Building a
big & powerful chest can be a challenge if you are focusing on the wrong
exercises and reps.
In this
article, we are going to cover the best chest exercises that will help you
build a thick, strong set of pecs while also increasing your strength &
power.
THE BIG PROBLEMS WITH YOUR CURRENT CHEST WORKOUT
The main
problem with almost every chest training routine is that it only focuses on the
middle portion of the chest with basic exercises like the barbell bench press
and dumb bell fly. If you want to have an incredible chest then you need to
develop every section of your chest – most importantly your upper chest.
Developing
a chiseled upper chest will set you apart with your physique and will give
people the illusion that your chest is bigger than it really is. It will make
you look awesome in V-neck’s, and also put your bench press numbers through the
roof – a double win!
Another
problem is that some people are under the impression that big chests are built
with pec flys, machines, and high reps: not the case. In this article we will
discuss what actually works.
DEVELOPING
THE UPPER CHEST FOR MAXIMUM AESTHETICS & STRENGTH
Having a
really well developed chest starts with your mindset to training. Most lifters
simply think that they want a “big chest”, but to get a full chest you have to
develop each section of your pectorals. This is the difference between having
an aesthetic physique and not.
If your
lower chest is too big and you have a very undeveloped upper chest, it may give
off the illusion that you have “man boobs” instead of chiseled pectoral
muscles. This image illustrates the different areas of the chest that must be
developed to achieve a full look:
Developing
both pec major and pec minor will have a dramatic effect on aesthetics &
strength. Take a strategic approach to chest training for maximum development
of all sections.
First, lets
cover the forgotten but important chest muscle!
THE
FORGOTTEN CHEST MUSCLE
Your upper
chest is actually a separate muscle called the “clavicular pectoralis.” The
best chest workouts put just as much emphasis on this section of the chest as
the middle to lower portions. This is what creates aesthetics! The tricky part
about having a well-developed chest is that it takes much longer to build the
clavicular pectoralis.
In fact –
if you don’t know what you’re doing you could spend 10 plus years in the gym
and never develop the clavicular pectoralis.
So, do you
want to have the ultimate aesthetic chest with the strength to back it up?
Let’s first dive into the 3 rules of training that you MUST follow to achieve
this.
ULTIMATE
CHEST DEVELOPMENT LAWS & BEST CHEST EXERCISE SELECTIONS
HEAVY
PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD
Since your
pectorals are a large muscle group you need to train them with heavy resistance
and progressive overload. What this means is that you have to lift heavy in the
3-8-rep range for the majority of your chest exercises. Despite what the guru’s
and bodybuilding magazines say, this is how you build mass.
The best
exercises include the dumbbell bench press, barbell bench press, dumbbell
incline bench press, and the barbell incline bench press.
If you
don’t put a heavy load on your pecs, you will not stimulate maximum hypertrophy
and growth.
It’s no
secret that you absolutely have to be bench pressing and performing the chest
related compound movements close to your 1 rep max.
A good rule
of thumb to follow is that you should make sure that 80 percent of your
compound sets are done at 70-80+ percent of your 1 rep max. So if your bench
press max is 300 lbs (more on increasing your bench press here), you will want
to make sure you are doing sets of 210-240 lbs at minimum.
“Repping
out” and chasing the “pump” in the 15-20 rep range may feel good, but the pump
is short lived, and it won’t translate into maximal muscle growth. Save it for
the end of your workout and focus most of your efforts on training heavy.
If you’ve
spent years “chasing the pump”, you will experience a serious surge in gains by
switching to this training methodology.
BIG BASIC
LIFTS = AESTHETICS, STRENGTH, POWER.
The biggest
mistake that many people make with their chest workouts is that they don’t
focus on big, compound lifts. How many of your chest days involve pec dec
machines & 100’s of pec flyes? Here’s the truth: these exercises are
literally a complete waste of time. You will never build and muscle with the
pec dec machine.
This is the
problem with so many training routines, stick with the proven basic lifts that
work.
If you want
your chest to grow, stick with the big three: barbell & dumbbell bench
press, barbell & dumbell incline press, heavy dips. No machines, no pec
decs. Sorry guys, this is the key to full chest development. Here is why we
skip out on decline bench presses.
FULL CHEST
DEVELOPMENT
The most
important rule to having a fully developed chest is that you must work the
upper chest just as much as your lower chest. Since your upper chest muscles
are the most stubborn for growth they will need just as much attention.
Not to
mention, if your bench press has been plateaued for a while, hitting your upper
chest hard may be exactly what you need to break through it.
Most people
focus 90-95% of their chest workout on the lower-mid pectoral muscle
development without even knowing it. It should actually be closer to 50-50.
The best
chest workouts will grow the upper and lower sections equally.
CHEST
PERFECTION WORKOUT ROUTINE
Barbell
Bench Press
Sets: 4
Reps: 5
Rest Time:
90-180 Seconds
Dumbbell
Incline Press
Sets: 4
Reps: 8-12
Rest Time:
90 Seconds
Barbell
Incline Bench Press
Sets: 4
Reps: 6-8
Rest Time:
90 Seconds
Weighted
Dips (Chest Version)
Sets: 4
Reps: 8
Rest Time:
2 Minutes
Flat
Dumbbell Press
Sets: 4
Reps: 10
Rest Time:
1 Minute
That’s it!
No drop-sets, super-sets, tri-sets, pre-exhaustion sets, or anything like that.
Just proven exercises that actually build muscle. Don’t go to failure every
set, leave 2-3 reps in the tank, save your max effort set for the last set of
each exercise. So for example if you can bench press 225 for 5 reps, do 205-210
for 4 sets of 5, then 225 for your last set of 5.
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