zakruti.com » Sport, fitness, workout » Jeff Cavalier

The ONLY 2 Chest Exercises You Need (NO, SERIOUSLY)

video description

Rating: 4.5; Vote: 2

What would you say if I told you that there were only two chest exercises you need to do? In this video, I am going to show you the two chest exercises that should make up the bare minimum of your chest workouts. Not only are these two exercises great for building a bigger overall chest, but they are the two exercises that will cover the upper chest, lower chest and overall pecs fully. Some might tell you that you only need two exercises total in order to build a muscle group. I disagree. I don t think anyone should be limited to picking just two exercises for a muscle group because in the case of a muscle with multiple heads or bellies, the functions that can be targeted individually through exercise selection are going to factor in. The chest is a great example of this; it has three heads as well as two primary functions. The first is to simply flex the shoulder and drive the arm out in front of the body. That s an easy one. Every single chest exercise you do is going to put that function in focus. What people miss however is the importance of the additional role of the muscle in shoulder adduction, or bringing the arm fully across the chest, past midline. It is here that one exercise in particular stands out most - and becomes an irreplaceable part of your training. In order to fully develop the chest you re going to want focus a majority of your effort on both of these exercises. The choice comes in however when you look in the mirror and assess your biggest weaknesses in your pec development. It is not uncommon for people to either have an almost absent upper chest or a sagging or poor lower chest line. If either of these is the case for you, the exercise movements shown here won t change but the angle that you approach them with will. For instance, if you have poor upper pec muscle size then you ll want to focus both of the variations shown here on the upper chest. On the bench press this is done by performing either the barbell bench press or dumbbell bench on an incline bench set to 30-45 degrees. On the crossover, the angle of the arms should be traveling in a low and away to up and in position during every rep. Make sure that you re crossing your hand over midline on the crossover if you want to get a peak contraction on the pectoral muscles. Back to the bench press however. Your goals matter here too. If you are trying to build your chest strictly while increasing your overall top end pressing strength then you should likely stick to the barbell variation of the bench press. Typically you can handle about 20 percent more weight on a bar than you can by splitting that same weight up between hands with dumbbells. This is due to the compromised stability that comes as a result of using dumbbells rather than a single bar. That said, the barbell presents other challenges for some people - namely orthopedic in nature. If you have wrist, elbow or shoulder issues, the fixed hand placement on the bar can be too difficult to overcome and the exercise may not be able to be done without pain. That is where the dumbbell bench press usually becomes the savior of your gains. Not only this, but you get better adduction on the chest in the process. Any compromise in weight is likely going to be overcome by better chest activation and, ultimately, better chest growth. You can always slow down the reps in either variation to provide additional stability to compromised shoulder joints and help alleviate any discomfort you may have from performing this classic chest exercise. The second exercise is the crossover. Some people mistakenly look at this as a luxury rather than the must-do chest exercise it really is. If you want to grow your chest maximally you have to figure out some way to perform the exercise in your chest workout. If you have access to a machine, great. If not, a simple resistance band can be used to do any of the three variations possible. Again here, you have the same ability to target either the upper, middle or lower portions of your chest more favorably depending on the angle of your arm travel during the movement. Now, if you want to take your chest training to the next level there are many exercises to choose from. I don t think we should ever be limited to just two exercises for a muscle group, the chest included. But you should at least start with these two exercises to build the foundation of your chest growth. If you are looking for a complete step-by-step training program that will take your workout to the next level, be sure to head over to athleanx. com and find the workout program that matches your goals. For more videos on hot to get a bigger chest and the best chest exercises to do just that, make sure that you subscribe to this channel here on YouTube and remember to turn on your notifications so that you never miss a video when it s published.
Date: 2023-04-23

← Do This Within 10 Minutes of Waking Up (FEEL AMAZING)

