Get the most out of your chest workout!

In today's article, you'll find some small chest training tips that can offer big leaps in performance and volume!

Not a competitive powerlifter? Then stop training like a racer! Don't confuse the basics of powerlifting with the basics of strength training! There's a really big difference. Let's take a look at a few guaranteed tips on how to maximize your chest training to gain size and strength.

Tip 1: Set your feet correctly

When bench-pressing, placing your feet on the floor will give you a wider footing to control minor deviations. It also helps prevent larger deviations that could end up as a fail video on YouTube.

With one-arm push-ups, however, it's a different situation. The control requirements are different. Many people feel more comfortable with their feet on the bench. It's more about your individual arm stability rather than the risk of getting knocked off the bench. So if you don't prefer your feet on the floor, try placing your feet on the bench when using one-armed push-ups.

Not convinced? One study compared muscle activation during bench pressing with feet on the ground (conventional) and with feet off the ground with active hip flexion and 90 degree knee flexion. Men who had four years of strength training experience and had previously performed a traditional bench press were used in this study. The researchers found that there was better muscle activation in each muscle group analyzed when the legs were in the up position.

But the main reason to perform a one-arm bench press with your feet up? It requires you to use the pressure muscles of the upper half of your body instead of letting the muscles of the lower half help you.

How about putting your legs in the air like a baby having his diaper changed? You can do it, but keeping your legs in the air requires some extra effort, which takes away from the strength where you want it - the pressure muscles.

Tip 2: Use the best bench angle

Changing the angle of the bench during push-up exercises leads to activation of either the pectoral (lower) or the clavicular (upper) part of the pectoral muscles.

Muscle activation of the sternocleidomastoid head (lower) of the pectoralis major muscle was significantly greater during straight and negative bench pressing.

Activation of the clavicular head (upper) was significantly greater during positive bench press with 45 degrees to 60 degrees incline.

Although a positive angle increased activation of the upper pectoral muscles, a 30-degree incline seemed to work best. This angle leads to greater activation of the upper pectoral muscles, whereas a bench at an angle of 45 degrees or more leads to significantly greater activation of the anterior deltoid muscle and decreases pectoral muscle performance.

Tip 3: Practice the backward push-up

The backward push-up, or Push-back push-up, is a challenging exercise with your own weight or even a resistance band that you can perform at the gym, at home or on the go.

This exercise differs from the classic push-up because you keep your hips lower, so it's more like an oblique press. Adding rubber bands provides resistance, which makes each repetition more productive.

It's an alternative to the positive bench press, which forces your shoulders to work hard to drive your body backwards using the natural arc and angle of the push.

Tip 4: Practice pressing with a bridge

Try the negative bench press in the bridge position. The standard negative bench press is uncomfortable when you're holding heavy one-arms. Solve this problem by sitting on the floor and lifting your hips. This puts your torso at a negative angle relative to the one-armed barbell.

Tip 5: Practice other floor presses

I like floor presses because you can bend your knees as if you had your feet on a bench, only there's no danger of falling off the bench when you tilt your axis.

Using a strong pad under the mid-torso increases productive range of motion while offering several other safety benefits. There's no risk of the axle crushing your neck if you drop the weights because the discs hit the floor first. Assisting is also easier here. You can also lift your hips and perform negative push-ups to vary your angles.

Tip 6: Use push-ups to exercise the inner chest

Lateral push-ups are a classic among self-weight exercises and really hit the inner chest muscles. If you need to add extra weight, you can pick up a one-handed barbell.

This exercise is traditionally performed on the triceps with the hand on the floor and the forearm at an angle. Raise your hand on the one-handed bar and maintain a more vertical forearm angle to hit the pectoral muscles in a shortened range. You'll be pushing your arm through the middle of your body instead of simply pulling it up at the elbow.

Straight, negative, and positive push-ups create the greatest mechanical stress on the pectoral muscles when the humerus (upper arm bone) is parallel to the ground, which is in the extended to mid-range strength zone.

However, these exercises create little mechanical tension on the pectoral muscles when the wrists are directly in front of the shoulders, which is in the shortened to mid-range zone of pectoral muscle strength. This is what I mean when I say "internal pectoral muscles".

It's important to include an exercise in the short to mid range zone that will force your pectoral muscles to deal with a lot of load (relative to your current strength level) when your arms are directly in front of your shoulders and torso. This will exercise your body in a strength zone that complex compression exercises leave out, and you'll get stronger pectoral muscles in all positions of horizontal and diagonal arm adduction (moving your arms from an external to internal position).

Source: www.t-nation.com - 6 New Chest Workout Tips for Fast Gains
Author: Nick Tumminello
Translated by Jaromír Uhlíř