Everyone has a favorite day to work out at the gym, but Chest Day is a close second. Jumping on the bench and lifting heavy weights is a common workout routine. The crucial warm-up, however, is something that is frequently forgotten. You could certainly attach a few 45-pound plates to a barbell and perform 10 quick sets, but is that really a warm-up? A warm-up not only helps avoid chest injury but is also the best way to improve overall performance. Our training becomes more focused and effective when we prepare for it. Injury risk can be decreased by warming up properly.
For those of us who are still in a time crunch and ready to dive under the barbell, here’s a “quick and dirty” shoulder health, flexibility and bench press activation sequence that will get you activated and ready for chest day!
Related: How to Brace Your Core the Right Way: Step-by-Step – Womens Health Tips
Table of Contents
Why Warm Up for Chest Day Important?
The importance of warm up exercises should be considered by anybody who works out. Although warm ups probably won’t help much with burning calories or building muscle, they’re crucial to the success of a workout! Before you even think about running or using the machines at the gym, you ought to make sure you complete a warm up and do a few stretches – but what makes them so important?
Activate Body Temperature
Your chest temperature will rise during a good warm-up, which is especially beneficial to your muscles. Your muscles can contract and relax more easily as your muscle temperature rises because more oxygen is made available to them. As a result, you’ll be able to handle more demanding tasks with ease. A chance to warm up means that your heart won’t be under too much stress during your workout.
Improve Body Flexibility
Stretching is often considered something that should be done in addition to regular warm ups. Stretching will increase blood flow to your muscles, and allow your chest to increase its flexibility in both the short and long-term – always a plus when it comes to properly performing a workout. Stretch only after you’ve finished your warm-up because stretching before your muscles are sufficiently warmed up can result in injury.
Be Mentally Prepared
Jumping straight into a workout without being adequately prepared can throw you off completely, especially if the preparation is mental rather than physical. It’s easy to give up when working out gets difficult, but you’ll be much less likely to do so if you’ve given yourself time to remember why you’re working out. Use your time warming up to think about what you’re about to do, guaranteeing that both your body and mind will be ready to succeed.
Reduce the Risk of Injury
The last thing you need when you’ve been faithfully attending the gym and reaching your goals is to become injured. Warming up will increase muscle elasticity and enable effective cooling, reducing the possibility that you’ll unintentionally hurt your chest or overheat during your workout and ruin your day!
How to Warm Up for Chest Day?
Prepare your 45LB BAR and FOLDABLE SQUAT RACK, and read on for three chest exercises to get you started if you want some ideas for your chest day warm-up.
Push-ups
An old-school warm-up exercise is a push-up. They are a great way to get your body ready for some heavy lifting because they work the same upper chest muscles that you use when bench pressing. They are also simple to adapt to the environment in which you exercise.
Follow these steps:
- With your elbows slightly bent, hold a plank position with your hands shoulder-width apart on the ground.
- Lower your body to the floor gradually while keeping your back straight.
- Before you touch the ground, raise yourself back up again to your original plank position.
- Perform two sets of 5–10 repetitions.
Push-ups are an example of a warm-up exercise that works best when performed slowly with your back straight. Your chest, shoulders, arms, and back will all be fully developed and strengthened as a result.
Arm Swinging
Key upper body muscles can be activated during dynamic stretches, allowing for full range of motion.
Arm swings, in particular, increase your flexibility and get the blood flowing in your arms, shoulders, and upper back. To loosen the muscles, perform this exercise prior to an upper body workout.
Starting from a standing position with your back straight, arms raised, and feet shoulder-width apart, perform arm swings. Swing your arms around until they are crossed in front of you, and then return to the starting position.
Remember to:
- Maintain a straight back
- Keep your core tight
- Stretch your arms to their fullest range capacity
- Repeat this 10 to 15 times (or for 30 seconds to a minute)
Repeat a second set of arm swings in the opposite direction for extra credit, keeping in mind the aforementioned advice.
Dumbbell Chest Flying
Looking to add some weight to your chest day warm-up? A dumbbell chest fly will add just the right amount of pressure to help strengthen your chest and triceps, making it simpler to bench more weight.
- Start either lying flat on a bench or at an incline—whichever is more comfortable.
- Put your hands at your chest and feet firmly planted on the ground.
- Exhale as you raise your arms over your chest while holding a weight in each hand.
- After taking a breath, bring your arms back down to your chest, but never below your shoulders.
- Do the sets of 10 to 15 reps with rest in between.
Dumbbell chest fly is a simple exercise that will raise your body temperature without exhausting you prior to the chest workout.
How Do You Cool Down After Chest Day?
Reduce the intensity of the activity you’ve been doing to cool down after chest day. For example, turn a:
- Jog into a walk
- Run into a jog
- Fast swim into an easy swim
This’ll help you gradually reduce your heart rate and begin the process of recovery. Your mind and body can return to a resting state by gently stretching each of the major muscle groups for 10 to 15 seconds. This will help restore their length.
Conclusion
Before chest day, warm up to get mentally and physically ready for your chosen activity. Warming up will increase your heart rate, which will increase your blood flow. More oxygen will be able to get to your muscles as a result. Additionally, we’ve given you some suggestions for how to unwind after chest day that we hope will motivate you.
FAQs
Why Is Monday Designated as Chest Day?
Your thighs, lats, and glutes have more mass than your chest, which is the only one of your major muscle groups. If you overtrain your chest, you run the risk of shoulder injuries that could make you stop working out your chest altogether.
Should Girls Chest Day?
In a word, YES! Women should train their chests. Similar to other muscle groups in the body, the chest muscles require effective training if they are to grow stronger and more toned.
