Stretch tight chest muscles are one of the targeted parts of the body that are prone to stress and that are greatly affected by the daily routine.
Some routines, when we come home, spend hours upon hours on our smartphones browsing the news feeds of different social media apps, and over time, this will slow down the flow of healthy blood in the vessels and lead to chest infection. Also, few of us sit properly with the back, chest and neck aligned straight forward.
There is no doubt that technology has made our lives easy. They made our life comfortable and convenient. We can do different things in the blink of an eye, which would have taken months to accomplish two centuries ago. But everything comes with some pros and cons, and it has a reflection on our health and the course of our lives.
Living a comfortable life made us lazy and more dependent on others. Most of the tasks are done by sitting at a desk using laptops or desktop computers without taking a break every once in a while, which makes the muscles of the body tighten after a period of time.
This happened to me once sometime in the past, and it can happen to you too, if you don’t pay attention to yourself.
This type of behavior can cause a lot of health issues if it keeps accumulating, and one of the most common issues we will be addressing here today is tight chest muscles. Since most of us don’t have the habit of exercising every day, so when we spend hours sitting at a desk or staring at our mobile phones, we end up feel a tightness in our chest muscles.
Even if we do some physical activities like lifting heavy boxes or doing a lot of heavy frontal muscle exercises, we can tighten the chest muscles.
All this leads to a muscular imbalance in the front and chest muscles of the body and its effect is so strong that it can affect our posture by pulling our shoulders forward and can lead to a subsequent problem in the heart, and we do not want to lead our bodies in this direction, better start to solve The problem is simple before it accumulates and turns into serious health.
The Results of the Effect of the Tightening the Chest Muscles
So, what are tight chest muscles? When we say “tight chest muscles,” the main muscle we are talking about is the pectoralis major and minor. When these muscles get tight, they play a major role and it is a very common posture condition known as kyphosis.
If you haven’t heard of the term, you probably know kyphosis with the slang term “hunched shoulder”.
Regardless of the medical term, tight pectoralis muscles can cause your shoulders to pull forward and end up with a “rounded shoulder,” “hunched shoulder,” or “hunched back.” When you have kyphosis, it will not only affect your posture but also prevent other muscles of the body from working effectively including the arms and core muscles.
This means that the pectoralis muscles are very important in the proper functioning of your body and need to be addressed immediately.
In this article, we will tell you about different exercises that will help you stretch the tight chest muscles. These chest stretchers will lengthen the muscles helping you to restore the proper working of the upper body muscles.
Things to Do Before Stretching Tight Chest Muscles
Doing any kind of exercise is usually good for your body. But before you start doing any kind of exercise if you have any serious medical problem, it is always wise to consult your physician to ensure that your body will react normally to the new exercise. Here are some topics to consider in order to get the most out of your stretching tight chest muscle.
Warm up Chest Muscles
It’s not really a good idea to directly start stretching your tight chest muscles. You should always warm up your body before starting any exercise. The best way to warm up is to do some aerobic exercises like running, jumping rope or cycling.
Let the Air Reach Out Your Lungs
While doing the stretching exercises, it is very important that your body gets the proper amount of oxygen at every moment. For this purpose, take a deep breath while changing the stretching poses. Never hold your breath as it can lead to more tightening of the chest muscles.
Repeat Every Stretch
If you want to get the best results, you should repeat each stretch for about three to five times. This is also necessary because your tight muscles need to adapt to each stretch and position in order to relax.
How to Stretch Tight Chest Muscles
Before performing the muscle workouts, begin by warming up the chest muscle to release any tension or tightness to avoid any injury that may increase.
Cat-Cow Stretch
The chest muscles are deeply connected to your back. And if you’re looking to stretch your tight chest muscles, you should consider working on your back as well. Cat-Cow stretches are known to relieve any kind of back pain by relaxing the muscles in your back. It’s also another great way to warm up your muscles as a preparation for your next stretch.
This routine is also known as Cat Cow Yoga. Begin by placing your hands and knees on the floor as if you were in a tabletop position. Maintain a neutral spine. Your hands should be about shoulder width apart and your knees should be about hip width apart.
Inhale deeply, lift your seat bones up, press your chest forward, and push your stomach down. Lift your head and look at the ceiling as far as you can (cow pose). Now exhale slowly and raise your back to the ceiling and drop your head down to stare at the floor (cat pose) or know as in yoga ( Marjariasana pose ).
