Writer: Lucia Farina
In the last blog on shoulders, we touched on the exercise called the ‘Chest Expansion”. I’d like to get more into it today. This unusually challenging exercise not only works on strengthening your chest muscles, but it also offers a few benefits to your posture by actually widening your chest / broadening the shoulders. It also encourages flexibility, and overall well-being. To add, we are going to delve into the difference between open hand grip and closed grip on the bar because, like all things Pilates, the smallest difference, has effect.
Chest Expansion is typically performed using our Pilates equipment called the Tower or the Cadillac. The exercise involves either standing or kneeling (but could be done seated in necessary) with a straight spine, gripping a horizontal bar thats attached to springs, with either an open hand grip or a closed grip, and then engaging in a series of movements that challenge the muscles of the chest, back, and shoulders. I like to see this as a cluster exercise, as it targets so many muscles in one movement, again as mentioned repeatedly in our blogs, no one singular Pilates exercise works a muscle in isolation.
Some of the perks of this exercise (which I absolutely LOVE by the way and will explain why at the end of this blog) are as follows:
Chest Muscle Strength. Chest Expansion targets the muscles of the chest, including the pectoralis major and minor. Regular practice of this exercise can help to strengthen these muscles, leading to improved general upper body strength. The way it strengthens them is through lengthening them. Usually, say at the gym, to strengthen the chest, we are encouraged to shorten the muscles under load, using a pushing action. In the Pilates chest expansion, we use the chest muscles with a PULLING action. The intention is to primarily EXPAND the chest (clue is in the name yeah). Like most Pilates exercises, the emphasis is on the eccentric movement, the part where the muscle lengthens out. Usually in this part of a traditional gym exercise, the weight is becoming lesser. In Pilates, the tension is INCREASING. It takes strength to lengthen out muscles and keep them long while we turn the head left and right, which is the final addition to the exercise.
Improved Posture: Chest Expansion requires you to maintain a straight spine and engage your powerhouse muscles. This promotes proper alignment and encourages an upright posture, which can carry over to your daily activities and help you have more comfort throughout the day. It works by the shoulders being widened, meaning less rounded shoulders and more space. Having a wider chest also does a lot for presence. I mean, on confidence and our image/impression to others. A lot of life coaches speak about puffing up the chest before an interview or doing something important. There's no wonder chest expansion is one of my favourite exercises!
Increased Flexibility: Chest Expansion involves a combination of flexion and extension movements, which can help to improve the flexibility of your chest, shoulders, and over all back. the lower back is pulled backwards, to encourage a bit of flexion and the thoracic / upper back is pulled upward which has a sneaky extending effect. Regular practice can lead to increased range of motion in these areas, allowing you to move more freely and comfortably. Especially in the shoulders which is a problematic area for many of us. The flexibility we gain in our chest from doing chest expansion, is more of a long term stretch seeing as it's done against the tension. It's a dynamic stretch, which brings a lot of meaning to it. The muscle we can notice a lot of progress on here is the pec minor. Once that opens up, we get a better shoulder placement and in turn, a healthier neck placement too.
The chest expansion unconventionally also works on upper Body Mobility. The movements involved in Chest Expansion require a good range of motion in your shoulders and upper back. True, it tends to be a small movement. That's perfectly normal, when pulling on a bar attached to springs, a small movement is just about right! Our chest can't expand THAT much, so we need to keep this in mind. Mobility doesn't need to be a huge range of movement to be effective. By practicing this exercise, you can improve the mobility of these areas, which can be especially beneficial if you have a sedentary lifestyle or spend long hours sitting at a desk. I often use the phrase BREAK THE BAR, because what can help us find a little bit more range here is the sensation of trying to bend the bar around our thighs or even pulling the bar apart, from the chest mind you, not from the hands. That is one cue I think is a game changer for this exercise, to find that bit more space. I"ll give some more details on that in a mo.
Let's move to talking about the difference between open hand grip and closed grip on the bar during Chest Expansion. In the open hand grip, your fingers are pointing down, and the bar is placed in the palm of the hand closer the base of the palm. In the closed grip, your fingers wrap around the bar, knuckles pointing down. Both are with the wrists straight, in line with the arm and hand. Both grips have their unique advantages and can be used based on your individual needs and preferences.
The open hand grip (as pictured) allows for a more relaxed position and can be more comfortable for those who struggle with hand grip strength or limited mobility in their wrists or shoulders. It also places more emphasis on the muscles of the back and can help to improve your posture and upper back strength. The open grip can be a good option if you are looking to focus on your back muscles or if you have any limitations in your wrists or shoulders. It most definitely hits the teeny shoulder muscles at the back in a more isolated way, while still engaging the cluster of muscles used to open the chest and work the shoulders.
The closed hand position (my personal favourite) requires more hand muscles and can help to improve your hand and forearm strength. As soon as you close your hand around a bar, the forearm gets to work! It also places more emphasis on the muscles of the chest and front shoulders when we talk flexibility and creating space. When we close the hand around the bar, it allows us then to feel like we can PULL THE BAR APART as if we want to BREAK THE BAR. That just can't be achieved with an open hand position yet that is the technique required to really EXPAND the chest. Pulling the shoulders back doesn't exactly widen the chest. So from my experience, especially as we introduce this exercise to a beginner at Pilates, I'd recommend this hand position. Once we can connect well to the entire area we are working, advancing the exercise with an open hand position seems a good progression. The closed hand grip can provide a more challenging workout for the upper body over all and offers more exploration within the exercise.
For me personally I notice a broader chest from regular practice of this exercise. It has allowed my shoulders to sit a bit wider, removing the pinchy feeling I"d get often in my shoulders. Opening the chest properly under tension has changed my posture. Stretching to purely lengthen and relax the muscle doesn't provide a long term result, as much as it feels nice in the moment. Lengthening my chest muscles WHILE working my back body to assist in keeping my chest wider gives the best outcome. I used to stand with my arms falling over my thighs in front of me due to really rounded shoulders and a super tight pec minor. This exercise has allowed my shoulders to broaden, my chest to sit more comfortably and has done wonders for my confidence. Now as I stand, my arms hand naturally fall by my sides, more inline with my spine and there's space between my arms and my body. I'm no longer rolling over myself! No more hiding under bulky jumpers! It's an absolute MUST for all 2023 posture types and It can also be replicated with a band at home or using the cable machines at the gym, it can also be done with no weights at all, but I find this is more effective once having used the bar for a while, so we know which muscles to connect to and really feel that opening across the chest without the feedback of the springs.
Chest Expansion - worth doing til you love it :)
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