Chest expander exercises refer to a simple exercise that involves a set of movements that require the use of an instrument made of rubber tubing and metal spring.
This is what is known as the chest expander hence the name of the exercise. All these movements are tailored to cater to various areas in the body.
As such, it’s a compound exercise due to the number of areas it works at once. The movements are done in the following ways:
FRONT PULL OUT
This movement is one of the chest expander exercises done to target the chest and the shoulder. It involves holding the chest expander out in front of you and pulling.
STEPS:
- Hold the chest expander in front of you. Ensure you hold it out at shoulder level
- Keep your arm straight
- Pull the expander outwards till its at chest width
- Return to the start.
- Do 3-4 steps of 12 reps
EXPANDER BICEP CURL
As the title suggests, this is one of the chest expander exercises that target the biceps. To do this exercise:
STEPS:
- Insert your feet into one of the handles of the chest expander. Ensure that you place it in a way that it won’t be loose.
- Let your hands rest on your thighs and curl your arms in an underhand grip (your fingers facing you)
- Do this until your hands are at shoulder level. This completes your rep
- Do 3-4 sets of 10 reps for each arm
EXPANDER WOOD CUTTER
This is one of the chest expander exercises that targets the core. To do this exercise:
STEPS:
- Lock the chest expander behind a door knob
- Pull the expander away from the knob
- Do 10 reps of 3-4 sets for each arm
ALTERNATE PRESSING
- Hold the cables as shown with the right hand as low as possible and the left hand held at shoulder level.
- Keep the right hand straight and push the left hand overhead to arms length, then lower and repeat.
- Do the same thing for the other hand
ARCHER TRICEP STRETCH
The archer tricep stretch is one of the chest expander exercises, it involves movements that target the tricep.
It is in fact a terrific tricep developer. To do the exercise:
STEPS:
- Keep the left arm straight and pull the right arm outwards until it is at arm’s length.
- Return to the start position.
- Ensure that your arm remains tense. This is so as to avoid using the shoulders and instead work the triceps.
OVERHEAD PULL DOWN
The movement while doing this exercise targets a number of areas. However, the primary target is the back and shoulder. To do the exercise:
STEPS:
- Hold the cables at arm’s length overhead and keep arms straight.
- Pull downwards until the strands are extended across the back.
- Return and start again
WHAT MUSCLES DO THE CHEST EXPANDER EXERCISES WORK?
CHEST
The title chest expander exercises is pretty telling as to what is key to the exercises. A number of the exercises, therefore, engage the chest.
That said, the front pull out is the exercise that involves the chest the most. This is because the movements isolate the chest muscles forcing it to provide the power to facilitate said actions.
BACK
As mentioned above, the chest expander exercises are compound in nature. The back is therefore one of the areas engaged when doing a number of exercises.
It is however primarily targeted when doing the overhead pull down. By raising your arm in such a position and pulling, the back is forced to spring into action.
The back holds the arms in position and provides the force to pull the expander wide. Therefore, with every pull you work the back.
BICEP
The expander bicep curl is structured in a way that ensures the bicep remains tense, As a result, this tension forces your biceps to handle the distributed weight.
In the end this keeps the bicep worked with every rep
Some of the other areas engaged include the core, rear deltoids, triceps and trap muscles.
CHEST EXPANDER EXERCISES BENEFITS
STRENGTHENS YOUR CHEST WALLS
The fact that so many chest expander exercises engage the chest improves the muscle structure and composition of the chest walls.
As a result, with every engaging exercise, you strengthen the chest walls due to a number of resultant factors i.e., expansion of the rib cage muscles.
INCREASED LUNG CAPACITY
A strong chest wall as a result of the chest expander exercises comes with trickle-down benefits. This comes in the form of improved lung capacity as a result of your chest’s ability to expand more.
When put logically the more expanded your chest walls get, the more volume of air it takes in.
This is a very functional benefit as it even improves the general quality of your life. For instance, it ensures that you have more endurance.
It also ensures that there is better circulation of oxygenated blood within the body
KEEPS YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE HEALTHY
The fact that a healthy amount of oxygenated air is being circulated in your bloodstream is a huge boost for your blood pressure.
This is because a healthy oxygenated to deoxygenated blood ratio keeps your blood pressure level extremely healthy.
MISTAKES TO AVOID
KEEPING YOUR BACK SLOUCHED
Whilst the chest expander exercises might vary in movement, one of the base principles is to keep your back straight.
When you curve your back, you exert an excessive amount of strain on your back. This can lead to a plethora of issues down the road i.e., back injuries or poor posture.
Instead, it is recommended that you keep your back straight in order to evenly distribute the strain across your back.
LOOSE ARMS
While doing the expander bicep curl, keeping your arms tense is one of the most important parts of the exercise.
The derived tension is what engages the bicep leading to effectiveness.
CONCLUSION
Chest expander exercises are a collection of exercises that are primarily centered around one tool.
They are however very engaging and have benefits that add great quality to your daily life. They are also very easy to do and highly beneficial workouts to add to the routine.
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