I often get asked about Kettlebell
Workouts for Chest development as most of the traditional Kettlebell exercises
tend to focus on core strength and swinging movements as oppose to pushing
exercises. The truth of the matter is that if you get creative with the
Kettlebell you can develop super impressive Pectoral development as the design
of the Kettlebell will allow for a fuller range of movement.
I would still advise a beginner to
weight training to stick to Barbell Bench pressing and dumbbell fly movements
to develop the initial growth of the Pectoral Minor and Pectoral Major muscles.
Once an athlete has a decent set of ‘Pecs’, they can then use the shape of the
Kettlebell as a way to help stretch out and further develop the muscles.
If I am to advise on a basic Kettlebell
Workout for Chest muscle development I would recommend a warm up consisting of body-weight
push-ups and some light weight Cable crossovers – a simple 5 minutes of
invested time performing two sets of ten push-ups and two sets of ten cable
crossovers with a light weight will suffice to lubricate the Elbow joints and
provide the beginning of a pump consisting of Oxygenated blood into the
Pectoral region.
The Kettlebell Workout routine designed
for Chest development consists of 2
Kettlebell exercises, each of which will be performed in a superset fashion
with Kettlebell Push Ups.
Exercise 1 is the Kettlebell Floor Press.
To perform the Kettlebell Floor Press
the athlete is to take a pair of Kettlebells and press them above their heads
in an Elbows locked position and start to sit down, once sitting they are to
lie down on their Back facing upwards. With the palm of the Hands facing
forwards lower the Kettlebells downwards until the Tricpes touch the floor before
pressing back upwards using a smooth, yet explosive motion. Whilst performing
this exercise keep knees and feet pressed together.
The plan here is to do 5 sets
increasing the weight each time and reducing the number of reps in a pattern of
20, 15, 12, 10 and 6 reps. In between each set of the Kettlebell Floor Press
perform Kettlebell Push ups allowing the Pectorals to fully stretch on each
repetition.
Exercise 2 is the Kettlebell Fly.
To perform the Kettlebell Fly, choose a
bench to perform the exercise from. Depending on which area of the Chest you
wish to target will depend on the type of bench you use. Use an incline to
target the upper Pectoral region, a decline bench to target the lower Pectoral
region and simply use a flat bench for an overall Pectoral exercise.
Once you are lying on the bench
performing the Fly correctly is of paramount importance to the development of
the Pec muscles. If you are to imagine a hugging motion, this will serve you
well. Extend the arms out to your side with a slight bend in the Elbow and
bring the Kettlebells together in a wide arc (similar to an over exaggerated
hugging motion). Once the Kettlebells are touching, reverse the movement and
concentrate on the stretch feeling that should be generated on the downwards
part of the exercise.
The plan here is to do 5 sets
increasing the weight each time and reducing the number of reps in a pattern of
20, 15, 12, 10 and 6 reps. In between each set of the Kettlebell Fly perform
Kettlebell Push ups allowing the Pectorals to fully stretch on each repetition.
The development of Chest muscles using
Kettlebell exercises solely relies on the Athletes ability to stick to strict
form. Anyone can load a Barbell with weights and throw it around and whilst
this can develop awesome power, it very rarely develops the chiselled body we
desire (think of the last time you watched the UK’s strongest man on TV).
The athlete has to control the weight
and take advantage of its shape and weight distribution to ensure they get the
very best out of Kettlebell workouts for Chest.
*Please note that if you have one
particular area of the Chest that you wish to improve simply replace the
Kettlebell Floor Press with a bench based version. For instance if you are
targeting your upper Pectoral region replace the floor press with an incline
bench and then perform the Kettlebell fly with an incline bench also*
To read more on Kettlebell Chest
Workouts and find out lots more about Kettlebell exercises in general visit www.intense-kettlebell-workouts.com
