Now that we've covered what not to worry about, here's what you need to know about chest training:
- It might seem like a good idea to use light weights for "tone," but remember that muscles respond best to a challenge. If you lift light weight for high reps, you'll be making very few fitness improvements and won't be doing much besides burning calories.
You won't gain muscle mass unless you're eating a high-calorie diet -- all the heavy lifting you do on a standard or fat-loss diet will increase fitness and strength, but you won't get big, so don't be afraid to lift heavy!
- Keep your reps within the 8-to-10 range for bench press and incline bench press. For flyes, take it up to 10-to-12.
- 2-to-3 sets of each exercise will be perfect for strength gains. Any more or less may not produce the results you want.
- For compound lifts like the bench press, rest one minute between sets. Also, try to hit your compound lifts at the beginning of your workouts.
Between sets of flyes, decrease your rest to 45 seconds. Because you're just using your body weight for push-ups, rest only 30 seconds between sets.
