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Workout Routines For Beginners

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Workout Routines For Beginners

By Workout Routines For Beginners

A Workout Routine Writer

If you are a hardgainer and want to know how to build chest muscles then you probably realize just how important a strong, broad chest can be. It is a set of muscles that is very important for your overall upper body strength and if is also an impressive part of any man’s physique. When it comes to signature muscles that you can show off, a muscular chest with impressive pectorals is essential.

Another great thing about building chest muscles is that many exercises you do will also exercise other muscles nearby such as the arms and core muscles and so should often be in your workout routines anyway. However a word of warning. If you choose to work on your pecs to the exclusion of other muscles you run the risk of over-training and injuring yourself or at least tiring yourself out for no good reason. You also do not want to look too top heavy as being out of proportion is less attractive and not good for your overall fitness and strength.

That being said, building bigger chest muscles is a skill all guys who want a better body should research so that you look good, feel good and know you are stronger and more capable.

How Your Chest Muscles Work

Before you start training a specific muscle group it pays to do your research not just into the specific exercises you need to do to enhance your chest or any other muscle group but also to understand the anatomy and physiology of the muscles. This will give you a much greater understanding of what you are doing and how you should achieve maximum muscle growth.

The chest is made up of two muscles as shown in the diagram: The Pectoralis Major and the Pectoralis Minor.

  • The Pectoralis Major is the most obvious muscle that starts attached to breastbone in the center of the chest and then fans out across the upper ribcage to connect to your near the shoulder joint. This fan like shape of the muscle fibers allows the body to move the arms across the chest and and upper body movement.
  • The Pectoralis Minor exists underneath the Pectoralis Major starting from the mid ribs and attaching to the of the . This smaller muscle controls the movement of the shoulder in a few specific ways such as .

What this means when you are trying to build larger chest muscles is that you need to be incorporating your arms and shoulders in your exercises but target them to particular action you know will grow the muscles you want to enhance. If you have a skinny body type then you will also want to be aware that the shape of your pecs cannot be scupleted past a certain point. How your chest looks when it has become much bigger in muscle mass is purely genetic so don’t waste your time trying to sculpt too much, just aim for muscle gain and the rest will follow.

How to Train Your Chest Muscles

Training any muscles has a basic core set of things you must be aware of especially if you are a skinny hardgainer type. However even if you are not these foundations of muscle building should be followed for better results. Skinny guys just need to make sure they follow them to get ANY results.

 

Rest – A fundamental point you need to know is that muscle actually grow when you rest, not when you are working out. When you sleep especially your body changes to muscle repair mode if you have been working out and goes to work building more muscle to compensate for the heavy weights you have been lifting. Diet – The second point is that this muscle repair will not happen if you do not have the fuel the body needs to grow. This is where most skinny guys fall down and end up labeling themselves hardgainers. If you have a skinny Ectomorph body type you need to eat a heck of a lot more than you are used to so that your fast metabolism does not burn though all your calories before it is muscle growth time. Progressive Overload – The last point is that you need to be very aware of progressive overload. This is where you are lifting weights to your maximum possible threshold to build muscle but then you continue to add more or to do more or to reduce recovery time. If you do not constantlyforce your body to adapt to stress it will not grow

When it comes to the exercises themselves in your workout there are also a few rules you should follow to get the most out of each gym session.

  • Do not over-train your Pectorals
  • Remember that some other exercises indirectly workout the Chest muscles
  • Workout a range of different exercises and variations of those exercises to target the different parts of the Pectoralis major and minor
  • Do not workout your Chest longer than you need. Spark muscle growth then move on to other muscles that need your attention
  • Try to do exercises with a fuller range of motion to get the most out of each set.
  • Keep good form throughout each exercise. Do not jerk weights and keep resistance when lowering the. This and works your muscles more.

Best Chest Exercises

The Bench Press Image from thecardioblog.com The bench press is a must for skinny guys looking to pack on more chest muscle. It not only works both minor and major pecs but includes other muscles including the triceps. Remember though that this can be a dangerous exercise which can lead to injury. Make sure you have a spotter with you when you bench press to avoid this. Best practices for this exercise are: Lie back on bench with your feet flat on the ground Get a firm grip on the bar about shoulder width apart or a little further Lift bar off its rack then slowly lower to your chest while breathing in Lift the bar til you extend your arms to their fullest length while breathing out Lower bar again and repeat while keeping good posture and your bum on the bench and your feet on the ground Variations  – If you raise and lower the bench to make it an incline or decline angle you can work your upper or lower pectorals more.
Parallel Dips Image from stevenellis.com The parallel dip is another excellent chest muscle exercise. It is also a great exercise for your entire upper body as it recruits muscles from the arms, chest, shoulder and back to lift your entire body weight up and down. Best practices for this exercise are: Stand on a box between the parallel bars Place your hands on the parallel bars. Your arms should be straight Kick the box back Slowly, lower yourself down until your arms are fully bent Slowly lift yourself back up. Breathe in as you lower and out as you raise yourself
Variations – You can of course do backwards dips but these target your triceps more than the chest muscles but are still a god way to target smaller areas of the chest muscle.
Push Ups
The humble push up is a good way to start your chest muscle building. Good technique doing push ups against your own weight is how many skinny hardgainers get a good start on thier pecs though using weights may give better results later.
Best practices for this exercise are: Lie down with your feet together and with active toes Place your hands palm down a bit more than shoulder width apart Inhale and tighten the muscles in your body especially your core muscles. Straighten your arms lifting yourself off the floor while exhaling. Pause for a moment at the top Slowly lower yourself to the floor inhaling.
Dumbbell Flyes Another great chest exercise for skinny guys is the dumbbell fly. This exercises a range of motion not touched on as much by the other exercises and such builds more muscle. Best practices for this exercise are: Lie down on a bench with a dumbbell in each hand. Lower the dumbbells while keeping your elbows bent until the elbows dip below the shoulders. While keeping your feet on the floor and tensing your muscles lift the dumbbells through your entire upward range of motion. Hold at the top for a moment Slowly lower back to the starting position. Variations – Like the bench press you can train different parts of the chest muscles by adjusting the bench to an incline position or a decline position. This will train the upper and lower part of the pecs more. These exercises and tips should show you how to build chest muscles quickly and efficiently no matter what you body type but especially if you are a hardgainer!

Hi Guys, James McLain here,

Thanks for reading my article, I hope you got something out of it. I usually recommend readers check out the by Vince Delmonte but for those of you looking for more detail on just enhancing certain body parts like your chest that might be giving you real troubles there is another excellent resource that has been brought to my attention.

Jeff “The Muscle Nerd” Anderson is another big name in the muscle building industry through his online work. He has excellent guides such as and and has recently added a new specialized guide that focuses exclusively on building mass in certain areas for those guys who have really stubborn muscles.

is Jeff’s explosive new package that contains extremely well researched methods into building mass in all the areas that we want to be bigger and impressive such as the chest, biceps and more. This targeted strategy caught my attention as sometimes you can achieve gains in other areas but one body part seems to have some genetic tendency to stay small. For me it is was my legs that for a long time lagged well behind the rest of my body no matter what I did!

If you want to know a bit more about Jeff check out this video he did about the facts and myths of “The Pump” and you will see he knows his stuff.

screeching halt with the no-nonsense verdict you’re about to learn in this short VIDEO LESSON!

I personally think Jeff has made a very useful guide here that goes well beyond this simple snippet of his knowledge and highly recommend this new guide to anyone struggling to build chest muscles.

Follow James McLain on , , or !


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