The benefits of a stronger chest and back lead us to continuing our Bullworker Hierarchy of Exercise series with the chest compression and cable spread.
As we continue to build our foundation from our core and legs, the dominant upper body muscles involved with the chest compression and cable spread get the nod from these powerful compound exercises.
Chest Compression
The Bullworker chest compression is an efficient exercise when it comes to engaging multiple muscles in one go. The compound exercise focuses on your pectoralis major and minor while engaging your anterior deltoids, abs, forearms, and even your biceps.
All of that engagement in one simple exercise is going to be hard to find, but no need to look further. Give it a try to experience the benefits of a stronger chest and see how quickly you can transform your body with one simple exercise.
Before we dive into the benefits, let’s look at what we are referring to when we talk about your chest or pectorals (pecs).
Your pecs are your primary muscles in your chest. The pectoralis major and pectoralis minor more correctly named. Your pectoralis major makes up the large portion of your chest and some of the functions are pressing and lifting actions as well as spreading your wings (arms) to fly. Your pectoralis minor is located on your upper chest and is smaller but plays a key role in shoulder functionality and movement.
Your chest muscles, in other terms, are used for vertical, lateral, and rotational movements of your arms by pulling on your humerus (arm) bone.
Benefits of a Stronger Chest
Stabilizing Your Glenohumeral (Shoulder) Joint
Your shoulder joint is one of the more important joints in your body giving you the arm mobility you experience. However, with more mobility comes less stability. Therefore, with less stability, the joint is more prone to injury.
Your front deltoid and pectoral muscles – two primary muscles worked in the chest compression – are integrated to the anterior portion of your shoulder joint thus helping stabilize your glenohumeral joint and functional strength.
Daily Performance
Anything you do during your day that involves pushing engages your chest muscles. Pushing a door, grocery cart, desk, yourself off the floor, or playfully pushing your friend all use your pecs.
Breast Support
There is a common misconception that chest exercises will make your breasts smaller or too muscular which tends to discourage women from exercising their chest. Surprisingly, exercising your chest can actually help build muscle around your breast tissue providing more lift and support for your breasts creating more shape.
Better Posture
When you have strong pecs, you are encouraged to stand tall and be proud of your physique. Your pecs are primary muscles pulling on your skeletal structure helping to keep you upright.
Balance is Key
Knowing that the chest has many benefits, exercising your chest can become a favorite to train. To ensure you reap the benefits, including better posture, it is important to stretch your chest and exercise your opposing muscles, your back.
Over developed pecs and anterior deltoids can lead to tension and poor posture resulting in a slouching and a rounded back and shoulders.
Your back muscles pull on your skeletal structure on your backside to balance everything out and achieve proper posture and muscle tension. A fabulous counter to the chest compression is the Bullworker cable spread.
Cable Spread
The cable spread is another fabulous compound exercise engaging your upper back muscles like your posterior deltoids, traps, rhomboids, and lats as well as your core and arms.
Similar to the chest compression, grab your Bullworker and give the cable spread a go and experience the benefits of a stronger back with one simple exercise.
Upper Back Muscles
Posterior deltoids or the back of your shoulders help to pull your arms back and to the side.
Trapezius muscles are the muscles which connect from your back to your neck helping to stabilize and move your scapula and extend your neck.
Rhomboids also help to stabilize your scapula and help with pulling and arm movement.
Latissimus dorsi are the large muscles under your shoulders fanning down your ribs and covering your back, also known as your wings.
All of these muscles are connected to the scapula and anterior of your glenohumeral joint to create stability for the rear side of your shoulder joint.
Benefits of a Strong Back
Better Posture
Many of us these days have desk jobs and find ourselves sitting for long periods of time. This generally leads to droopy shoulders, poor posture, and weak back muscles which can cause tension and pain. Having a strong routine to exercise your back is vital in pulling everything back and combatting desk posture.
Stronger back muscles will help to pull your skeletal structure up right which can relieve tension and pain and better protect your spine. The cable spread is a perfect break to increase productivity at the office in as little as 7 seconds and improve your posture and overall health.
Protecting Your Spine
Your spine is your neural highway for connecting your brain to the rest of your body. Strengthening your muscles that surround your spine will help keep your spine supported to help function optimally and reduce your risk of injury.
Make Life Easier
Essentially any pulling movement you do, you are using your back muscles. You can be opening a door, lifting a grocery bag, playing with your kids, and many other common actions. A stronger back will help ease the burden and reduce your risk of injury.
Conclusion
The chest compression and cable spread effectively target your major muscles of your upper body for powerful movements, improved mobility strength, and stabilizing your shoulder joint to reduce your risk of injury.
When it comes to a 1-2 punch workout, you cannot go wrong with the Bullworker chest compression and cable spread combo. These two exercises effectively strengthen the majority of your upper body in two simple movements. Not only will you experience the benefits of a stronger chest and back but they will help you build your physique.
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