Small Chest Woes: Finding the Right Solution

If you're a taller guy, lifting big heavyweights isn't as easy as if you're a shorter guy. If you don't believe us, check out this piece by Lee Boyce, who is a world-renowned trainer, on the difference height can make in accomplishing your weight lifting goals. It's not always easy for taller, leaner lifters to pack on mass. However, there are a few tricks that taller lifters have used to increase the size of their chest despite their elongated skinny arms and they can help you increase the size of your small chest too.First, ditch the barbell and grab the dumbbells. The range of motion allowed by dumbbells greatly increases the ability of your chest muscles to activate and produce force. The more muscle fibers recruited, the more weight lifted, the more time under tension, the greater the bodies chances of adapting to that stimulus and producing muscle growth. It's not really a difficult concept to grasp.The other great thing you're accomplishing through utilizing dumbbells is you're teaching your shoulder to stabilize under load. That may not seem like a big deal, except when trying to lift maximal loads, the more movement your body does, the less chance you're going to produce the optimal amount of force. The weight should travel in a very specific path, any deviation from that will result in decreased force output. In laymen's terms, no more shaky weak shoulders.

Lastly, utilize a complex. A complex is a series of movements performed without rest. A simple example would be Dumbbell Bench Press, followed immediately by Dumbbell Flies, followed by a Lying Tricep Extension. You'd do several repetitions, or one rep of each exercise, (you can vary it up as you see fit, just make sure you're stressing the same muscle group). This will increase the blood flow to that muscle group and keep the muscle under tension longer as well.By following a few of these guidelines, you'll see an increase in your chest size and strength as you move forward.