Six Things You Need To Know About Chest Muscle

1. To Grow Chest Muscle, You Need Lean Protein

If you want to sculpt chest muscles that are big and chiseled, you need to eat foods that have high quality proteins in them.  Also, to unlock massive muscle gains, you need to eat massive quantities of protein.  Protein is the building block of muscle, it is what muscle is made of.  So common sense says that we need to eat protein so that we can maintain, build and even repair muscle. 

Choosing the right high protein foods are vital when it comes to building a muscular chest.  The right foods will not only help you repair muscle as efficiently as possible but it will also increase your overall health.  The best high protein are those that are low in saturated fat and they contain high amounts of quality protein.  Foods like this are known as “complete proteins”.  This is because they contain all the “essential” amino acids that the body requires to build and repair muscle.  Complete proteins are not only the best muscle repairing foods but they also have a high biological value.  This means that our bodies can more readily digest and utilize the protein based on the  configuration of the amino acids within the food.

Here is my list of the best high protein foods to eat:

• Eggs - cheap, easy to prepare and with a biological value of 90-100
• Fish - easy to digest, has good fats/omega-3's and a biological value of 70-80
• Chicken - economical, rich in B vitamins and has a biological rating of 80
• Low-fat Dairy - readily available, easy to prepare and has a biological value of 80-90
• Beans - high in fiber, highly nutritious and they have a biological value of 70-80
• Lean Red Meat - a good source of iron and B vitamins, a good protein source and a biological value of 70

Be careful with the lean red meat as it tends to be high in saturated fat by keeping its consumption to one or two times a week.

2. To Grow Chest Muscles, Understand The Anatomy

The chest muscles can be broken down into two major groups:  the Pectoralis Major and the Pectoralis Minor.  The Pectoralis Major muscles are located on the front of your rib cage and they attach to the humerus which is near the shoulder joint.  The Pectoralis Major originates on the breastbone which is at the center of the chest.  The function of the Pectoralis Major is to bring the humerus across the chest and the chest flye exercise is an example of this movement.  The Pectoralis Minor is underneath the Pectoralis Major and it originates on the middle ribs and attaches to the coracoid process of the scapula.  The purpose of the Pectoralis Minor is to move the shoulder area forward.  An example movement by the Pectoralis Minor would be to shrug your shoulders forward.  So next time you put together a chest routine, consider both the Pectoralis Major and Pectoralis Minor to fully develop your chest muscles.

3. Your Chest Muscles Do Need Days Off

Although your chest muscles are one of the larger muscles in your body, it definitely isn't recommended that you hit them with weights everyday.  If you are a gym rat who hits the weights everyday and does a full body workout, let me ask you a question.  Are you making the gains you want in terms of strength and size?  The answer is most likely a very resounding “NO!”.  By working your chest (and other muscles in general) on a daily basis, you aren't allowing your body time to repair from the prior workout.  The building of muscle, chest or otherwise, happens outside the gym when you rest and recover.  So if you are currently working your chest muscles everyday or even every other day and aren't seeing the gains you want, add in some more time for recovery!

4. Always Use A Spotter

Lifters who are in their 20's and 30's are the most likely to rupture their chest muscles when performing chest exercises.  This often happens when you are trying to press more weight than your body is capable of handling.  So put your ego aside and use a spotter to keep chest muscle injuries vastly reduced.

5. You Chest Muscles Can Really Mess With Your Body's Posture

You chest muscles can really put your posture off kilter.  If your chest muscles are too tight, your shoulders will tend to be pulled forward.  You will look like  you are hunched forward rather than standing tall and straight.  So make sure and stretch your chest muscles before working them and make sure you develop your back muscles to keep good muscular balance and good posture.
6. Work Your Chest Muscles Before You Work Supporting Muscles

When you do an upper body workout, you should complete all chest exercises before moving on to exercises that work supporting muscles.  When it comes to chest exercises, the supporting muscles are the triceps and shoulders.  These supporting muscles help you maintain stability during lifts and they will help you go heavier when doing exercises like the bench press.  If you work these supporting muscles before working the chest muscles, you will be fatigued and you won't be able to go as heavy when doing chest exercises.  To grow chest muscles you need to go heavy, so having to go lighter because you worked the supporting muscles first will only equal less gains in chest muscle.