Living a healthy life and having a strong body has always been my desire and that is why I am sharing my personal fitness story. However, when I decided to do bodybuilding, I knew that my chest needed a little revamp.
I needed to have a strong chest because a well-built chest is important for a good looking physique. My friends had told me that building my chest will be one of the hardest things to do.
I love challenges so I thought, “why not try this one out?” when I started free weights chest exercises, the first lesson I learned was that my chest is not like other body parts. It has many fibers and is small in nature and that is why it appears to grow at a slow pace.
I knew that different exercises work for different people and what works for a friend may not work for me. I decided to do all of them and stick to the ones that work for me. The following are some of the free weights exercises that worked for me.
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The barbell bench
With barbell bench lifts, I was able to generate a lot of power because the bench gave me the liberty to lift weights and keep increasing according to my strength. I loved this exercise because it was easy to do and master. I did not need a lot of supervision – somehow I just went with the flow.
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The dumbbell press
The flat bench dumbbell allowed my two body sides to work separately. That means my body needed to engage the help of stabilizer muscles. Dumbbells are different from barbell press because they permit a long range of movement. The dumbbell press allowed to me hoist heavier weights than barbells and I loved alternating the two.
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Seated machine chest press
I loved this one because it allowed me to do my repetitions at a slow speed. I could do it in both the concentric and the eccentric phases. It also helped me to concentrate on my pecs.
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My experience with the 3 days split workouts
Lately, there has been an upsurge of 4 days and 5-day split workouts. Initially, I thought that they were more effective than the 3-day workouts. I later learned that the 3-day workouts are much more advantageous as they give my body enough time to heal.
My trainer shared a program which included exercises, the number of sets and repetitions.
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Pull/push-legs
This exercise had been created for beginners and there was no need for prior experience. I would train very heavy in each exercise in the beginning and increase either my weights or the number of repetitions.
When I went in for another session I would increase my repetitions and rest for three to four minutes between sets. The exercises involved, snatch grip deadlifts, Cable Rows, Barbell Preacher Curls, Barbell Push Press, Pull-Ups, Barbell Lunges, Romanian deadlifts and Weighted Crunches among others.
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Upper – lower
Just as it is with the pull-push-leg, I had to train heavy during the first sessions. Later on, I increased the weights. As I progressed, I increased both the weight and repetitions after doing enough warm-up.
Since tests are mandatory, I would go for a 3 to 4 minutes break before doing another set. The exercise involved Weighted Chin-ups, Barbell Skull Crashers, raised weighted hanging legs, Sumo Deadlifts, Reverse Hyper Extensions, Good mornings, Side bends and Cable Woodchoppers among others. 
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Full body
By the time I started this exercise I was already acquainted with exercises and knew that it was not meant for beginners. I had been in training for close to six months before engaging in this type of high-frequency split.
It involved everything from Dumbbells, Front squats, back squats and Deadlifts among others. It was the most intense of them all.
I am still training and I can tell you the experience has been like a roller coaster for me. However, I have my good build body and strong chest to show for it. This is who I always wished to be! Training leaves you a better person. You can try it!
Author Bio :
Sarah is the founder of CyanFitness where she shared her expertise on total wellness with you. Here, she not only design personalized workout programs. But most importantly, she helped you develop the habit of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
You can read more about Sarah at her blog CyanFitness
