also as you’ll lose your strength.

·         Use a wide foot stance to increase stability on the bench. Feet flat on the floor, weight on the heels, lower leg perpendicular to the floor. This prevents extreme arching of your lower back.

Advantages of Bench Press

·         It helps in building chest muscles. It also works on your front shoulders and on triceps too.

·         It builds up your strength. The Bench Press is the strength training exercise that lets you lift the most weight using your upper-body muscles.

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Baby Push Ups

Baby Push Ups or Bent Knee Push Ups

Baby Push Ups is a type of compound movement using almost all the muscles of your body. You'll work your chest, shoulders, triceps, back and abs. The push up may just be the perfect total body exercise that builds both upper body and core strength. This type of exercise targets the pectoral muscles, which are in the chest wall and the triceps, which are the muscles in the upper part of your arms.

Method

·         Lie down your knees on the ground and position yourself face down on the floor, balancing on your knees and hands.

·         Your hands should be a little wider than shoulders, body in a straight line from head to toe and arms should stand perpendicular to the ground.

·         Before you begin any movement, contract your abs and tighten your core by pulling your belly button toward your spine.

·         Slowly bend your arms and lower yourself until your elbows are at a 90 degree angle.

·         Begin pushing back up to the start position. Don't lock out the elbows; keep them slightly bent.

Who can do it

This exercise can be performed by both males and females. Generally it is preferred by females who do not have core strength to perform core push ups.

Breathing technique

·         Inhale as you slowly bend your elbows and lower yourself.

·         Exhale as you begin pushing back up to the start position

Points to remember

·         Always remember to avoid jerky movements.

·         Don't lock out the elbows; keep them slightly bent.

·         Do not keep your hands too wider or too close to avoid risk of injuries.

·         Stop doing your push-ups when your lower back gets tired. Don't sag in the middle as this could lead to injury.

·         Concentrate on engaging your chest muscles, squeezing them at the top of the push-up. This builds muscle much faster.

·         Be sure to keep the knees, hips and shoulders all in a straight line; most people have a tendency to bend at the hips as though you are bowing, but this is incorrect technique.

Advantages of doing a push-up

·         It is a core-strengthening exercise. It largely improves your balance by strengthening and shaping up most important muscle groups in your body - the core.

·         This exercise gives its regular performers almost perfect lean and very healthy look.

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Chest Workouts

Every man wants to show and brag about their well-built and chiseled chest. Also it would not be wrong to say, that on TV and in movies a well-built muscular chest is the most highlighted body part which motivates many youngsters towards body building. If you are also the one, who has always looked forward to well build muscular lines in chest area and want to impress women with your muscular body shape, then you are at the right place. There are many exercises that people will suggest you for chest but let us first analyze the science behind these exercises. You must know the muscle group on which you work while doing chest exercises.

This is the muscle group which gets focused while you do chest exercises. The two major muscles in this group are:

Pectoralis major and Pectoralis Minor

Here are the exercises that you need to include in your workout routine, for building up muscular well-chiseled chest. Click on each exercise to get detailed information and right technique to perform this exercise:

v  Bench Press

v  Dumbbell Press

v  Baby Push Ups

v  Push Ups

v  Incline Press

v  Incline Dumbbell Press

v  Pectoral Fly

v  Dumbbell Fly

v  Incline Dumbbell Fly

v  Decline Bench Press

v  Decline Dumbbell Press

v  Decline Dumbbell Fly

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