Category Archives: chest
Inside the Muscles: Best Chest and Triceps Exercises
by Bret Contreras
Editors Note: If you haven’t yet read Inside the Muscles: Best Shoulders and Trap Exercises you may want to give it a quick look as it’ll clear up any questions you may have regarding electromyography (EMG) and the experiments.
First, I apologize if I left out one of your favorite exercises. Don’t take it personally. I performed these experiments in my garage, and while I have one of the baddest garage gyms in Arizona, I don’t have a lot of machines. So you pec-deck folks can drop me some hate mail.
I’m also sorry I couldn’t test more individuals. These experiments are very labor-intensive; in order to measure every exercise on every muscle part using a variety of subjects would be a project of colossal proportions. (And one I’d need a few thousand dollars and a keg of Guinness to perform.) Just remember this: people are different, but not that different. What’s true for me is probably true for you.
Finally, I’m not going to make any judgments regarding the safety of any exercise. I realize that certain exercises pose greater risks to the joints than others, but every guy has the right to train however the hell he chooses. As lifters, we can choose to assume a lot of risk or little risk since we’re the owners of our bodies.
Oh, one more thing: good form, a natural tempo, and a full range of motion were always used in these experiments.
Now that the pre-flight safety announcement list of warnings is over, let’s get to it. Are you ready to build some huge pecs and horseshoe triceps?
What You’ve Been Waiting For! The Exercises.
Since this is a bodybuilding experiment, I never used a weight that was too heavy to perform at least five repetitions. The mean number is on top and the peak number is on bottom. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please read “What Are Mean and Peak Activation?“)
| Exercise | Upper Pec | Mid Pec | Lower Pec | Tri Long Head |
| 135 lb Bench Press | 53.8 111.0 |
69.5 157.0 |
42.0 82.7 |
14.3 51.2 |
| 225 lb Bench Press | 125.0 230.0 |
181.0 408.0 |
116.0 347.0 |
47.8 109.0 |
| 275 lb Bench Press | 109.0 198.0 |
177.0 288.0 |
130.0 345.0 |
73.5 153.0 |
| 135 lb Incline Press | 87.1 157.0 |
68.3 197.0 |
25.3 60.2 |
18.9 42.7 |
| 225 lb Incline Press | 135.0 222.0 |
133.0 374.0 |
69.4 249.0 |
48.7 84.0 |
| 245 lb Incline Press | 130.0 261.0 |
156.0 422.0 |
89.4 337.0 |
55.8 109.0 |
| 100 lb DB Bench Press | 122.0 192.0 |
204.0 451.0 |
88.1 252.0 |
43.7 128.0 |
| 90 lb DB Incline Press | 128.0 310.0 |
124.0 286.0 |
59.0 172.0 |
35.5 98.9 |
| BW Dip | 73.7 164.0 |
105.0 234.0 |
124.0 266.0 |
73.9 150.0 |
| 115 lb Dip | 140.0 232.0 |
192.0 332.0 |
214.0 418.0 |
124.0 217.0 |
| 225 lb Close Grip Press | 106.0 211.0 |
137.0 229.0 |
77.5 217.0 |
52.6 107.0 |
| 225 lb Wide Grip Guillotine Press | 114.0 302.0 |
176.0 511.0 |
169.0 502.0 |
61.9 142.0 |
| 225 lb Floor Press | 106.0 197.0 |
148.0 248.0 |
121.0 255.0 |
52.2 112.0 |
| 275 lb Floor Press | 132.0 265.0 |
197.0 356.0 |
154.0 347.0 |
64.8 170.0 |
| 50 lb Fly | 116.0 226.0 |
165.0 354.0 |
150.0 387.0 |
13.2 26.1 |
| 60 lb Fly | 133.0 231.0 |
195.0 493.0 |
160.0 450.0 |
14.9 31.3 |
| 50 lb Incline Fly | 125.0 249.0 |
135.0 344.0 |
77.3 257.0 |
12.6 20.0 |
| 100 lb High Pulley Crossover | 107.0 201.0 |
168.0 311.0 |
153.0 397.0 |
9.6 19.1 |
| 100 lb Mid Pulley Crossover | 154.0 252.0 |
154.0 271.0 |
124.0 251.0 |
11.5 23.1 |
| 100 lb Low Pulley Crossover | 135.0 233.0 |
78.6 249.0 |
36.9 74.8 |
20.2 77.2 |
| BW Push Up | 109.0 204.0 |
124.0 252.0 |
101.0 194.0 |
24.0 38.7 |
| BW CG Push Up | 103.0 188.0 |
118.0 188.0 |
70.7 119.0 |
22.9 43.2 |
| BW Elevated Push Up | 96.6 156.0 |
102.0 232.0 |
52.7 167.0 |
24.0 46.6 |
| BW Blast Strap Push Up | 113.0 206.0 |
166.0 363.0 |
177.0 352.0 |
35.3 107.0 |
| Purple Band Push Up | 115.0 168.0 |
125.0 294.0 |
113.0 217.0 |
51.8 78.7 |
| Green Band Push Up | 151.0 239.0 |
162.0 268.0 |
121.0 238.0 |
59.3 125.0 |
| 100 lb DB Pullover | 55.7 119.0 |
88.6 186.0 |
53.8 164.0 |
66.9 153.0 |
| JC Band Press | 143.0 272.0 |
45.7 91.0 |
53.0 127.0 |
21.0 52.6 |
| 95 lb Skull Crusher | 45.6 89.5 |
21.5 48.6 |
70.7 118.0 |
116.0 172.0 |
| 120 lb Rope Extension | 6.9 14.9 |
5.4 21.9 |
36.1 82.5 |
135.0 276.0 |
| 140 lb Cable Extension | 9.3 21.3 |
9.3 18.7 |
78.2 172.0 |
132.0 255.0 |
| Purple Band Extension | 11.4 27.4 |
10.7 19.5 |
69.4 174.0 |
120.0 221.0 |
| 140 lb Cable Overhead Extension | 19.4 41.0 |
19.2 130.0 |
40.6 126.0 |
109.0 206.0 |
The Winners
Based on this experiment, here are the top three exercises in terms of mean and peak activity for each muscle part:
Mean Mid Pulley Crossover, Band Push Up, JC Band Press
Peak DB Incline Press, Guillotine Press, JC Band Press
Mean DB Bench Press, Floor Press, Fly
Peak Guillotine Press, DB Bench Press, Fly
Mean Weighted Dip, Blast Strap Push Up, Guillotine Press
Peak Guillotine Press, Fly, Weighted Dip
Mean Rope Extension, Cable Extension, Weighted Dip
Peak Rope Extension, Cable Extension, Band Extension
Confirmations
It’s important to know that I used a powerlifting-style bench press: arched low back, good leg drive, arms at a 45-degree angle, slightly narrower grip, bar lowered to the lower chest. The form used for the guillotine press was straight from late Iron Guru Vince Gironda: feet on the bench, no arch, elbows flared out, wider grip, bar lowered to the neck. It’s no surprise the guillotine press works much more pec than the bench press.
