Importance of Stretching the Chest for Bodybuilding

By the time you get to the gym and change into your athletic clothing, it's tempting to head straight to a weight machine or rack of free weights and get started on your weight-training regimen to build your muscles. But unless you spend several minutes stretching your muscles before you lift your first weight, you're at risk of ending up back at home nursing an injury.

  1. Risk of Injury

    • MayoClinic.com reports that the two most significant benefits of stretching your muscles include improving your performance during athletic activities and reducing your injury risk. Although you don't have to contend with an opponent while bodybuilding as you do in team sports, stretching your muscles can decrease your chances of straining or even tearing a muscle during your weight training sessions.

    Range of Motion

    • Putting each muscle through its full range of motion -- which comes in handy when you're bodybuilding -- is one of your main goals while stretching. The greater your muscles' flexibility and range of motion, the more you'll benefit from your weight-training exercises. For example, warming up your chest before using the bench press machine increases your pectoral muscles' range of motion to help you get the most out of the exercise.

    Muscle Growth

    • It's a myth that stretching causes your muscles to grow, but specific stretches can give your muscles more space to expand. A tough layer of tissue called fascia surrounds your muscles and can make it difficult for your muscles to expand. By stretching the fascia, your muscles have more room to grow through weight training. Bodybuilding.com recommends stretching the fascia around your pectoral muscles by lying on a flat bench, holding a dumbbell in each hand and setting the weights in the lower position of a dumbbell fly exercise. Hold the weights in this position for up 60 seconds to stretch your chest fascia.

    Stretching Tips

    • Stretching before and after your bodybuilding workout is important, but your warm-up stretches shouldn't be the same as your cool-down stretches. Before you start lifting weights, use dynamic stretches to elevate your heart rate while putting your muscles through their full range of motion. To stretch your chest dynamically, make 10 exaggerated clapping motions with your arms straight and parallel to the floor. After your workout, use static stretches to improve flexibility and relax your body. Perform a simple static chest stretch by holding your arms straight out at your sides, then pushing them backward until you feel a stretch in your chest. Always hold static stretches for 30 seconds.