How long before pecs

Your muscles need downtime to recover and build themselves back up stronger than before. Not only should you rest in between sets, you should also be taking an entire day off to recover—as in, no leg day or anything.

Make it a true rest day by doing absolutely nothing. Well, the same goes for your pecs. Your muscle-building is going to be agonizingly slow unless you start eating a protein-rich diet.

Not only do you need to consume more lean protein, you also need to do it at an optimal frequency. Gaining muscle quickly can also be taxing on the body and result in stretch marks that are notoriously difficult to get rid of once they occur. Follow these tips and you can easily achieve a more defined chest within a month or two. Just remember to take good care of your skin after every workout. After working so hard on your pecs, the last thing you want is for your chest to be covered in pimples.

American College of Sports Medicine. Loenneke, Jeremy P. A good rule of thumb to follow: after a hard chest workout, wait at least 48 hours before training the same muscles again. Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox. Love what you're reading? Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. Related Story. HD Getty Images. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Matthew Leete Getty Images. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. After reaching the bottom position, explode up as fast as you can so that your hands literally leave the floor, then clap before they come back down.

Blast through your chest and tricep plateaus with this upper body, superset workout. Read article. Bench With Bands Why to do it: Including various types of resistances in your pec training is great for shocking the muscles into getting stronger and bigger.

Do Partials On Presses Why to do it: Yet another way to train your pecs past failure is via partial reps, in which you perform reps in less than a full range of motion. Dip To Failure Why to do it: What better way to bust through a plateau than with a combination of intensity-boosting techniques , not to mention one of the most tried-and-true chest exercises out there, the dip. End With a Pushup Tri-Set Why to do it: Few bodybuilders seem to take advantage of the one chest exercise we all started out doing — push-ups — mainly because once you get some decent chest strength , you can bust out reps without breaking a sweat.

Crank out as many reps as you can to finish off your lower pecs… then call it a day. Welcome Additions Shocking a bodypart into growing can be as easy as adding new exercises to the mix. Written by Joe Wuebben. Also by Joe Wuebben.

Thank you for signing up. Your information has been successfully processed! There are a variety of chest exercises you can use in your weight training sessions. Chromiak suggests changing up the exercises regularly in order to better overload your chest muscles and prevent them from hitting a plateau. Exercises that are effective at targeting your chest include bench press, incline chest press, pushups, decline pushups, chest flyes and alternating chest press.

Warmup exercises help prevent injuries by increasing the elasticity of your muscles and lubricating your joints. Perform light- to-moderate intensity aerobics or calisthentics for five to 10 minutes before you work out.

Do stretches after your workout to increase your flexibility and reduce muscle soreness. Reach for the ceiling with interlaced fingers, palms facing upward for an upper-body stretch.

Drop one arm behind your back and press your hand on the opposite side against the elbow of your dropped arm to increase the stretch. Repeat on the other side.