Building Your Chest

September 15, 2016 | By Eric Wolfe

Building Your Chest

Take your chest workout and results to the next level!

There’s no denying that heavy bench press is the king in building a massive well-rounded chest, but by adding some additional angles, positions and techniques, we can be more effective and trigger more growth.

Following a solid chest workout tailored towards hypertrophy is a good start. Pushing yourself in the gym, getting out that extra rep, breaking down the muscle will undoubtedly get you results! Our goal is to optimize those results taking it to the next level! It’s not just about training harder, but also smarter.

Follow these steps to take your chest workout and results to the next level.

And don't forget to take your ENRAGE preworkout 15-20 minutes before you lift!

1. START HEAVY! ADD A DROP SET.

Starting with a heavy flat press is the way to go. When you bench, both the elbow and shoulder joints work together, which is one reason bench presses are better muscle builders than single-joint fly movements; you can use substantially more weight. But don’t forget to warm up! Some rotator cuff exercises are a good idea followed by a few light sets of flat press.

Some people prefer barbells over dumbbells or vice versa. If you always start with one, then try switching to the other for a change. You may achieve a slightly better contraction with dumbbells, but be able to lift more weight with a barbell exercise. Either way, compound lifts are ideal for muscle hypertrophy and muscle activation, these types of lifts allow us to move the most weight over the longest range of motion, targeting the largest area of the muscle.

Generally the ideal rep range for muscle building is 8-12 reps. For your first working set (after a couple warm up exercises) go with a heavier weight, aim for 6 reps, shock the body with increased stress. Perform 3 heavy working sets of 6-8 reps. Now for the drop set; substantially drop the weight on the 4th set and burn out, focusing on contracting and really squeezing the pecs. You might even want to give it a 5-6 second hold/squeeze at the top for a last couple reps and lower the weight down as slowly as you can. Also note, it’s ideal to have a spotter during this type of training!

2) ADD SOME INCLINE.

Time to target that lagging upper chest, and incline press is the best way to do that. Following our same protocol as last exercise but now heavy working sets 6-8 reps followed by a 5th drop set. One thing to watch out for, is the degree of the include. We don’t want too much of an include which focuses more stress on the delts, but just a slight incline to emphasize the upper chest while not overloading the delts.

Take this exercise to the next level and do 2 sets at around a 30 degree incline, 2 more at around a 15 degree incline and then your final drop set, again, really focusing on contracting and squeezing the muscle. Activating all the muscle fibers you can and giving it all you got!

3) ON TO DECLINE

Up next Decline press, another awesome exercise to further develop your Chest! If you did the first two with dumbbells perhaps switch this one to barbells or a smith, or even a machine, like Hammer Strength. Sometimes machines are beneficial especially after a few exercises when you’re getting fatigued. With machines you can just focus on the push. And these are really good for the burn out set if you don’t have a spotter.

If using a machine you can vary the angle a little bit by adjusting the seat - handle position. Lower and higher on your chest. Generally your strongest position would be with the handles around the lower pec region. Start with 2 sets like this then adjust the seat so you’re pressing from a higher position around your middle/upper chest.

4) TIME TO ISOLATE

Up next are Chest Flys, we have a few different options here; Machine pec-deck, cable or dumbbell flys. I wouldn’t say one is superior to another; it’s mostly personal preference. I prefer dumbbell and cable flys because they don’t restrict you to a certain ROM, and you can adjust your arms/shoulders to the most comfortable position throughout the entire movement of the exercise.
Try 4 sets of 8-12 reps. For this one we want to focus on constantly squeezing and contracting the pecs, really isolating the chest.

If you’re using cables you can vary the angle on this exercise also. Either standing or lying on a bench, perform a set squeezing at the center of your chest, followed by one at a slightly lower angle and one at a slightly higher angle. Remember to keep your arms extended (elbows just slightly bent) and make your chest work! Don’t let your fatigued chest compromise your form and turn this into a press.

Make sure to be sipping on some ENDURE BCAA while your training to enhance recovery, endurance and protect your muscle

5) FINISHING TOUCHES

Most of us would be satisfied with calling it a successful chest day. But our goal is to take this to the next level, demand muscle growth, really crush our already fatigued muscles and make them perform! Recovering to be bigger, stronger and more conditioned.

Time for that exercise some of us love, but most of us hate…Push-Ups. A great exercise for your chest development and an even better exercise to perform till failure! When we’ve already completed all the heavy lifting these will feel easy!

For this final exercise perform 3 sets till failure. (Rest 60 seconds between each set). To add some variety and vary the angle, adjust your hand position for each set.

WORKOUT 1: CHEST	SETS X REPS
Flat Dumbbell Press (2 warm up 3 working)	3 X 6-8
Flat Dumbbell Press (Drop Set)	1 x 20
Incline Dumbbell Press	4 X 6-8
Incline Dumbbell Press	4 X 6-8
Incline Dumbbell Press (Drop Set)	1 X 20
Hammer Strength Decline press	4 X 8-12
Cable Flys Machine or Cables	4 X 8-12
Push Ups	3 X To Failure