Chest workouts come in many forms, but bench is the best

I know I'm fly, and I wish girls would stop telling me. I know I could be even more dope, however, if I built up these pecs of mine. Any advice on where to begin sculpting my already above-average body?

Well, Tommy Boy, the first place to start building up your chest is in the gym. So get your ass in there. There are tons of different exercises meatheads use to increase the size of their man boobs, so I'll run through the common ones. These are just the basics, but keep in mind there are endless variations to each exercise. You can manipulate angle, rep speed, weight, range of motion, and a host of other variables to change the intensity of the lift. Also, keep in mind the action that the pectoral muscles perform: put simply, they bring your upper arm forward-either back to front, as when doing a push up, or from out to in, as when you straighten your arms and clap. Therefore, any movement that involves pushing will involve, to one extent or another, some chest contraction.

The flat bench press is, arguably, the king of all chest exercises. This is the lift that all the macho men gauge their manhood by-you know, the old 'Watchabench?' question that anyone with an appreciable amount of muscle mass must face upon entrance to any gym. I say it's 'arguably' the king simply because ninety percent of the people I see performing this lift do it incorrectly, risking injury just to get the poundage up. A few rules:

- If a spotter needs to help you to get the first rep, the weight is too heavy ... idiot.

- Keep your shoulders back and down (retracted and depressed), and make sure

they stay flat on the bench.

- Bring the weight down slowly towards an imaginary line just above your nipples. You don't have to touch, but bring it as close to touching as your flexibility will allow. Again, maintain strict control of the weight, as letting it bounce off your rib cage can cause serious injury to both your ribcage and your shoulder joint.

- On the concentric phase of the lift (pressing the weight up), exhale forcefully. This will tighten up your torso and add to the stability of the lift.

These are general rules that are applicable to any pressing movement you perform, from flat to incline, from dumbbell to barbell to machine.

Other chest exercises are simply variations of the bench press, either changing the angle of the bench (incline, decline), or changing the way tension is placed on the muscle (machine stacks or cable stacks, dumbbells or barbells). The other basic chest movement is the fly. Here are some rules to an effective chest fly.

- Always maintain a slight bend in the elbow during the exercise. No bend puts extraordinary pressure on the shoulder joint, whereas too much of a bend will remove some of the tension on the muscle, thereby rendering the movement less effective. Find a happy medium where you feel comfortable.

- Refrain from clanking the weights above your face at the completion of each rep. Sure, the metallic clang of a completed rep is satisfying, but the hospital bill won't be satisfying when you are rushed to the emergency room when bits of the covering on the weights fall and become embedded in your eyeballs. Also, bringing the weights to a right angle above your torso (in other words, the weight is directly above your chest) effectively removes the tension on the muscle. This does two things: first, it gives your chest an unneeded rest. Second, it places the entire force of the weight on your shoulder joint, drastically increasing the risk of ligament damage or impingement (both of which are very painful and potentially debilitating conditions).

- As long as you feel comfortable, feel free to change hand positions on the weights. Palms facing, thumbs facing, and pinkies facing are all effective ways to slightly change the angle at which you hit your chest, and therefore change the exercise.

Working your chest is undoubtedly an important part of any aesthetically oriented exercise program since the pectorals are the most prominent muscles on the front of the body. Make sure you work equally hard to develop the muscles in your back, however, as neglecting to do so will probably result in a muscle imbalance that will upset your posture, creating conspicuous 'gorilla walk' that pervades the groups of lifters who swear by the flat bench press and nothing else. Muscle imbalances can also cause severe muscular pain, not to mention a weak back will hinder chest development. That said, good luck with your quest to be 'more dope'.

If any readers at Tufts have similar interests, e-mail Franci Otting about the TPPP program at francis.otting@tufts.edu. Every Tufts student is entitled to five (yes, FIVE) free private one hour sessions with a personal trainer.