Looking at the entire pecs, we find much variety in movements. This jives with the old bodybuilder theory that the best workout should hit muscles from a lot of angles with different forms of resistance. We’ve always known the pecs respond to a good stretch, as shortened ranges of motion rarely build a nice chest.
I’ve long-suspected that pec isolation movements can rival compound movements in terms of pec activity. This study confirms that suspicion. Powerlifting gurus like Louie Simmons and Dave Tate have always discussed the importance of triceps specialization for a strong bench. This experiment lends support to their recommendations.
Surprises
Although I knew that the guillotine press worked much more pec than a bench press, I was surprised to find that a guillotine press with 225 pounds worked more pec than a bench press with 275 pounds! I found it very surprising that the floor press and band push up squeaked their way into the winner’s circle, as they’re the only movements in the entire winner’s group that do not move the pecs into a stretch position.
Although I’ve always felt the JC band press worked a ton of pec (the bands typically place the most stress in the contracted position), I didn’t expect it to work as much pec as it did. I can walk out really far with the JC bands and get a ton of tension in the movement, and the increased stabilization efforts may focus more tension on the pecs and less on the triceps. I was surprised that the barbell incline press and incline fly didn’t make it into the winner’s circle, especially for upper pec activity.
The pullover always gets the long head of my triceps very sore, so I was wondering if it would top the charts in muscle activity. But activation does not always equate to soreness, as stretch position exercises produce more soreness while contracted position exercises produce more of a pump.
I was actually very surprised at how much better triceps isolation exercises seem to work the triceps in comparison to compound movements. However, the body likes to grow proportionately; you rarely see a guy with huge arms and a puny torso, so don’t neglect compound movements for triceps development.
What If?
During experiments like these, one is often left with much curiosity. What if I would have gone heavier on the guillotine press? I could have gone much heavier, as 225 is a relatively light weight for me on that exercise. The same goes for dumbbell bench press—I could have gone heavier.
How would the pec deck have faired? What if I would have placed the electrodes on the inner and outer pecs? Would the activity be the same, or can we isolate those areas as well? (Doubtful.)
What if I would have performed wide-grip weighted dips? What if I would have worn a weighted vest during blast strap push-ups? What if I would have measured the activation in the lateral head of the triceps? Would it have matched the activity in the long head of the triceps, or do they function much differently? What if Miley Cyrus was 18? Would she date a musclehead from Arizona?
Clearly more research is needed, as it’s impossible to anticipate everything prior to an experiment, no matter how prepared and organized you seem.
The Best Damn Pec and Triceps Workout
Based on the results of this experiment, I bet the following would be one kick-ass workout that’d target the upper, mid, and lower pecs as well as the triceps. Enjoy!
The dumbbell bench press had more muscle activation than the traditional barbell bench press.
The Guillotine Press
Recommended: Weighted dips. Not Recommended: Short-shorts.
Screw the skull-crusher. Do rope extensions to really hit the triceps.
Building a Bodybuilder Chest
by Dr. Clay Hyght
For some people, building a full, round chest is as simple as doing a few sets of barbell bench press. For those of us who have the pectoral genetics of a mere mortal, it takes a bit more of a precise, methodical approach to build pecs that resemble slabs of striated beef from top to bottom.
Assuming you’re not one of the aforementioned genetic freaks (a.k.a. lucky bastards), then this article is for you! You’re going to learn some scientific principles, tips, and tricks that, along with some hard work, will serve as your genetic equalizer.
Let’s get started!
Anatomy and Biomechanics
I’m a meathead just like you. So from one meathead to another let’s go over the chest muscles themselves and what they do. Then you’ll be able to make intelligent choices when it comes to exercise selection and execution.
The chest is comprised of three separate muscles: the pectoralis minor (which is of little concern to us for now), the clavicular head of the pectoralis major, and the sternal head of the pectoralis major.
Because of its position up near the clavicle (collarbone), the clavicular head of the pec major is often simply referred to as the “upper chest.”
Although many anatomists refer to the sternal portion of the pectoralis major as the “lower chest,” for advanced physique-enhancement purposes we need to further divide this into two regions — the middle chest and lower chest.
When the entire pectoralis major works together, it produces a movement called horizontal adduction. In other words, it brings your arm across the front of your body, as occurs when doing a flye movement.
A lesser-known function of the pecs is to internally (or medially) rotate the humerus. Hold your arms out straight with your palms up, then rotate your arms such that your palms are facing down. That’s one example of internal rotation of the humerus.
Now let’s look at the actions of the upper, middle, and lower pectorals when they work in (relative) isolation as this is where things get tricky.
In addition to horizontal adduction and internal rotation, the clavicular pectoralis functions to flex the shoulder joint. In other words, it (along with the anterior deltoid) raises the arm to the front. When you consider the origin and insertion of the clavicular pectoralis, this makes perfect sense.
The lower portion of the sternal pectoralis is situated such that it helps to extend the shoulder joint — the opposite of shoulder flexion.
Since we’ve covered the upper and lower chest, let’s look at the portion that we’ll call the “middle chest.” Since the muscle fibers of the middle chest run horizontally, they don’t contribute significantly to shoulder flexion or extension. Instead, they simply horizontally adduct the humerus.
Here’s a nifty little chart that summarizes the anatomy and biomechanics of the 3 regions of the chest:
| Chest Region | Muscle Fibers Involved | Action |
| Upper Chest | clavicular pectoralis, superior fibers of sternal head of pec major | horizontal adduction, flexion, internal rotation |
| Middle Chest | middle portion of the pectoralis major | horizontal adduction, internal rotation |
| Lower Chest | inferior portion of the pectoralis major | horizontal adduction, extension, internal rotation |
“All or None” Confusion
You may have heard of the “all or none” principle of muscle contraction. Essentially, here’s what it means: When stimulated, a muscle fiber will either contract or it won’t.
Some people have erroneously adapted the all-or-none principle to mean that an entire muscle will either contract or it won’t. These confused individuals will go on to tell you that exercise variations are practically pointless when training the chest because the entire pectoralis major will either contract or it won’t.
This is some seriously misguided logic to say the least.
For starters, although still considered part of the pectoralis major, the clavicular pectoralis is actually a separate muscle with a separate nerve innervation.
Although the entire sternal head of the pectoralis major does share a common nerve innervation, the angle of the muscle fibers varies tremendously from top to bottom. For that reason, the line of pull is different throughout different areas of the muscle.
Luckily for us, your body (or brain rather) will recruit or call upon the portion of the muscle that’s best suited to perform the movement in question. So if you were to do a movement in which the lower fibers of the pectoralis major are in the best mechanical advantage to execute the movement, then those will be the primary fibers recruited to do the work —thank goodness!
So yes, you can emphasize different sections of the chest from top to bottom. But notice I said emphasize, not isolate!
