In the next few articles we’ll try to give you some home workout ideas that are pretty simple and require no equipment, other than some basic stuff you can find in any household. We want to spread the idea that working out can be done easily, in the comfort of one’s home and without buying a thing.
We start today with some home chest workout suggestions that go a bit beyond the standard push-ups that you all know. Alas, there is not a big variety of chest exercises that can be done at home without extra equipment.
By adding a bench that you can incline/decline and some dumbbells you can basically do all the chest exercises that you can do at the gym. However, since we are doing home chest exercises without equipment, let’s try to find some alternatives.
The Push-Up
We’ve all learned as kids that push-ups are a type of chest exercise that you do on the floor by pushing your own body weight up.
However, not everybody knows that you can do them with wider or closer hands to focus on certain areas of your chest.
Push-ups: #1 home chest workout. This is equivalent to bench press using your body weight
It’s very important to keep your back rigid during push-ups – imagine that it is a piece of wood. This requires you to keep your abs tight, and affects other muscles as well. Push-ups, when done right workout:
- Chest;
- Triceps;
- Anterior shoulders;
- Abs;
- Lower back.
Keeping your back rigid is the key to make push-ups an effective exercise for abs and lower back.
The standard push-up is the most common home chest workout and consists of push-ups where your hands are shoulder width apart.
This works your whole chest and it’s basically like doing the bench press.
Narrow Hands Push Ups
Hand positioning is crucial in determining the efficiency of a push-up routine. One of the variations of push-ups consists of keeping your hands closer directly under your chest – if you put them on the ground beside each other, your thumbs should almost touch.
Narrow push-ups are more challenging than wide push-ups as they target the triceps more than the pecs. They also target on the shoulders, back and abs.
Wide Hands Push-Ups
Wide hand push-ups require your hands to be positioned wider than the shoulders. As opposed to the narrow version, where your elbows stick close to your sides, the elbows are slightly flared outward, resulting in greater work on the external part of your chest and the shoulders. This version is consider easier of the two. The wider chest area is accountable for the ease in movement, which is why it is less challenging than positioning your hands closely.
Single Leg Push Up
In this variation you start on your hands and toes with your feet spread to shoulder width or wider and lift one foot so that it is hovering off of the ground, then complete each repetition as you would a traditional push up. The wider you set your feet the harder the push up will be as it will shift more weight to one arm. You can actually get to the point where you are using just one hand for 100% of the load. Switch which foot is up and repeat for the same amount of time and/or repetitions.
Can I “Add Weight” to My Push Ups?
Most definitely!
If you want to make your home chest workout a little harder you can always put a backpack on your shoulders and load it with one, two or several heavy books, or whatever else you can find at home. You can also have your feet up on a bench, bed, or a sofa. This will increase the range of motion and provide a little complexity and toughness to your regular push-ups.
Chest Flyes
The fly necessitates using significantly lighter weights than other chest exercises, but, unlike the push-up, it puts more emphasis squarely on your pecs over supporting muscle groups. This is why it’s a great addition to the push up as a home chest exercise.
Typically for chest flyes you would need a bench and dumbbells. However, we can improvise and make a home version with some minor adjustments:
- You have do it on the floor;
- You use bottles of water instead of dumbbells, of fill the bottles with sand, or rocks for added weight.
One more idea, if you happen to have an exercise ball you can use it under your shoulders just like you would use a bench.
Take a few deep breaths, relaxing your body before you actually perform the exercise. Look directly up at the ceiling, keeping your spine in great alignment. As you inhale, slowly extend your elbows out to the side. You should be making a “T” with your upper body. Exhale, as you carefully bring the bottles together over the center of your chest, making a “rainbow.” Once the bottles come together, slowly bring them back to their starting position.
Take a few deep breaths, relaxing your body before you actually perform the exercise. Look directly up at the ceiling, keeping your spine in great alignment. As you inhale, slowly extend your elbows out to the side. You should be making a “T” with your upper body. Exhale, as you carefully bring the bottles together over the center of your chest, making a “rainbow.” Once the bottles come together, slowly bring them back to their starting position.
Just imagine using bottles rather than dumbbells
Source: build-muscle-101.com/home-chest-workout/
Melissa Bell
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