10 pectoral exercises that you did not know and should know
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Gym plateauing is one of those things you don’t want to come but is inevitable. If you notice that there is no change in your pectoral and that you cannot add kilos to the bar in the old basics, it seems like a good idea to try a few different things to activate the pectoral in different ways and that, along with the basics that should not be abandoned, They will help you break through plateaus and keep making progress in your training. This list of 10 pectoral exercises you didn’t know about will help you work angles you’ve never worked before and crush your pectorals to get out of a rut.
Before starting with the list, it is important to talk about the activation of the pectoral. Scientific evidence suggests that activation and warm-up exercises improve the recruitment of the muscles involved in the exercise.
Therefore, perhaps before changing your routine and adding new exercises, you should consider whether your warm-up is good enough to activate the muscles. If not, it is very interesting to carry out a warm-up-activation routine like the following:
1×15 Shoulder Circumduction – Video
1×15 Elbow Rotation – Video
1×12 Internal Rotation Humerus on Pulley/Elastic Band – Video
1×12 External Rotation Humerus on Pulley/Elastic Band – Video
1×12 Pulley/Elastic Band Unilateral Open – Video
1×12 Birds on Pulley/Elastic Band – Video
1×10 Scapular Flexions – Video
With this warm-up and activation routine, we will improve the recruitment of our chest and we will be able to progress in loads safely and efficiently. Once we know how to warm up and activate our pectoral, we go to the list of 10 pectoral exercises that you didn’t know about, add them to your routine as accessories and work your pectoral like never before.
1. Press Landmine: este ejercicio es sorprendentemente desconocido teniendo en cuenta lo efectivo que es, recluta muy bien nuestro pectoral, hombro y trÃceps. In addition, the neutral grip is very healthy for our shoulders, so it is especially recommended for athletes with shoulder discomfort.
2. Ladmine Openings: If the landmine press was already unknown, this version of the landmine type openings is even more so. Get ready for an analytical and technical exercise where instability is key to working your chest in a different way.
3. “Squeeze” grip push-ups: we can perform this type of push-ups both holding a bar and with a kettlebell or rings. We add a component of instability and a great pectoral contraction due to the inward force that we do constantly.
4. Press Hex: We use the neutral grip again to have a more comfortable posture for the shoulder and to contract the chest as much as possible during the course of this exercise. Thanks to this constant tension, you will feel your chest burn!
5. Reverse grip bench press: according to a Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College study, the reverse grip bench press involved up to 30% more upper pecs compared to its standard version. It is clear that you will move less load with this version, but it is interesting for when you want to specifically affect the upper pectoral in a different way.
6. Slider Flyes: This calisthenics exercise requires a pair of slider discs, which are so versatile and cheap that you should go get a pair right away if you don’t have them. You basically imitate flyes from a push-up position. If you think that push-ups are not enough for you, try this version that isolates our pectorals even more.
7. Chain Bench Press: Although this is technically a Bench Press, using chains causes the load to build up throughout the rep. Among the pectoral exercises that you did not know, this one does not work perfectly to improve speed, strength and power.
8. Lateral Pulley Press: We are not going to discover the pulley exercises, but this version is one of the ones that isolates the pectoral the most, practically eliminating the shoulder from the equation. It is also a perfect exercise to give work to the upper pectoral.
9. Floor Press: It stands out mainly for its transfer to the Bench Press when we get stuck in the final part of the exercise. Both with dumbbells and with a bar, it is a very useful exercise to gain strength in the torso.
Ring push-ups/TRX: this exercise, very difficult to execute correctly, apart from working the pectoral, generates a very good activation in our middle zone.
Bonus. Press Banca: Although this article deals with different exercises that we can do, we must not leave out the classic bench press as this is still the quintessential builder of strength and hypertrophy in the torso. We can try interesting variations such as series with pause, slow descending, one and half, descending, myoreps… there are many options to break a stagnation.
That said, there are always interesting options for when it seems that we are not progressing and we are not stimulating the pectoral well. It always helps to do different exercises that work other planes that we don’t usually touch, and with this guide to pectoral exercises that you didn’t know about, we’re sure that this list will help you have more variety in your workouts.
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