Assess Your Chest
Before you can build a bad-ass chest, you have to know the visual strengths and weaknesses of your pecs.
There are basically four variations of chest development:
1) Even chest development
2) Poor upper and lower chest / good middle chest
3) Poor upper and middle chest / good lower chest
4) Poor upper chest / good middle and lower chest
For the record, variation number four certainly appears to be the most common. However, many people mistake fat in the lower chest region as being great lower pec development. So, if you really want to assess your development precisely, get striations in your chest first, then assess!
Once you’ve identified your type of chest development, then you can intelligently plan your chest training accordingly.
Training for a Full, Round Chest
More times than not, I’d recommend performing three exercises for chest as part of a body part split in which you train chest every five to seven days. When training more frequently and/or utilizing high-intensity techniques, doing less exercises may be warranted. Likewise, in certain instances doing four chest exercises is a good call.
When selecting your exercises, make sure to take into account the desired outcome of your training. In other words, if your upper chest is weak (and I bet it is), then why in the world would you do two exercises that emphasize the middle chest and one that emphasizes the lower chest? This would only perpetuate the muscular imbalance that you already have!
Instead, consider doing two exercises that emphasize the upper chest and one that emphasizes the middle and/or lower chest. This will help to even out your chest development sooner rather than later.
Another good rule of thumb is to target the weakest portion of your chest with your first exercise, when you’re at your strongest.
Let’s look at four different chest training routines that address each of the four different types of chest development mentioned above.
Chest Routine for Individuals with Even Development
1) Decline Dumbbell Press
2) Shallow Incline Dumbbell Press
3) Flat Dumbbell Flyes
This routine starts off with decline dumbbell presses which target the lower chest but also stimulate the middle chest very well.
The shallow incline dumbbell press is a great way to target the upper pectoralis while making it easier to keep the anterior deltoid out of the movement. To accomplish this, set the angle of incline between 15 and 20°.
Flat dumbbell flyes hit the chest right square in the middle. And contrary to popular belief, flyes can definitely be a mass-building movement. Just make sure to let your elbows bend naturally (about 30 to 45°) at the bottom of the movement. Doing so enables you to reduce the stress on the anterior shoulder and use dumbbells of respectable weight.
Chest Routine for Individuals with Poor Upper and Lower Development
1) Decline Dumbbell Press
2) Incline Barbell Press
3) Dips
Decline dumbbell presses are a good addition to practically any chest training routine. They’ve been shown to activate more motor units (muscle fibers) in the pectoralis major than any other chest exercise around.
The incline barbell press is a great exercise for the upper chest… if you do it properly. Make sure to keep your chest lifted “up” throughout the movement. This helps to keep the stress on the upper chest as opposed to the anterior deltoids.
Likewise, shorten the range of motion by about 2 or 3 inches on each end. In other words, stop a couple of inches short of lockout and a couple of inches before touching your chest. Avoiding these portions of the ROM (range of motion) keeps constant tension on the upper chest and prevents the anterior delts from taking on the brunt of the load.
Dips hit the chest, anterior deltoids, and triceps — there’s no way around that. However, by using a grip that’s slightly wider than shoulder width and tucking your chin to your chest/leaning forward, you can shift some of the stress from your triceps to your chest.
Chest Routine for Individuals with Poor Upper and Middle Development
1) Floor Press
2) Flat Dumbbell Press
3) Shallow Incline Dumbbell Flyes
Years ago I had a conversation with IFBB pro-bodybuilder, Johnnie Jackson, that enlightened me regarding how well floor presses stimulate the upper chest. Allow me to explain.
At least one study has shown that using a slightly narrower grip improves upper chest activation even more so than an incline bench angle. This is because using a slightly narrower grip forces the elbows to come slightly in toward the sides (adduction of the humerus) as opposed to them being flared. Subsequently, this puts the clavicular pectoralis in a better mechanical advantage to do its primary function(s): flexion and horizontal adduction.
Do the floor press with a grip width that’s just outside of shoulder width and that places your upper arms about 30° away from your sides in the starting position. Then push the barbell up and back in a slight arc such that it ends up over your upper chest.
On the shallow incline dumbbell flyes, set the angle of the bench to between 15 and 20°. One way to accomplish this is to put two or three Olympic plates under the “head” end of the bench.
Chest Routine for Individuals with Poor Upper Development
1) Incline Barbell Press
2) Shallow Incline Dumbbell Press
3) Low to High Cable Flyes
Recalling that the most natural function of the upper chest is flexion and horizontal adduction, use the same grip width mentioned in the floor presses above, just slightly wider than shoulder width.
Low to high cable flyes perfectly mimic the line of pull (and action) of the clavicular pectoralis. It’s one of the best exercises around for “filling in” the upper chest up near the collarbone.
To do the movement, start with two pulleys set in the bottom position and have your palms facing forward. Your upper arms (humerus) should be at about a 30° angle away from your sides.
Using your upper chest to pull your arms up and in, raise the handles up and together so that they come together at shoulder level or slightly higher. The path of the cables will draw an upside down V.
Train Smart
When it comes to training (and life in general for that matter), many people erroneously think that all you have to do to succeed is work hard. Unfortunately, this isn’t true. You have to work intelligently.
Your body is simply a dynamic, ever-changing organism that adapts to the stimulation and stress you place upon it. That’s why it’s important to purposefully select the right exercises that will stimulate your body in such a way as to visually enhance the appearance of your physique.
No longer will you think of chest training as a haphazard collection of press and flye movements. Instead, each and every chest workout is an opportunity to build bigger, more balanced pecs that are full and round from top to bottom!
Now, go to it!
Dexter Jackson. Clavicular pectoralis outlined in blue.
The upper, middle and lower chest.
Dip with forward lean.
Floor Press
Low to High Cable Flyes
About Dr. Clay Hyght
Dr. Clay’s new book, Set Your Metabolism on Fire, is more than 100 pages long, and packed with fat-burning, muscle-building information, including complete meal plans. Whether it’s because he’s a really nice guy or an idiot, he’s giving it away for free! Visit DrClay.com to get your copy before he comes to his senses.
© 1998 — 2009 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Big Back, Big Chest, Real Fast
by Chad Waterbury
I get bored easily.
That’s why I’ve spent the last few years augmenting my training toolbox. There’s only so much I can say about training for bigger muscles before I unleash a barrage of Hulk Hogan-style leg drops on my keyboard. I know what your muscles need to grow. But I can’t guarantee that you’ll have the time and energy to get the job done. So the ball’s in my court to make the process as user-friendly as possible.
Now that I can do more to help clients, I’ve taken on more esoteric cases. In the last few months I’ve had three interesting clients come to me for help.
First was Tracy. She was born with spina bifida, a nasty neural defect that mandated four major spinal surgeries by the age of 24.
She had lost the mind-muscle link to most of her core, hip, and lower body muscles, and this made her so weak that she couldn’t stand up from a Barca lounger unless she used her upper body strength to hoist herself up as if she was escaping a swimming pool after mistaking little Billy’s half-eaten Snickers bar for something far more ominous.
