Every man, worth his salt, desires to be the proud owner a great looking chest. The kind of upper body that will grab instant attention when you walk into a random room can lead to instant gratification. Imagine this, a great looking body and an even greater looking shirt – Won’t you just be the talk of the town that way? You sure would! Unfortunately, a great looking chest does not come easy to anyone. There is ‘x’ amount of hard work involved which only makes the road you plan on treading on a little too treacherous. In any case, once you manage to put in the hours at the gym, proud and pompous chest muscles will only be yours for the taking. When looking to build chest muscles, most men use only barbells and ignore the dumbbells. The dumbbells, however, are not to be ignored because of the fitness and finesse promises they hold. Read on for guidance on a great dumbbell chest workout.
Dumbbell Chest Press
Push Ups
When going under the banner of fitness conventions, pushups don’t really figure in dumbbell chest press workouts. However, if you are looking forward to showing off a great looking chest, you can’t afford to let go of your pushups. Beginners can start off by doing three sets of pushups until ‘failure’. Failure here refers to performing an exercise until you can’t do a single repetition more of the same. If you are a seasoned gym-addict, with pushups, you can push up for three sets of twenty to twenty five repetitions each. Make it a point to perform your pushups the right way.
Flat Bench Dumbbell Press
The flat bench dumbbell press targets the center of your chest, the middle portion to be precise. Start off with the flat bench dumbbell press by lying flat on your back on a flat bench. Finding a flat bench at a gym shouldn’t be much of a problem. Ask your trainer or a spotter to hand you the dumbbells. The dumbbells can be of a weight you are comfortable with. If you feel extra strong, you don’t really need a spotter or trainer for this one, just lift the weights by yourself and lie flat on the bench. Now, go ahead and raise your hands. With this done, slowly and steadily move your hands away from start position. As you draw closer to your chest, bend your elbows. Stop when your hands are perpendicular to your chest. This makes for one repetition. You can go on to perform three to four sets of ten to twelve repetitions or until failure. Perform this exercise slowly and carefully.
Incline Bench Dumbbell Press
Now that you have figured out the flat bench dumbbell press, the incline bench dumbbell press shouldn’t be much of a problem for you. It really shouldn’t. All you need to do is find yourself an incline bench at the gym and lie flat on it. You can choose to ask for the help of a spotter or do it all by yourself. Get a grip of the weights you are most comfortable with and perform the incline bench dumbbell press, just like you did the flat bench dumbbell press. From start to finish, the only difference between a flat bench dumbbell press and an incline bench dumbbell press is the bench. Apart from the bench, there really is not much of a difference between the two exercises. With the incline bench dumbbell press, you can do just as many sets as you did the ‘flat bench dumbbell press’.
Decline Bench Dumbbell Press
The decline bench dumbbell press exercise is just like the above mentioned two variations, except that it’s done with the assistance of decline bench. You can perform a decline bench press just like you did the flat and incline bench press, but you may have to be extra careful with the execution. This is because, with the decline bench dumbbell press, the chances of an injury are only that much more. Take extra care not to lower your hands below your chest because this might lead to injuries. Slow, steady and precise is the way to go here.
With the regular execution of all of the above mentioned exercises, you might just be on your way to a much coveted ‘great looking chest’.