Elbow Chest Stretch
Stand straight with your feet hip-width apart. Now interlock your fingers behind your head with your elbows pointing to the sides. Now slowly squeeze your shoulder blades, making your chest move forward and your elbows move back.
Hold yourself in this position for 15 to 30 seconds without holding your breath. Now return to your original position and pause for about 10 seconds. Repeat 3 to 5 times. You can perform this routine while sitting in a chair or on the floor.
Chest Stretch with Arms Behind the Back
Stand straight and interlace your fingers behind your back so that your arms are straight and your palms are at the waist level. Now slowly push the palms of your intertwined hands toward the ceiling, squeeze your shoulder blades and move your chest forward.
Hold this position for 15 to 30 seconds and continue to breathe. Now slowly return to your original position. Repeat the process 3 to 5 times.
Knee to Chest Stretch
Begin by lying on your back with your both knees bent with feet flat on the floor. Grab one knee with both hands and let your arms gently pull your knee toward your chest. Hold this position for 15 to 30 seconds and then lower your bent leg. Repeat the same process, switching to the other leg.
Doorway Stretch for Chest
This is a simple exercise, start by standing in front of the doorway. Place your palms on the door frame, by raising both arms on either side of the door and bending them at a 90-degree angle with your palms facing forward.
Put one foot forward and push your head forward slightly, then push your chest forward (as you want to walk out the door), keeping your spine long and straight, and begin to stretching your shoulders and chest without bending forward.
Keep stretching until you feel uncomfortable. Continue to breathe deeply during the routine. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds and then return to your original position. Repeat this process 3 to 5 times.
Dynamic Chest Stretch
Stand straight with your legs hip-width apart, extend your hands straight in front of you so that they are parallel and your palms facing each other. Move both hands out to the sides and then put them back in place like a flying bird. Do this dynamic chest stretch for 3 to 5 minutes.
Corner Pec Stretch Chest
The corner pec extension is really a great exercise for stretching the tight chest muscles. It’s like you’re doing wall push-ups, but in reality, your goal is to maintain a position where your chest muscles feel the stretch.
Stand in front of the corner of the room wall. With your arms bent at a 90-degree angle, begin by placing your forearms and palms on either side of the wall, about shoulder width apart. Inhale and exhale and begin to pull in your core muscles and spine and head by leaning toward the wall until you feel a little uncomfortable.
Hold this position for 20 to 30 seconds and then return to your original position. Make sure to move your whole body as one unit.
Precautions to Prevent Chest Tightness (Other Things You Can Do)
The chest tightening exercises mentioned above will help you regain your flexibility by loosen up the pecs muscles. In addition to these exercises, here are some new ideas that you can make a part of your daily routine in order to have a perfect posture and proper pectoral muscles.
- Always stand straight by keeping your spine long. Try to sit in a good posture by not bending your back. To make sure you are standing correctly, keep your ears parallel over your shoulders, your shoulders over your hips and your hips over your knees and ankles, and make them perfectly in a straight angle.
- Don’t stay idle for long. Keep moving your body. Even if you work in an office where you have to sit at a desk for hours, take short breaks every hour just to move around the room. Walking will help you maintain a healthy posture.
- Myofascial Release. One of the best ways to relax a muscle is to use a technique known as myofascial release. For this purpose, use a lacrosse ball and work it on the tight muscle areas of your body. So, if your goal is to relax tight chest muscles, try passing the ball across your chest.
- Sit Correctly. Don’t slack and forget yourself while you are sitting. Sitting incorrectly is the start of many health issues on the back and properly chest pain, which can build up over time without your knowledge. And you need to make sure you sit comfortable all the time. One thing that happens to me personally at my office, that improves my back posture, when I started to put on a relatively hard and resistant sponge pad that curves outward, that aligns my back and maintains the curve and fills the gap space between the chair back and my back, this way it will reduce the occurrence of any herniated discs with back protection, and after that experience I started to leave the office without pain or hurt my back and I am so thankful that I found the method that helped me a lot.
Conclusion
In this article, we have tried to list the different exercises to stretch the tight chest muscles. As you already know, your chest muscles have a very strong relationship with other muscles in your body, so they require constant attention.
It is also important to note that tight chest muscles can also lead to breathing problems as well. Therefore, it is important to take care of the pecs muscles. Otherwise, they will begin to affect the flexibility and proper functioning of your body.
After completing the chest stretching exercises to get rid of any tension or tightness, you will now be ready to get huge pecs muscles by either performing Chest Workouts Muscle for Men or Chest Workouts Muscle for Women.