So I designed a program to strengthen and reprogram her atrophied muscles.
Second was Heidi Montag, the star of MTV’s hit reality show, The Hills. She definitely wasn’t born with any physical disadvantage, except that her butt was too flat for the Playboy centerfold shoot that’s currently on the newsstands.
Not only did she want a curvier caboose, but she also wanted to look like an athlete — not an emaciated starlet with breast implants. Her goal for the shoot was to expose powerful curves, and she needed them fast. So I designed a workout to give her, and any other female, a sexy, bikini body.
Then there was Alex. He’s the only one of the three that you can probably relate to. He had no physical limitations, and he didn’t give a rat’s ass about making his ass look better. He just wanted bigger pecs and lats so he’d look better without a shirt while he scoped out chicks along the beach.
These seem like three specific cases that all require a unique training strategy. Interestingly enough, I used the same training approach for all three clients. Whether I needed to rehabilitate injured muscles or sculpt a bikini body or add muscle to a guy’s upper body, the most important component I had to get right was their training frequency. Put simply: the more they train a movement, the faster they’ll get results.
You know that saying, “If something is worth doing, do it every day?” Well, I can tell you that this mantra does carry over to hypertrophy training. Indeed, the reason why trainers say that you need months to gain appreciable amounts of muscle is not because your body can only manufacture a few pounds of muscle each month — it’s because it takes months’ worth of workouts to see results.
So what if you could cram two or three months worth of training into three weeks? Provided you can recover from each workout, I think you’ll agree that you’ll gain muscle faster than ever before.
This is exactly what I did with Alex. He wanted a bigger chest and upper back, and he wanted it, like, yesterday. I designed a simple plan to do it. And it worked! It wasn’t easy, but it was certainly simple. He gained over two inches of chest girth in less than a month.
So I’m here to share the chest and back HFT plan that I gave him.
The Exercises
For three weeks you’ll focus on the push-up and wide-grip pull-up for the majority of your upper body work. These two exercises will take the place of all your upper body pushing and pulling requirements. If you add in exercises like the bench press or seated row, you’ll burn out in no time. You can add 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps for the lateral raise, biceps curl, face pull, and triceps extensions for three workouts each week, but it’s not necessary.
The great thing about the two primary exercises is that they require very little equipment. You’re born with everything you need for the push-up. The pull-up, on the other hand, isn’t quite as simple since you probably don’t have a pull-up bar hanging in your doorway, but the solution to that dilemma is simple: get one.
The Equipment
These days, there are a plethora of pull-up bars that can be hinged to your doorway. I won’t list all of the companies here, but I’ll just say that I have the Total Upper Body Workout Bar by Iron Gym in my place.
It only takes a few minutes to assemble and it doesn’t require any drilling. Just position one end of the apparatus over the molding around the top of a doorway in your house, and you’re good to go. (Note: if you happen to have a home that doesn’t have wood trim molding around your doorways, you’ll need to buy the version that screws into the sides of the doorway.)
The Training Parameters
Six days each week you’ll do 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups. Why the seemingly unbalanced parameters? Because a push-up only engages about half your body weight; the pull-up uses all of your body weight. So that’s why you need twice as many push-ups to keep the strength in balance around your shoulder joints.
Again, each day, for six days a week, you’ll do 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups. I don’t care how many sets it takes to complete either, just get them done. For example, you could do five pull-ups every hour for 10 hours. Or you could do 10 pull-ups five times per day. Or you could do 13, 8, 7, 6, 6, 5 and 5 reps over the course of three hours. In the end, it doesn’t matter.
The same is true with push-ups. 100 reps are required each day and it doesn’t matter how, or when, you get those reps.
Granted, this whole thing sounds ridiculously simple (conceptually, not in the execution), but it works. What have you go to lose?
Technique Tips
1. Your chest must touch the floor with each push-up, and you should push your shoulder blades apart at the top of each rep to engage the woefully disrespected serratus anterior. (Doing your push-ups this way will improve your shoulder health.)
2. The pull-ups are to be performed with a wider-than-shoulder width hand position with your palms facing away from you. Every rep must start from a full hang and you should touch your chest to the bar with each pull.
3. Perform each rep of each exercise as fast as possible. Don’t go to failure on any set — always keep at least one rep in the hole. This will allow you to maintain your strength throughout the day.
4. If you can do more than 30 push-ups in one set, perform each set with your feet elevated on a flat bench, chair, stool, or a stack of encyclopedias (I prefer the Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition).
More to Know
During the first week your chest, lats, and serratus anterior muscles will be screaming in agony. No worries. By week 2 the soreness will be virtually gone since your localized muscle recovery will skyrocket to meet the demand.
Do this program for six days each week for three weeks straight. Then, refrain from any upper body pushing or pulling movements for five full days. This will allow for any supercompensation that might be lagging behind. In other words, many people get bigger during the five days off.
What can you expect? At least two inches of new girth added to your chest measurement. You’ll have trouble finding a training system that will build muscle faster!
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© 1998 — 2009 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Best of Chest
by the editors
Take a look at a Roman suit of armor. What do you notice?
You probably notice that the armor is, well, jacked. It has rock-hard abs, sculpted lines, and it’s inevitably topped with a powerful chest. No doubt about it, the pecs have been a symbol of strength and power for thousands of years. No wonder Mondays are International Chest Day in gyms all over the world.
What do these modern iron warriors do to build their chests? They bench press, of course. But do you want to know the truth? Can you handle the truth, Lieutenant Kaffee?
Okay, here it is: While the bench press is a fine exercise, it’s actually not the most effective chest builder for the aesthetic lifter.
A standard barbell bench press uses, by nature, a limited range of motion or ROM. The bar simply hits your chest and limits your effective range of motion. And since most lifters see the bench press as a chance to flex their egos, they use tricky body positions and even shorter ROMs so they can press more weight, making it less effective for muscle-building.
Oh sure, that’s fine for a powerlifter in competition who wants to use every trick in the book to shorten the ROM so he can push more weight, but not so fine for a person wanting to target the pecs and body build.
Add to that the fact that a lot of people are triceps benchers. In other words, their tri’s are so strong that they tend to take over for the pecs in the bench press. Many lifters even bring their anterior delts into the equation.
Well, we have a crazy idea: Let’s get back to building the pecs, shall we?
Here are a few of the best chest exercises and techniques we’ve seen for doing just that.
#1: The Chest Dip
Remember the rules for getting the most out of triceps dips? To emphasize chest hypertrophy, reverse those rules:
1. Try to use the widest set of dipping bars you can find. Go too narrow and you’ll hit mostly triceps, not chest.
2. Lean forward. An upright body position targets the triceps, remember? So lean forward to transfer most of the workload to the chest.
3. For those that have trouble “feeling” the chest during dips, don’t lock out at the top. This keeps the tension on the pecs and prevents the triceps from taking over.
