Is dumbbell side raise effective for training chest muscles?

More and more people like to use dumbbells to exercise. For men, they usually choose dumbbells to exercise in order to get the muscles they like, because muscles are very important for men. If men do not have muscles, they will be considered as soft scholars. In ancient times, men with muscles traveled all over the world and were favored by women. So, can using dumbbells to do side raises help to train chest muscles?

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Pectoralis major exercises

1. The main method of developing the pectoralis major muscle

The main method to develop the pectoralis major is the barbell lying press, and other training methods are auxiliary. Because the volume of the muscles trained is proportional to the weight lifted. The weight of the lying barbell is relatively much larger than that of the dumbbell. If you use a heavy dumbbell to do lying press or "flying bird", it is very difficult. Under normal circumstances, if the weight of lying press reaches 60 kg, and each set is 8 to 10 times, the chest circumference can be trained to 95 cm. If you use 100 kg, the chest circumference will exceed 100 cm, up to 120 cm.

2. Design and Practice of Lying Press Barbell

Dumb-bell barbell training mainly affects the muscles being trained, such as the weight of the bell, the way of holding the bar, the distance of the grip, the angle of lifting, the speed of lifting and the number of sets. The pectoralis major is no exception. The bar diameter of the lying press barbell is preferably slightly thicker, with an outer diameter of 35-40 mm and a wall thickness of 2.5-3.0 mm. A thicker bar can reduce the unit pressure on the palm, increase the force area, and facilitate the arm to push up. The distance from the grip to the bell plate should be short, about 100 mm, so that the weight (force) is concentrated on the vertical plane close to the pectoralis muscle and the generation of rabbit force couple can be reduced. The position where the bar rises and falls must be placed on the pectoralis muscle being trained (down to the diaphragm, up to the clavicle). The chest should be trained from bottom to top, from wide to narrow, that is, first train the lower chest (inverted incline), then train the middle chest (flat lying), and finally train the upper chest (upright incline). First, use a wide grip bar, then a medium grip bar, and finally a narrow grip bar. A wide grip bar trains the width of the chest muscles, and a narrow grip bar trains the height (thickness) of the chest muscles. As for the bench for lying and pressing, a short bench is used for inverted incline pressing (20-30 degrees) and flat pressing. When pressing, only the upper back touches the bench surface, which can make the chest stand up and increase the unit pressure. Using a sitting curved bench (30-45 degrees) for the right incline pressing can make the upper chest stand up and be horizontal, so that the barbell acts vertically on the upper chest muscles.

3. Breathing during lying push-ups

Inhaling when exerting force can increase the amount of myoglobin for oxygen storage and muscle glycogen for energy supply, and expand the muscle capillaries, which is conducive to exertion. If you exhale when exerting force, you will be hypoxic, the muscle glycogen supply will be insufficient, the muscle strength will be reduced, and the number of muscle fibers involved in exertion will also be reduced. In addition, insufficient "burning" of muscle glycogen will produce more lactic acid, causing muscle soreness and fatigue. Therefore, the correct breathing method for bench press is to inhale when the barbell is pushed up and exhale when the barbell is lowered.

4. The speed of lying push-up

Use a combination of fast contraction (1-2 seconds) and slow extension (2-4 seconds)

This contradicts Weider's slow and continuous tension rule (4 seconds for exertion and contraction, 2 seconds for recovery and extension). The author's experience is that the recovery time should be the same as the contraction and lifting time (2 to 3 seconds). Lifting too fast or too slow means that the weight is not appropriate.

5. The influence of triceps on chest muscles

While training the pectoralis major, you should also strengthen the triceps of your upper arms. Without well-developed triceps, you can't push a heavy barbell while lying down, and you can't train well-developed pectoralis major. Usually, the weight of a flat press should be three times the weight of a triceps exercise.

6. Prone support

If you don't have dumbbells, push-ups are the easiest way to train your chest muscles. Regular push-ups can also maintain the size of your chest muscles, which is particularly meaningful for bodybuilding exercises for the elderly.

If you only use dumbbells to do lateral raises to exercise the chest muscles, the effect is not very good. If you want better ways to exercise the chest muscles, we have introduced several methods above. If you are different, you can learn to do it according to the above methods. In this way, you will be able to see the chest muscles over time. The key is that through exercise, one side can get chest muscles, and the other half can also get a healthy body.