12 Predictors of VERY Poor Health as You Age! (FIX WHILE YOU CAN) →

Related videos

25 Years of Muscle Building Experience in 10 Minutes!

• Ryan Humiston

This place is like Disneyland for adults! #stemcells #health #longevity

• Ryan Humiston

How to Perform Reps for Most Muscle Growth

• Jeff Cavalier

Most Men Over 40 Can't Pass These Basic Fitness Tests (can you)

• Muscle Monsters

Busting Cardio Myths Everyone STILL Believes

• Jeremy Ethier

STOP! If You See These Signs, It Means You're Gaining Fat (not muscle)

• Muscle Monsters

Comments and reviews: 15

James
I've been getting great results using the dual cable machine for my bench presses lately. By varying bench angle and utilising the huge variation of pulley height setting I can really hit it from every angle. Another advantage is I can bring my hand across each other at full extension for even greater abduction.
I have learnt so much from you over the years Jeff, especially how to use variations of exercise to stress muscles in new ways to trigger hypertrophy and avoid getting stuck on those plateaus.
reply

Ashraf
Jeff, I've been ur fan since 2015, I've been watching almost all the videos. I've always noticed u mentioning, we should train for overall pushing or pulling strength over the isolation exercises. But wt if someone wants to achieve some parts bigger than the rest as they're now (for aesthetics reason)
Maybe a faster growth of delts over chest or tris and bis over torso, how should he train?
Pls if possible make a video
reply

Just
1. Dumbbell chest press
- point inside of hands upwards for better chest contraction
- choose incline or decline angle if needed
2. Cable cross-over
- drive shoulders and head back as you bring the cables forward
- ensure you get actual cross over
Alternate variations. Enjoy.
reply

JonnyBeoulve
I can't do barbell bench at all and I believe it's because of my shoulder. I have a hard time going beyond 150 pounds, yet I can push two 70 pound dumbbells for 7+ reps. For this reason, I always recommend dumbbell bench press as it seems to be more agnostic of physical limitations.
reply

Edwin
What happened with the music intro? Turututu turutuu Hey what s up guys Jeff Cavaliere here j in miss those days when he used to be shirtless all the time and by seeing his body I got motivated. I m not saying I m not anymore but it s just that I miss these old days 2013-2016
reply

John
Jeff! I need an upper chest lift for a guy that suffers from subacromial bursitis and rotator tendinitis in my left shoulder. Overhead lifts/presses ruin me but I still want to develop my upper chest. I can flat bench press with minimal discomfort.
reply

Tic
Love your videos. Very informative. But here s my gripe with this particular video, you don t have a good chest. It s pretty disproportionately small in comparison to the surrounding muscles. Maybe you need to look at different exercises?
reply

Terry
Last time i did the DB press i unfortunately had my shoulder bone move and removed all strengh so the left DB fell down, almost hit my face, why does that happen? is my shoulder in a bad position? any fix before i hurt myself?
reply

Kartavian
How would these excercises be affected by doing this on a bed instead of bench, I do not have floor space and my bench had to get put in the shed. I can do almost everything else in a chair or standing, prefer standing
reply

Yama
This video was great! I've identified several mistakes I'm doing using cables. I've never tried to cross my hands over each other and I tend to lean forward instead of backwards. This was very insightful!
reply

TruthIsQutThere
Hey Jeff, I like your bench's ability to go up or downward incline. Can you tell me the make and model, please? I currently have an ironmaster bench which does not have the same mobility.
reply

Jazzy
This is actually a very well made video. All of the small details and comments that are made provide great insight into the inner workings of the muscles and key differences between each movement.
reply

Siju
I have a small injury in my shoulders that make Internal rotation under load a bit painful at the lowest point on a dumbbell bench press. Should i continue to push or take rest?
reply

Sujay
Hey Jeff please continue the 10 minutes series to all the body parts
It's an humble request.
And this really a great video I meant the new background music and editing
reply

Jason
Jeff what can I do aside from push-ups? My left shoulder has a slight tear or something that I can live with day to day and is only affected if I do bench or overhead press.
reply

Add a review, comment