Unless you’re very new to resistance training — or very fat — or very female — you’ll need to add weight for chest dips. A dipping belt, a weighted vest, or simply holding a dumbbell between your feet will do the trick. We like the latter because it allows you to quickly drop the additional load if needed, which is handy for this pec-destroying favorite:
The Jettison Technique for Dips
1. Hold a dumbbell between your feet and perform around 12 reps of chest dips. Choose a dumbbell heavy enough so that you reach failure somewhere in that rep range.
2. Once you can’t do another rep in good form, drop the dumbbell, and with no rest continue to rep out until you again reach failure.
3. Now, with as little rest as possible, have a partner make a platform with his hands and place your ankles or tops of your feet on that platform. Now, he isn’t going to lift your legs, rather, you’re going to push off of him as needed until you can no longer do another rep in good form.
No training partner? Well, we’re not crazy about those Gravitron-style assisted dip/pull-up machines, but use one of those for this step if needed. Just don’t let us see you. We will point and laugh.
4. Rest for a couple of minutes, then repeat twice more. Be prepared to yelp in pain when steering the car the next day.
Here’s another great chest dip technique we picked up from Chad Waterbury:
Flying Dips
“These are great for chest and core development,” says Waterbury, and he’s right. Think of this as an exaggerated chest dip with an athletic bonus.
Here’s how you do it: Start in the top position of a dip. Lower your body straight down. When you reach the bottom, shift your body forward as you push up. You’ll need to keep your body rigid from head to toe, just like a gymnast on the rings.
#2: “Next-Level” Push-ups and Flyes
Here at TMUSCLE we’ve seen just about everything when it comes to training. So how do we separate the truly effective stuff from the sounds-good-on-paper-but-doesn’t-work junk? We look for patterns.
One such pattern occurs with something we call the “next-level” push-up. Several performance coaches and hypertrophy experts have “discovered” this method of turning the boring and often too-easy push-up into a chest-building powerhouse. And when that many experts independently discover something, it usually means it’s going to be damned effective.
Basically, this exercise involves doing push-ups on a set of gymnastic rings (such as the pair we reviewed HERE) or similar devices such as Blast Straps. Dave Tate calls these suspended push-ups.
To perform, simply attach your rings or straps to the top of a power rack or cable crossover machine and lower them until they’re just off the floor. Get into a push-up position while holding the rings or handles and get to work.
That’s it! But don’t be surprised if you shake like Candlestick Park during the ’89 World Series when performing suspended push-ups.
The Suspended Flye
If the push-ups get too easy, try some suspended flyes, a favorite of Coach Christian Thibaudeau, who places them into his strength-stability workouts.
Using the same push-up position, imagine doing a flat bench dumbbell flye, only instead of facing up, your body will be facing down. And instead of holding dumbbells for resistance, you’ll be holding rings or Blast Straps and using your body weight.
Warning: This one can be intense. You may want to begin by doing suspended flyes on your knees, you know, like how your little sister does push-ups in PE class. Not that you’re a weak little girl or anything. No way, not you.
The Slide Push-Up
Finally, here’s one more variation from the same basic school of thought: the slide push-up.
“The slide push-up applies resistance to the horizontal adduction action of the pectorals,” notes Waterbury. “This is one of the best chest-building exercises I’ve ever come across, and very few people even know about it!”
Slide push-ups can be performed on a linoleum or wood floor with a small towel under each hand. A set of ValSlides, a favorite of Coach Mike Boyle, will do the trick, too. (We bet a pair of furniture sliders would work as well, for a fraction of the price.)
With slides or towels under your hands, assume a traditional push-up position. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Lower yourself until your chest touches the floor, then push up while simultaneously pulling the hands together. At the top position, the thumbs should almost be touching.
Next, “walk” your hands out to the original starting position and continue for the desired reps. “If you’re advanced,” says Waterbury, “push your hands out to the starting position instead of walking them out.”
#3: Triple Dumbbell Press
We first read about this one back in the 90′s, and it probably existed before then. Whatever the origin, it works!
Thibaudeau notes: “This might just be the most complete and effective way to train your chest. It will thoroughly stimulate most of the muscle fibers of the pectorals, causing them to grow out of proportion at an alarming rate! Sound good? Wait until you’ve tried it to thank me; the effectiveness of the exercise comes with a price to pay: pain!”
The exercise is really a combination of three exercises:
High-incline dumbbell press
Low-incline dumbbell press
Flat dumbbell press
All three are performed as one set, using the same weight. You first perform high incline dumbbell presses until you reach muscle failure. Then you rapidly adjust the bench to a low incline and continue to perform reps until failure. You once again adjust the bench, this time to a flat bench position, and rep out. This is one set.
Note the little trick that’s happening here: You’re starting with the weakest position: high inclines. You’re fatiguing as the set continues, sure, but you’re also moving to a stronger position each time — low incline, then flat, which is your strongest position. Cool, huh?
“This is a very intense method,” warns Thibaudeau. “For most people, two or three such sets will be more than enough. Do not use this powerful technique too frequently as it’s tremendously stressful on the body — which is why it’s so effective!”
#4: Eccentric Incline Dumbbell Press on Swiss Ball
Long ass name, but an extremely effective rut-breaker that’s been field-tested by Charles Poliquin on numerous athletes.
Situate yourself on a Swiss ball. Press the dumbbells up as if you were doing conventional dumbbell bench presses. Once you get close to locking out, keep your torso stable, but lower your hips as much as possible. Now lower the dumbbells in this incline position.
Since you’re weaker in the incline press than in the flat press, you’ll use the strong leverage from the flat position to help you get the load up in preparation for the eccentric (negative) part of the movement. In effect, you’re doing a flat bench on the way up, and an incline bench on the way down, thus overloading the clavicular pecs without the need for a spotter.
#5: Fly-Aways
We learned this one from Igor Svendleton, the legendary European bodybuilding coach who can put 100 pounds of pure, drug-free muscle on any bodybuilder in only four weeks.
Thing is, Igor lives in a remote mountain cave and leaves it only to hunt musk-ox. Bodybuilders who want to train with him have to climb the mountain naked and beg him for his tutelage. But, those who are accepted come back down hyoooooge!
Okay, we made that up.
Sorry, it just sounded more interesting than saying that fly-aways are the invention of an exercise scientist named Jerry Telle. We mean, really, what can a guy named Jerry teach us?
Actually, quite a lot! Telle explains: “The wider the dumbbells, the more tension experienced by the pecs. Why, then, not start a set with heavy flyes and, as the athlete fatigues, gradually move the dumbbells closer to the body? That way, you get max tension on every rep.”
So, begin with a set of flyes (flat, incline, or decline). When you feel you’re a rep or two shy of failure, change your arm position into a position mid-way between a flye and a bench press. Knock out a few more reps in this stronger position. When you’re about to fail again, switch into a standard dumbbell bench press position and rep out until failure. That’s one set, nancy-boy.
