Chest Workout

Breath Out When Pushing

Breath In When Releasing

Lie on a flat bench holding a dumbbell in each hand with an overhand grip.
Start by holding the dumbbells slightly wider than shoulder width apart above your shoulders. Your palms should be facing forward.
Slowly bend your elbows until they are at a 90 degree angle and your upper arms are parallel to the ground.
Push the weights up by straightening your arms.
As you push the weights up, move your arms in an arc to bring the dumbbells together, until they meet over the center of your chest. Hold for a count of one.
Lower the dumbbells by slowly bending your elbows back to 90 degrees.
Continue lowering your arms until they are a little lower than parallel to the floor. (Your elbows should be pointing slightly towards the floor and you should feel a stretch in your chest muscles and shoulders.)
Repeat

Feet should be wide apart and flat on the floor (unless the program tells you otherwise) to give your upper body muscles a solid platform from which they can generate power.
Keep your shoulder blades retracted throughout the exercise. Pull them together before you lower the bar, and keep them together as you lift.
A grip slightly wider than shoulder width will assure maximum effort from all areas of the chest.
Stabilize by ensuring that your shoulders, head, and hips remain in contact with the bench at all times.
Keeping your elbow out will ensure you are using more chest and less triceps.
Do not bounce the bar off your chest or arch your back – this reduces the amount of chest work and risks injury to the chest muscles. You may arch your back (which provides greater power) to complete a set, but only if you have difficulty with the last repeat and you do not have the help of a fellow athlete.
Keep a firm grip on the bar with your forearms approximately perpendicular to the floor and parallel to each other.
Avoid dropping the weight quickly.
It’s a very good idea to have a spotter on hand who can help lift the bar off your chest if you unexpectedly fail to complete a repetition.

Make sure that your legs are steady at the top of the bench—you don’t want to slide down the bench.
Use light weight in the beginning, raising and lowering the dumbbells directly over your lower chest.
Forcefully press the dumbbells up in an arc (coming toward each other at the top) until your arms are fully extended above your lower chest or upper abs.
Your breathing should always be out on extension, which means you are blowing the weight away.
Don’t bounce the dumbbells at the bottom of the movement.
Flare your elbows out as the bar is lowered to maximize pectoral isolation.
It is not advisable to work out intensely for prolonged periods with the head below the level of the heart. This is because the human body is not designed for effort in an inverted posture.
The bench should never be set at a decline of more than about 35 degrees.

Slowly lower the resistance to your collarbone, making a conscious effort to keep your elbows wide. To stretch the chest muscles at the bottom of the movement and work your pectoralis muscle harder, spread your elbows as far from your body as possible and use a pronated grip (thumbs facing each other).
The weights should travel perpendicular to the floor.
To keep your body stable during the exercise, your knees should be at the end of the bench with your lower legs hanging over the end. There should be a support bar to press your feet against for further stability and to keep you from sliding down.
Do not lift your head up and do not bridge or arch.
The lower pectoral is best targeted at a decline of 20 to 40 degrees to the floor. Steeper declines shift the focus from the chest to the triceps.
The greater the decline angle, the more weight you’ll be able to use (to a point) due to the decreasing range of motion.
Have your partner assist by giving you two forced repetitions or two negative repetitions.

Make sure that you raise and lower the weights evenly. Avoid jerking or twisting your body to “muscle” them upwards.
Keep your back pressed against the bench, your feet flat on the floor.
The path the dumbbells travel when performing this exercise is important. When lowering the dumbbells, be sure the initial movement is out and away from your chest rather than straight down. The dumbbells should not hit your chest at the bottom. They should be even and a couple of inches away from the outside part of your chest. Push the dumbbells through the same path on the way up as on the way down.
The lower the dumbbells descend, the more the chest muscle stretches. Lowering the dumbbells too far can cause shoulder injury; it is safer to terminate the descent when the dumbbells reach chest level. You should achieve a maximal but comfortable stretch.
Keep your forearms vertical under the weights. They should move perpendicular to the ground and parallel to each other.
Flare your elbows out wide during descent. Keeping your elbow out will ensure you are using more chest and less triceps.
If you are new to this exercise, it is advised that you use a spotter. The spotter assists by spotting your forearms near your wrists.
Do not set the angle of the bench too high otherwise the anterior deltoids will be targeted and take much of the emphasis away from the chest.

Sit on a pec deck machine with your back flat against the back rest.
Grip the handles and make sure your arms are parallel to the floor. If not parallel,adjust the seat or handles accordingly. This is the start position.
Exhale and slowly push the handles together squeezing your chest to the middle as you do so. Hold for a count of one.
Inhale as you return to the starting position in a controlled movement.
Repeat.