By RealJock Staff

This exercise provided courtesy of Mike Clausen, founder and co-owner of DIAKADI Body training gym, voted best personal training gym in San Francisco by CitySearch in 2006.

Benefits
Want to reach the hard-to-train center valley of your chest? You've found your exercise.

Muscles Worked
Chest

Starting Position
Attach the center of a resistance tube to a fixed, immovable point at chest height. Stand with your back to the point of attachment and take one handle in each hand. Hold your arms at chest level with your elbows bent behind you and your palms facing inward. Step away from the point of attachment until there is tension in the tube and stagger your feet for balance (see Photo 1).

Exercise

1. From the starting position, keep your shoulders retracted as you press your hands forward and together. Think of leading with your pinkies as you keep your elbows soft, so that your shoulders are the only joints moving (see Photo 2).
2. Bring your hands together in front of you with palms facing, keeping a light grip on the handles. Develop flexion through the center of your chest as your hands converge. Your hands should not come so close together that you are unable to keep your shoulders back (see Photo 3).
3. Keep your shoulders retracted as you allow your arms to return to the starting position; even as your arms come back, resist the tug of the tube, so that you are in control of your motion through your chest (see Photos 4 and 5).

About Mike Clausen: Clausen is the founder and co-owner of DIAKADI Body personal training gym, voted best personal training gym in San Francisco by CitySearch in 2006. He has been actively involved in sports and weightlifting since high school, and continues to use that knowledge when training his clients. Clausen is both A.C.E. and N.A.S.M. certified and has been training clients professionally for six years. He enjoys making his clients stronger, both physically and mentally, giving them the tools to create an efficient body and to do things they thought were not possible.