Now, we’ve found that you can modify this extended set by using as many arm position changes as possible. Start with a very wide flye, moving the hands in a little each time and putting more bend in the elbows. Each stronger position will allow you a few more reps until you’re finally just performing a dumbbell bench press. Ouch.
Final Tip
Now, we’re not saying to completely give up the good ol’ barbell bench press, but if your goal is building a big chest, remember that there are other options. And if you just can’t not bench, here’s a final tip from strength coach Ian King:
“Many lifters with superior triceps strength fall into a trap by using the closer-grip bench press too often. It certainly builds great triceps, but it’s not the best for chest development. To balance chest development, you need to spend as much time with an extra-wide grip as you do with the extra-narrow grip. Those with strength ‘in close’ need humility to train bench with a wider grip.”
Now, go build your own suit of armor!
Exercise Models: Christine Pendleton and Beau Myrick
Location: Gold’s Gym, Abilene, Texas
Jettison Dip
Flying Dip
Suspended Pushup
Suspended Flye
Slide Pushup
Triple Dumbbell Press
Eccentric Incline
Fly Away 1
<!– 
–>
© 1998 — 2009 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Best of Chest
by the editors
Take a look at a Roman suit of armor. What do you notice?
You probably notice that the armor is, well, jacked. It has rock-hard abs, sculpted lines, and it’s inevitably topped with a powerful chest. No doubt about it, the pecs have been a symbol of strength and power for thousands of years. No wonder Mondays are International Chest Day in gyms all over the world.
What do these modern iron warriors do to build their chests? They bench press, of course. But do you want to know the truth? Can you handle the truth, Lieutenant Kaffee?
Okay, here it is: While the bench press is a fine exercise, it’s actually not the most effective chest builder for the aesthetic lifter.
A standard barbell bench press uses, by nature, a limited range of motion or ROM. The bar simply hits your chest and limits your effective range of motion. And since most lifters see the bench press as a chance to flex their egos, they use tricky body positions and even shorter ROMs so they can press more weight, making it less effective for muscle-building.
Oh sure, that’s fine for a powerlifter in competition who wants to use every trick in the book to shorten the ROM so he can push more weight, but not so fine for a person wanting to target the pecs and body build.
Add to that the fact that a lot of people are triceps benchers. In other words, their tri’s are so strong that they tend to take over for the pecs in the bench press. Many lifters even bring their anterior delts into the equation.
Well, we have a crazy idea: Let’s get back to building the pecs, shall we?
Here are a few of the best chest exercises and techniques we’ve seen for doing just that.
#1: The Chest Dip
Remember the rules for getting the most out of triceps dips? To emphasize chest hypertrophy, reverse those rules:
1. Try to use the widest set of dipping bars you can find. Go too narrow and you’ll hit mostly triceps, not chest.
2. Lean forward. An upright body position targets the triceps, remember? So lean forward to transfer most of the workload to the chest.
3. For those that have trouble “feeling” the chest during dips, don’t lock out at the top. This keeps the tension on the pecs and prevents the triceps from taking over.
Unless you’re very new to resistance training — or very fat — or very female — you’ll need to add weight for chest dips. A dipping belt, a weighted vest, or simply holding a dumbbell between your feet will do the trick. We like the latter because it allows you to quickly drop the additional load if needed, which is handy for this pec-destroying favorite:
The Jettison Technique for Dips
1. Hold a dumbbell between your feet and perform around 12 reps of chest dips. Choose a dumbbell heavy enough so that you reach failure somewhere in that rep range.
2. Once you can’t do another rep in good form, drop the dumbbell, and with no rest continue to rep out until you again reach failure.
3. Now, with as little rest as possible, have a partner make a platform with his hands and place your ankles or tops of your feet on that platform. Now, he isn’t going to lift your legs, rather, you’re going to push off of him as needed until you can no longer do another rep in good form.
No training partner? Well, we’re not crazy about those Gravitron-style assisted dip/pull-up machines, but use one of those for this step if needed. Just don’t let us see you. We will point and laugh.
4. Rest for a couple of minutes, then repeat twice more. Be prepared to yelp in pain when steering the car the next day.
Here’s another great chest dip technique we picked up from Chad Waterbury:
Flying Dips
“These are great for chest and core development,” says Waterbury, and he’s right. Think of this as an exaggerated chest dip with an athletic bonus.
Here’s how you do it: Start in the top position of a dip. Lower your body straight down. When you reach the bottom, shift your body forward as you push up. You’ll need to keep your body rigid from head to toe, just like a gymnast on the rings.
#2: “Next-Level” Push-ups and Flyes
Here at TMUSCLE we’ve seen just about everything when it comes to training. So how do we separate the truly effective stuff from the sounds-good-on-paper-but-doesn’t-work junk? We look for patterns.
One such pattern occurs with something we call the “next-level” push-up. Several performance coaches and hypertrophy experts have “discovered” this method of turning the boring and often too-easy push-up into a chest-building powerhouse. And when that many experts independently discover something, it usually means it’s going to be damned effective.
Basically, this exercise involves doing push-ups on a set of gymnastic rings (such as the pair we reviewed HERE) or similar devices such as Blast Straps. Dave Tate calls these suspended push-ups.
To perform, simply attach your rings or straps to the top of a power rack or cable crossover machine and lower them until they’re just off the floor. Get into a push-up position while holding the rings or handles and get to work.
That’s it! But don’t be surprised if you shake like Candlestick Park during the ’89 World Series when performing suspended push-ups.
The Suspended Flye
If the push-ups get too easy, try some suspended flyes, a favorite of Coach Christian Thibaudeau, who places them into his strength-stability workouts.
Using the same push-up position, imagine doing a flat bench dumbbell flye, only instead of facing up, your body will be facing down. And instead of holding dumbbells for resistance, you’ll be holding rings or Blast Straps and using your body weight.
Warning: This one can be intense. You may want to begin by doing suspended flyes on your knees, you know, like how your little sister does push-ups in PE class. Not that you’re a weak little girl or anything. No way, not you.
The Slide Push-Up
Finally, here’s one more variation from the same basic school of thought: the slide push-up.
“The slide push-up applies resistance to the horizontal adduction action of the pectorals,” notes Waterbury. “This is one of the best chest-building exercises I’ve ever come across, and very few people even know about it!”
Slide push-ups can be performed on a linoleum or wood floor with a small towel under each hand. A set of ValSlides, a favorite of Coach Mike Boyle, will do the trick, too. (We bet a pair of furniture sliders would work as well, for a fraction of the price.)
With slides or towels under your hands, assume a traditional push-up position. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Lower yourself until your chest touches the floor, then push up while simultaneously pulling the hands together. At the top position, the thumbs should almost be touching.
Next, “walk” your hands out to the original starting position and continue for the desired reps. “If you’re advanced,” says Waterbury, “push your hands out to the starting position instead of walking them out.”
#3: Triple Dumbbell Press
We first read about this one back in the 90′s, and it probably existed before then. Whatever the origin, it works!
