The easiest way to gain mass and encourage muscle growth it to focus on and target the big muscles in your body. Your pectoral muscles are the large muscle group in your chest. Many exercises that target them also build up secondary muscles in your triceps and shoulders.

For these reasons your chest or pectoral muscles are a great place to workout when trying to gain muscle mass. I’d like to share with you 7 exercises that you should incorporate into your routine which are great for building up your chest muscles.

1) Dumbbell Flyes

Lie down on a flat bench and place a dumbbell in each hand. Rest the dumbbells on your thighs and keep your palms facing each other. Raise your arms one at a time until they are point straight up with your elbows slightly bent and the weights parallel to each other and your body. That is your starting position.

Lower your arm in a wide arch until you feel a stretch in your chest. All the movement should be coming from your chest, do not move or bend your arms. Follow the same path back up and squeeze your chest when you get to the top.

2) Bench Press

Lie down on a flat bench with a barbell rack. Line up in the center of the bench and take a grip shoulder length apart. Make sure your hands are evenly spaced. Push the bar up and out of the rack and bring it in line with your mid-chest. Slowly lower the bar until it touches your chest and then push it back up for one rep.

You can lift a lot of weight with this exercise, just make sure to stay safe and have a spotter behind you.

3) Push Ups

Classic exercise you can do in the comfort of your own home. Lie on your stomach with your hands shoulder with apart, palms on the ground. Push up keeping your back and legs straight, no sagging in the middle! Up and down is one rep. Alter the distance and angle between your hands to work different parts of your pectorals.

4) Pec Deck Butterflys

Sit down at the Pec Deck machine. Position your chair so that your arms are in a slightly bent L shape when you grab the handles. Bring both arms together and squeeze in the middle. Then return to starting position.

5) Pull Overs

Great exercise to extend the rib cage. Lie perpendicular to a flat bench. Only your shoulders should be on the bench, feet are flat on the floor. Use both your hands to hold one dumbbell. Arms should be bent at the elbow and weight should be directly in front of your face. Extend your hands backwards and down, then pull back up for one complete rep.

6) Dips

This is an excellent compound movement that works your chest and arms. Find a set of dip bars and position yourself on them. Keep your knees bent, legs crossed at the ankles and lean slightly forward. Lower yourself down, then lift back up slowly for one rep.

7) Cable Crossovers

Find a pulley machine which has one pulley on each side. Move each pulley into the ‘high’ position. Reach out and grab each handle. Stand up straight with your arms out like the letter T. Lean forward at your hip, keeping your back straight. This is the starting position. Then bring your arms together and down, squeezing your chest at the bottom when they connect. Slowly return to the start for one rep.

I hope you take these 7 exercises and incorporate them into your mass building routine!

If they helped you please share this post with your friends, and as always if you have any questions ask in the comments below.

Photo by CelebMuscle

I just came across an informative body building for beginners post that has some simple but practical mass building tips for you.

If you are new to exercising for trying to build mass it’s vital that you take it slow. Results come with repeated and steady effort. Not a sporadic and sloppy exercise routine. Aim to build up your mass slowly.

For those of you that are enthusiastic and want to learn the quickest take the advice of a good personal trainer. They will make sure you do the right beginner exercises, give you diet tips and most importantly provide motivation to keep pushing and building up your muscles.

The bench press is one of the most popular lifts in the gym. It’s great for exercising and building muscle in your upper body. The key muscles involved are your pectorals, triceps, and shoulders.

It looks like a simple exercise but there are a few essential things you need to keep in mind:

• make sure your feet are firmly planted on the floor
• ensure there is even spacing on the bar
• clamp the weights so they don’t slide or fall off
• keep the bar under control at all times
• breathing: inhale when bar comes down, exhale when pushing up

Watch the video below for a demonstration of proper Bench Press technique:

By modifying your grip you can emphasise different muscle groups. A close grip will put more pressure on your triceps while a wider group will shorten the range of motion and put more pressure on your pectorals.

You can also choose to target your upper chest muscles by using an incline bench, or your mid and lower pectorals by using a decline bench.

The Bench Press is just one of many compound exercises that allow you to work multiple muscle groups at once.

There are many things you need to do to start building up muscle mass.  Some beginners think that just going to the gym and lifting a few weights will give them the results they want.

But to get the most out of your muscle workouts you have to do things properly. Remember it took you a while to get your body how it currently is and it’s going to take consistent effort to build up muscle mass.

One of the most powerful types of exercises are called compound exercises. Using these in your workout adds intensity to your routine while at the same time working out more than one set of muscles. By working on more than one muscle group at a time you get the extra benefit of needing to spend less time at the gym.

These types of workouts are different than isolation workouts like the bicep curl where you are focussing on just one muscle group.

Don’t get me wrong, isolation exercises are also essential however if you are just getting started or trying to break through a plateau compound exercises are the most efficient way.

Here are five compound exercises that are guaranteed to build muscle mass:

1) Bench Press – focussing on the chest, triceps and shoulders

2) Squats – building up powerful legs and abs

3) Deadlifts – back, abs, legs, forearms

4) Military Press – big thick shoulders and traps

5) Dips – triceps, shoulders, chest, back

When you add these compound exercises to your regular muscle workouts you get the extra benefit of burning more calories when compared to pure isolation exercises. You can also lift heavier weights because multiple muscles are involved.

Photo by The U.S. Army