Best Chest Workout Weight Training Exercises

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It's Lee Hayward here with a complete chest and shoulder weight training workout routine.

Hardly a day goes by that I don't get at least one e-mail from someone asking how they can build a big muscular chest. Well in this video clip I'm going to share one of my all time favourite chest workouts for fast muscle gains.

I like to start my chest workouts with a big basic compound power exercise. Usually some form of the bench press. In this video I'm doing the barbell bench press but I'll sometimes use dumbbells or incline bench presses instead.

When doing bench presses make sure to set up properly by expanding your chest, arching your upper back, and pulling your shoulder blades back. This will help to fully activate the chest muscles and place less strain on the shoulder joints.

It's also a good idea to have a spotter with you at all times just in case you need help lifting the barbell off your chest.

The next exercise that I like to do is the dumbbell flye. This exercise works the chest in the fully stretched position. I don't use heavy weights here, but rather I emphasize getting a full stretch in the pecs. I even hold the weights for a second at the bottom position to get a better stretch.

You'll also notice that I only lift the dumbbells about ¾ of the way up. Going all the way up just takes the stress off the chest muscles.

In the video I'm doing incline bench flyes. But sometimes I'll do flat bench flyes, or decline bench flyes to work the chest from different angles.

I'll finish up my chest workout with the pec-dec flyes. This works the chest in the fully contracted position. You can't lock it out at the top and get a rest like you can with bench presses or dumbbell flyes.

This is a great finishing exercise and really pumps up the pecs.

You'll notice that I'll work the chest from all ranges of motion with a mid range power exercise the bench press, then a fully stretched exercise the db fly, and then a peak contraction exercise the pec dec.

After I train chest I move on to working the shoulders. It is a good idea to pair up training chest and shoulders in the same workout because most chest exercises will also work the shoulders as a secondary muscle group.

Just like with the chest workout I'll start with a basic compound power exercise such as the shoulder press. Here in the video I'm using the barbell shoulder press but sometimes I'll also use dumbbells or the smith machine.

I prefer to do my shoulder presses to the front of the head as this places less strain on the rotator cuff. And you can usually handle heavier weights.

Next I move on to doing side lateral raises. I prefer to do these with 1 arm at a time using a low pulley cable. This provides a much greater range of motion then using dumbbells because you'll have tension right from the start and all the way through to the top of the exercise.

Doing them one arm at a time will allow you to concentrate on each side independently and allow you to lift more weight per arm then if you did this exercise with both arms at the same time.

After you finish your reps for one arm, do the same number of reps for your other arm. You may find that one side is stronger then the other. If so then you should start with your weaker side first, and then do the same number of reps for your stronger side.

Over time this will help to balance out your strength between both the left and right sides.

After the side lateral raises I'll do a similar exercise for the rear delts. I'll adjust the cable pulley so that it's about neck height and pull the cable in an arc motion across the front of my body.

This works the rear delts with a full range of motion because there will be tension right from the start and continue on to the fully contracted position at the end.

Just like with the side lateral raises I like to do this exercise with one at a time to really focus on each side individually and to help develop equal strength between both the left and right sides.

You'll notice that we work all 3 heads of the shoulders. The front delts get worked hard with the shoulder press. The side delts will be worked through a full range of motion with the cable side lateral raises. And the rear deltoids are targeted with the 1 arm reverse cable fly.

For more workout routines and training tips be sure to check out my website at LeeHayward.com and sign up for my free 10 part bodybuilding tips e-mail course.