Thibaudeau notes: “This might just be the most complete and effective way to train your chest. It will thoroughly stimulate most of the muscle fibers of the pectorals, causing them to grow out of proportion at an alarming rate! Sound good? Wait until you’ve tried it to thank me; the effectiveness of the exercise comes with a price to pay: pain!”
The exercise is really a combination of three exercises:
High-incline dumbbell press
Low-incline dumbbell press
Flat dumbbell press
All three are performed as one set, using the same weight. You first perform high incline dumbbell presses until you reach muscle failure. Then you rapidly adjust the bench to a low incline and continue to perform reps until failure. You once again adjust the bench, this time to a flat bench position, and rep out. This is one set.
Note the little trick that’s happening here: You’re starting with the weakest position: high inclines. You’re fatiguing as the set continues, sure, but you’re also moving to a stronger position each time — low incline, then flat, which is your strongest position. Cool, huh?
“This is a very intense method,” warns Thibaudeau. “For most people, two or three such sets will be more than enough. Do not use this powerful technique too frequently as it’s tremendously stressful on the body — which is why it’s so effective!”
#4: Eccentric Incline Dumbbell Press on Swiss Ball
Long ass name, but an extremely effective rut-breaker that’s been field-tested by Charles Poliquin on numerous athletes.
Situate yourself on a Swiss ball. Press the dumbbells up as if you were doing conventional dumbbell bench presses. Once you get close to locking out, keep your torso stable, but lower your hips as much as possible. Now lower the dumbbells in this incline position.
Since you’re weaker in the incline press than in the flat press, you’ll use the strong leverage from the flat position to help you get the load up in preparation for the eccentric (negative) part of the movement. In effect, you’re doing a flat bench on the way up, and an incline bench on the way down, thus overloading the clavicular pecs without the need for a spotter.
#5: Fly-Aways
We learned this one from Igor Svendleton, the legendary European bodybuilding coach who can put 100 pounds of pure, drug-free muscle on any bodybuilder in only four weeks.
Thing is, Igor lives in a remote mountain cave and leaves it only to hunt musk-ox. Bodybuilders who want to train with him have to climb the mountain naked and beg him for his tutelage. But, those who are accepted come back down hyoooooge!
Okay, we made that up.
Sorry, it just sounded more interesting than saying that fly-aways are the invention of an exercise scientist named Jerry Telle. We mean, really, what can a guy named Jerry teach us?
Actually, quite a lot! Telle explains: “The wider the dumbbells, the more tension experienced by the pecs. Why, then, not start a set with heavy flyes and, as the athlete fatigues, gradually move the dumbbells closer to the body? That way, you get max tension on every rep.”
So, begin with a set of flyes (flat, incline, or decline). When you feel you’re a rep or two shy of failure, change your arm position into a position mid-way between a flye and a bench press. Knock out a few more reps in this stronger position. When you’re about to fail again, switch into a standard dumbbell bench press position and rep out until failure. That’s one set, nancy-boy.
Now, we’ve found that you can modify this extended set by using as many arm position changes as possible. Start with a very wide flye, moving the hands in a little each time and putting more bend in the elbows. Each stronger position will allow you a few more reps until you’re finally just performing a dumbbell bench press. Ouch.
Final Tip
Now, we’re not saying to completely give up the good ol’ barbell bench press, but if your goal is building a big chest, remember that there are other options. And if you just can’t not bench, here’s a final tip from strength coach Ian King:
“Many lifters with superior triceps strength fall into a trap by using the closer-grip bench press too often. It certainly builds great triceps, but it’s not the best for chest development. To balance chest development, you need to spend as much time with an extra-wide grip as you do with the extra-narrow grip. Those with strength ‘in close’ need humility to train bench with a wider grip.”
Now, go build your own suit of armor!
Exercise Models: Christine Pendleton and Beau Myrick
Location: Gold’s Gym, Abilene, Texas
Jettison Dip
Flying Dip
Suspended Pushup
Suspended Flye
Slide Pushup
Triple Dumbbell Press
Eccentric Incline
Fly Away 1
<!– –>
© 1998 — 2009 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
>Best of Chest
>
by the editors
Take a look at a Roman suit of armor. What do you notice?
You probably notice that the armor is, well, jacked. It has rock-hard abs, sculpted lines, and it’s inevitably topped with a powerful chest. No doubt about it, the pecs have been a symbol of strength and power for thousands of years. No wonder Mondays are International Chest Day in gyms all over the world.
What do these modern iron warriors do to build their chests? They bench press, of course. But do you want to know the truth? Can you handle the truth, Lieutenant Kaffee?
Okay, here it is: While the bench press is a fine exercise, it’s actually not the most effective chest builder for the aesthetic lifter.
A standard barbell bench press uses, by nature, a limited range of motion or ROM. The bar simply hits your chest and limits your effective range of motion. And since most lifters see the bench press as a chance to flex their egos, they use tricky body positions and even shorter ROMs so they can press more weight, making it less effective for muscle-building.
Oh sure, that’s fine for a powerlifter in competition who wants to use every trick in the book to shorten the ROM so he can push more weight, but not so fine for a person wanting to target the pecs and body build.
Add to that the fact that a lot of people are triceps benchers. In other words, their tri’s are so strong that they tend to take over for the pecs in the bench press. Many lifters even bring their anterior delts into the equation.
Well, we have a crazy idea: Let’s get back to building the pecs, shall we?
Here are a few of the best chest exercises and techniques we’ve seen for doing just that.
#1: The Chest Dip
Remember the rules for getting the most out of triceps dips? To emphasize chest hypertrophy, reverse those rules:
1. Try to use the widest set of dipping bars you can find. Go too narrow and you’ll hit mostly triceps, not chest.
2. Lean forward. An upright body position targets the triceps, remember? So lean forward to transfer most of the workload to the chest.
3. For those that have trouble “feeling” the chest during dips, don’t lock out at the top. This keeps the tension on the pecs and prevents the triceps from taking over.
Unless you’re very new to resistance training — or very fat — or very female — you’ll need to add weight for chest dips. A dipping belt, a weighted vest, or simply holding a dumbbell between your feet will do the trick. We like the latter because it allows you to quickly drop the additional load if needed, which is handy for this pec-destroying favorite:
The Jettison Technique for Dips
1. Hold a dumbbell between your feet and perform around 12 reps of chest dips. Choose a dumbbell heavy enough so that you reach failure somewhere in that rep range.
2. Once you can’t do another rep in good form, drop the dumbbell, and with no rest continue to rep out until you again reach failure.
3. Now, with as little rest as possible, have a partner make a platform with his hands and place your ankles or tops of your feet on that platform. Now, he isn’t going to lift your legs, rather, you’re going to push off of him as needed until you can no longer do another rep in good form.
No training partner? Well, we’re not crazy about those Gravitron-style assisted dip/pull-up machines, but use one of those for this step if needed. Just don’t let us see you. We will point and laugh.
