Training with dumbbells | Breast muscle training

Training with dumbbells

The advantage of dumbbell training for building up the chest muscles is that you can do the exercises at home with your own dumbbells and you can move freely. In contrast to this, the sequence of movement is precisely defined on machines (for example, you can only press the weight in one direction on a line). This means that the coordination cannot be trained as well as with dumbbells.

However, dumbbell training is particularly suitable for advanced users who have enough strength to perform the exercise correctly without the help of a machine and therefore have a lower risk of injury. Now the athlete still has to decide whether it is better to use barbells (are held with both hands) or dumbbells (are only held with one hand). Even though there are loyal followers of both methods, a combination of both is most effective.

The dumbbell is ideal for compensating for imbalances (for example, due to muscle shortening). The weaker muscle group can be specifically addressed here and after regular training the strength ratio of the muscles among themselves (antagonists) is brought back into balance. When doing weight training with the barbell, fewer stabilizing and auxiliary muscles become active because the barbell can be held more stable with both hands. This makes it easier to shape the desired muscle group individually.

Training without equipment

The advantages of chest muscle training without equipment are that you don’t have to visit a gym (free training) and at the same time you usually have a good coordination training because you have to keep and balance your own body weight. Here are some examples of exercises without dumbbells or equipment:

  • Push-ups and their variations (see below)
  • Dips: Two sturdy chairs (preferably covered with heavy books to prevent them from falling over) are moved a little more than shoulder width apart and placed with their backs facing each other. Stand between the chairs, place your hands on the backs and lift yourself off the floor.

Then you slowly lower your body and then pull yourself up again. One should start with small lowerings first. – Isometric chest compression: This exercise can even be done in the office.

While standing or sitting, the arms are bent and the palms of the hands are held together in front of the chest, elbows point outwards. The hands are pressed firmly together for about 15 seconds, then the tension is slowly released. This process is repeated several times.

A well developed, strong chest muscle is very important for strength athletes. It is not only indispensable for many movements and sports, especially swimming and stroke sports. It also has an aesthetic benefit, because it is not for nothing that the colloquial phrase “stomach in, chest out” is used.

Defined pectoral muscles make the man look particularly athletic, even if they are not directly visible, but only fill out the shirt well, for example. This makes them one of the most important muscle groups in bodybuilding and weight training, especially for amateurs who do not want to do high-performance sports but only want to improve their appearance. The basis for a good pectoral muscle training is stretching.

Especially when working in the office, you usually sit with your upper body bent over, so that the pectoral muscles would shorten in the long run. Therefore, daily stretching is very important (about five minutes is enough). A good, intensive chest muscle training consists of several exercises such as push-ups, dumbbell flys (flying), dips and twisted push-ups (after the push-up one arm is lifted towards the ceiling, the weight shifts to the other).

For a long time, women tended to neglect pectoral muscle training and were assigned to building a male stature. Recently, however, pectoral muscle training has also become a trend among women. A strong chest looks very self-confident and many hope that the training will also result in a more beautiful, firmer décolleté.

Training does not have a direct influence on the female breast because it consists of connective tissue as well as fat and glandular tissue and this is not changed during muscle building (only the simultaneous body fat reduction will change the size of the breast itself). However, the pectoral muscles provide a natural support for the bust, which sits just above the small and large pectoral muscles. This means that the pectoral muscle training can have a similar effect to a push-up bra.

Training for women usually consists less of dumbbell exercises and more of exercises with your own body weight or with a Thera-band (alternatively, tights can be used). Just as with men, push-ups are a good basis for women to train their breast muscles. Beginners can also do them kneeling or start on a raised object and not on the floor.

Push-ups are the classic chest and arm muscle exercises. The best thing about push-ups is that they can be modified in many ways. For example, it can be performed in several degrees of difficulty due to the height of the hands: In addition, the position of the hands in relation to each other can also vary.

Push-ups with the hands close together are much more difficult than with the hands shoulder-width apart. Lifting the legs (e.g. on a chair or leaning against the wall for professionals) also has a significant effect on the demands of the exercise. Some interesting variations are the following:

  • Hands pressed against a wall at chest height
  • Hands on a waist-high object (e.g.

a desk)

  • Hands on a knee-high object (e.g. bed)
  • Hands on the floor
  • Sliding push-up: There are two towels under the hands. When lowered, the hands slide apart, when raised they are brought together again. – Scorpio push-up: When lowering, one leg is bent and the foot is guided over the other leg towards the back.

Thereby hip and upper body turn slightly. – Offset push-up: One arm is placed as usual at shoulder height, the other at chest height. When lowering, the rear arm is then put under particular strain.