Portrait of fit woman in sports bra with muscular body against grey background. Close-up studio shot of female fitness model in sports wear. (iStock)
Getting a good butt may get all the attention these days, but don’t forget about the importance of working your chest, especially when you want a bit of an enhancement in the perkiness department (sans surgery, of course).
“To strengthen your chest, you need to target muscles such as your pecs and lats, shoulders, triceps, and rhomboids,” Noah Neiman, founding trainer at Rumble Boxing in New York City, told FoxNews.
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Including weight-based chest exercises in your strength training routine won’t make you bulk up (so drop that fear), but rather will improve your posture, and develop supportive back and chest muscles to provide a little lift to the area.
To get you started, here are Neiman’s favorite chest-building moves:
1. Deadlifts
This move addresses your back and posterior chain to improve the effectiveness of the chest workout.
How: Holding a barbell or a dumbbell in each hand, feet shoulder width apart, lower the weights to the floor while bending your knees slightly. (Don’t round your back.) Stand back up to the starting position.
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2. Goblet squats
Surprise! Something you thought only targeted your glutes is also a cornerstone of any good chest routine. These squats help develop core and postural strength, which will help improve the strength of the front of your body, Neiman said.
How: Hold a dumbbell vertically in both hands in front of your chest. Drop down into a squat. Return to start.
3. Pushups
“Most people who do pushups do them wrong,” Neiman said. Do them right, and they’ll address your arms, chest and core.
How: Form a triangle with your hands (outside of your breasts) — not a “T.” Lower your body to touch your chest as close to the ground as possible. Go ahead and modify this move to do it from your knees.
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4. Incline flies
Grab an incline bench and two dumbbells. As you get stronger, add more weight and decrease reps.
How: Holding the weights, sit back on the bench and open arms wide; elbows should be slightly bent and your palms should face each other. Pull arms together in front of your chest. Return to staring position.
How to do the workout: Set a timer for three minutes. Do 10 to 20 reps of each exercise. Continue to cycle through each set until the timer runs out. Take a 45- to 60-second break. Repeat as many as 10 times, depending on how long you’d like the workout to be.
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Get even more out of it: If you have time, cap the workout off by grabbing some gloves and doing 5 to 10 rounds of boxing. It provides the “pushing” motions that develop chest muscles while conditioning your whole body, said Neiman, “leaving you stronger and leaner.”
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