4. Rest for a couple of minutes, then repeat twice more. Be prepared to yelp in pain when steering the car the next day.
Here’s another great chest dip technique we picked up from Chad Waterbury:
Flying Dips
“These are great for chest and core development,” says Waterbury, and he’s right. Think of this as an exaggerated chest dip with an athletic bonus.
Here’s how you do it: Start in the top position of a dip. Lower your body straight down. When you reach the bottom, shift your body forward as you push up. You’ll need to keep your body rigid from head to toe, just like a gymnast on the rings.
#2: “Next-Level” Push-ups and Flyes
Here at TMUSCLE we’ve seen just about everything when it comes to training. So how do we separate the truly effective stuff from the sounds-good-on-paper-but-doesn’t-work junk? We look for patterns.
One such pattern occurs with something we call the “next-level” push-up. Several performance coaches and hypertrophy experts have “discovered” this method of turning the boring and often too-easy push-up into a chest-building powerhouse. And when that many experts independently discover something, it usually means it’s going to be damned effective.
Basically, this exercise involves doing push-ups on a set of gymnastic rings (such as the pair we reviewed HERE) or similar devices such as Blast Straps. Dave Tate calls these suspended push-ups.
To perform, simply attach your rings or straps to the top of a power rack or cable crossover machine and lower them until they’re just off the floor. Get into a push-up position while holding the rings or handles and get to work.
That’s it! But don’t be surprised if you shake like Candlestick Park during the ’89 World Series when performing suspended push-ups.
The Suspended Flye
If the push-ups get too easy, try some suspended flyes, a favorite of Coach Christian Thibaudeau, who places them into his strength-stability workouts.
Using the same push-up position, imagine doing a flat bench dumbbell flye, only instead of facing up, your body will be facing down. And instead of holding dumbbells for resistance, you’ll be holding rings or Blast Straps and using your body weight.
Warning: This one can be intense. You may want to begin by doing suspended flyes on your knees, you know, like how your little sister does push-ups in PE class. Not that you’re a weak little girl or anything. No way, not you.
The Slide Push-Up
Finally, here’s one more variation from the same basic school of thought: the slide push-up.
“The slide push-up applies resistance to the horizontal adduction action of the pectorals,” notes Waterbury. “This is one of the best chest-building exercises I’ve ever come across, and very few people even know about it!”
Slide push-ups can be performed on a linoleum or wood floor with a small towel under each hand. A set of ValSlides, a favorite of Coach Mike Boyle, will do the trick, too. (We bet a pair of furniture sliders would work as well, for a fraction of the price.)
With slides or towels under your hands, assume a traditional push-up position. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Lower yourself until your chest touches the floor, then push up while simultaneously pulling the hands together. At the top position, the thumbs should almost be touching.
Next, “walk” your hands out to the original starting position and continue for the desired reps. “If you’re advanced,” says Waterbury, “push your hands out to the starting position instead of walking them out.”
#3: Triple Dumbbell Press
We first read about this one back in the 90′s, and it probably existed before then. Whatever the origin, it works!
Thibaudeau notes: “This might just be the most complete and effective way to train your chest. It will thoroughly stimulate most of the muscle fibers of the pectorals, causing them to grow out of proportion at an alarming rate! Sound good? Wait until you’ve tried it to thank me; the effectiveness of the exercise comes with a price to pay: pain!”
The exercise is really a combination of three exercises:
High-incline dumbbell press
Low-incline dumbbell press
Flat dumbbell press
All three are performed as one set, using the same weight. You first perform high incline dumbbell presses until you reach muscle failure. Then you rapidly adjust the bench to a low incline and continue to perform reps until failure. You once again adjust the bench, this time to a flat bench position, and rep out. This is one set.
Note the little trick that’s happening here: You’re starting with the weakest position: high inclines. You’re fatiguing as the set continues, sure, but you’re also moving to a stronger position each time — low incline, then flat, which is your strongest position. Cool, huh?
“This is a very intense method,” warns Thibaudeau. “For most people, two or three such sets will be more than enough. Do not use this powerful technique too frequently as it’s tremendously stressful on the body — which is why it’s so effective!”
#4: Eccentric Incline Dumbbell Press on Swiss Ball
Long ass name, but an extremely effective rut-breaker that’s been field-tested by Charles Poliquin on numerous athletes.
Situate yourself on a Swiss ball. Press the dumbbells up as if you were doing conventional dumbbell bench presses. Once you get close to locking out, keep your torso stable, but lower your hips as much as possible. Now lower the dumbbells in this incline position.
Since you’re weaker in the incline press than in the flat press, you’ll use the strong leverage from the flat position to help you get the load up in preparation for the eccentric (negative) part of the movement. In effect, you’re doing a flat bench on the way up, and an incline bench on the way down, thus overloading the clavicular pecs without the need for a spotter.
#5: Fly-Aways
We learned this one from Igor Svendleton, the legendary European bodybuilding coach who can put 100 pounds of pure, drug-free muscle on any bodybuilder in only four weeks.
Thing is, Igor lives in a remote mountain cave and leaves it only to hunt musk-ox. Bodybuilders who want to train with him have to climb the mountain naked and beg him for his tutelage. But, those who are accepted come back down hyoooooge!
Okay, we made that up.
Sorry, it just sounded more interesting than saying that fly-aways are the invention of an exercise scientist named Jerry Telle. We mean, really, what can a guy named Jerry teach us?
Actually, quite a lot! Telle explains: “The wider the dumbbells, the more tension experienced by the pecs. Why, then, not start a set with heavy flyes and, as the athlete fatigues, gradually move the dumbbells closer to the body? That way, you get max tension on every rep.”
So, begin with a set of flyes (flat, incline, or decline). When you feel you’re a rep or two shy of failure, change your arm position into a position mid-way between a flye and a bench press. Knock out a few more reps in this stronger position. When you’re about to fail again, switch into a standard dumbbell bench press position and rep out until failure. That’s one set, nancy-boy.
Now, we’ve found that you can modify this extended set by using as many arm position changes as possible. Start with a very wide flye, moving the hands in a little each time and putting more bend in the elbows. Each stronger position will allow you a few more reps until you’re finally just performing a dumbbell bench press. Ouch.
Final Tip
Now, we’re not saying to completely give up the good ol’ barbell bench press, but if your goal is building a big chest, remember that there are other options. And if you just can’t not bench, here’s a final tip from strength coach Ian King:
“Many lifters with superior triceps strength fall into a trap by using the closer-grip bench press too often. It certainly builds great triceps, but it’s not the best for chest development. To balance chest development, you need to spend as much time with an extra-wide grip as you do with the extra-narrow grip. Those with strength ‘in close’ need humility to train bench with a wider grip.”
Now, go build your own suit of armor!
Exercise Models: Christine Pendleton and Beau Myrick
Location: Gold’s Gym, Abilene, Texas
Jettison Dip
Flying Dip
Suspended Pushup
Suspended Flye
Slide Pushup
Triple Dumbbell Press
Eccentric Incline
Fly Away 1
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