How to Do a Balanced Chest Workout

There are many reasons why you want to do a balanced chest workout. Cosmetically, an imbalanced chest looks out of proportion. Also, if your chest muscles are overpowering your back muscles, then you will begin to have poor posture. Poor posture, of course, leads to many types of neck and back problems.It is also important to have proportion within your chest muscle group. Your chest muscles can be separated between the lower and upper chest. Whether a beginner or advanced, it is still necessary to focus on keeping muscle balance between your lower chest and your upper chest.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Weightlifting belt
• Spotter

Do a Balanced Chest Workout

1. Learn Which Exercises to Do: There are many different exercises that target the chest. Some work the lower portion more than the upper and vice versa. You will need to learn which exercises target which areas. The bench press and dumbbell lifts performed on a flat bench will work the lower chest. The incline bench press and incline dumbbell lifts will focus more on the upper portion of the chest.

2. Learn the Proper Form of Each Exercise: You need to know how to properly execute each excercise. This is necessary to efficiently target the muscles that you want to exercise and also helps to reduce the risk of injury.

3. Plan Your Workout: You will get more done and see more improvement if you go into the gym with a game plan. Pick the exercises that you want to perform and that will target your entire chest.

4. Find your Comfort Zone: As you try out the different exercises for each area of your chest, you will find those that feel the best to you. As long as you are working all areas of your chest equally this is okay. There are too many options to be able to get them all into one workout, so picking those that you like is acceptable.

5. Remember the Opposing Muscles: The chest muscles look good in the mirror, but you must remember those muscles hidden from your view. The balance between your back muscles and your chest muscles is important, both cosmetically and for your health. Exercise your back as hard as your exercise your chest.

Tips & Warnings

• Switch back and forth between barbells and dumbbells when weight training the chest. Variation can keep workouts from becoming stale and can stimulate further muscle growth.
• Fight the need to put your chest above your other muscle groups, especially your back muscles.
• Try exercising your back muscles and your chest muscles in the same workout, alternating which muscle group you work first.
• Always stretch prior to heavy chest exercises.
• Always stretch your shoulders, arms and back along with your chest muscles before working out.
• When doing heavy chest exercises, such as bench presses and incline bench presses, always have a spotter present for safety reasons.
• Resist the temptation to lift more weight than you can handle. This leads to injuries, and at the very least bad form.

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Resources

• More advice on how to deal with and prevent chest imbalance.
• Workouts to help strengthen your chest.
• Common exercises and workouts to build your chest.
• Get information about building an overall physique.