Nine Essential Keys to Effective Chest Workout Routines
Is attaining the perfect chest to complete your lean, toned figure one of your fitness goals? If the answer is yes, you’re in luck. We came up with this guide just for you. Read on to learn all about the nine essential keys to effective chest workout routines:
Frequency: Two to three times a week.
When it comes to your chest workout, the recommended frequency is two to three times a week. Studies have shown that doing less than that won’t be as effective, but doing more might put too much strain on your chest muscles. When doing so, it’s best to use a full-body split, an upper/lower split, or a push/pull/legs split instead of a body-part split.
Number of Exercises: One to three chest exercise per workout.
To optimize your chest workout, it’s recommended to perform one to three chest exercises per session. To be specific, you have to have one exercise for a full-body split, two exercises for an upper/lower split, and two to three exercises for a push/pull/legs split.
Repetitions: 60 to 140 total reps per week.
Doing an excessive amount of sets for your chest workout per week is not a good idea. The recommended amount is 60 to 140 reps per week. This is because you need to give your chest muscles some time to recover. If you workout twice a week for your chest, aim for 30 to 70 reps per session.
No Redundancy: Avoid redundant exercises.
Performing redundant exercises is a big no-no. For instance, it would be best if you do one incline exercise per workout, instead of doing an incline barbell press, incline dumbbell press, incline machine press, and incline fly.
Rep Range: Five to 15 most of the time.
When it comes to stimulating muscle growth using tension, fatigue, and damage, you can go as low as five reps and as high as 15 reps. Veer away from the typical eight to ten reps. Use five to eight reps for primary exercises, eight to twelve for secondary exercises, and 12 to 15 for isolation exercises.
Rest: One to Four Minutes between sets.
Usually, most fitness trainers will advise you to rest for one minute between sets. However, it’s best to rest for up to four minutes. Or, to be more specific, rest two to four minutes for primary exercises, two to three minutes for isolation exercises, and two minutes for secondary exercises.
Equipment: Use what suits you.
When it comes to working out, your body doesn’t give a damn about what equipment you use. What matters are the tension, fatigue, and damage your workout is causing. That said, how the equipment can optimize the results of your workout is more important than the equipment itself.
Overload: Focus on progressive overload.
Sure, the frequency, splits, exercises, sets, reps, rest periods, and more are all vital parts of the overall fitness equation. But if there’s one thing you should prioritize, that is the progressive overload. Progressive overload entails increasing the demands on your body so you’ll get stronger over time. This is the most important factor for a highly effective chest workout.
Diet: Proper diet to support fitness goals.
Finally, to support your fitness goals, you should get on a proper diet. Studies show that to attain your desired body, you need to diet and exercise at the same time. Specifically, it entails 30 percent exercise and 70 percent proper diet. That said, your eating habits will make a difference in helping you achieve your overall fitness goals. To make sure that your fitness plan is specifically designed to meet your primary goals, it’s essential to work with an experienced and knowledgeable fitness trainer. We help with fitness for men over 40, get in touch & look at our other posts for more tips.
About the Author
FitDadChris
Jack of all trades... master of none! Father of 3 awesome boys, husband to 1 amazing wife! Obstacle racer, procrastinator, computer nerd, trying not to follow the herd!