Aside from biceps (the bastion of bodybuilding) the most popular muscle group to train in the gym is the chest. If it is a Monday, then chances are your local gym has a long line for the bench press, because everyone wants to start their week by throwing up some heavy weight on the bench to build a formidable chest.
Some of the greatest bodybuilding champions of all time built amazing pectorals. Reg Park, Arnold (Schwarzenegger) and Dave Draper are some athletes who come to mind from the Golden Era of bodybuilding. Branch Warren and Johnnie Jackson are two contemporary champions who sport impressive upper torsos.
To build that powerful, armor-like chest, you need to add two benefits to your training. First, the workout must be effective for building up size, strength and target the chest from a variety of angles. Second, you can't mess around in the weight room; you have to hit it with intensity and hit it fast.
This workout entails both those things. It hits the chest from the incline, flat and decline angles, and you will do giant sets so you can blast those pecs quickly and move on with your day. If you are up to the challenge, then take this workout to the weight room with you and push yourself to produce some impressive pecs.
Warming Up
Make sure when you arrive to the gym that you take 10 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical to get warmed up. After that, sip some water and stretch your entire body out. Make sure you warm up first because if you stretch a cold muscle then you leave yourself susceptible to injury. No one grows while they are hurt.
While you are warming up, prepare yourself mentally for this too. Building muscle is every bit of a mental game as well as a physical one.
Incline Barbell Bench Press
Make sure the incline angle isn't too high or you will work your shoulders more than your chest. Lower the bar to a cadence of one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three.
Once the bar hits your chest, explode and press the weight up as fast as you can. When you press the weight back up, make sure you squeeze the chest muscles as hard as you can for a second before lowering the weight back down. Use a weight you can perform 8-10 reps with.
Once you finish, move on without rest to the next exercise.
Flat Dumbbell Press
Move over to a flat bench and grab some heavy dumbbells. You will use the same cadence that you did with the incline, lowering the weight for 3 seconds and when you reach the lowest point exploding and pressing the weight up as quickly as possible. Do not let the dumbbells touch at the top.
Keep constant tension on the muscle by holding the weights away from each other. Squeeze at the top for a second before repeating the motion. Once you finish, grab some lighter dumbbells for the next movement. You should use dumbbells you can handle doing 8-10 reps for this exercise.
Once you finish, move on without rest to the next exercise.
Flat Dumbbell Flye
You will use a different cadence for this movement. You will lower the weight to a 5-count before bringing the weights up. Also when you reach the top, you will squeeze the muscle for a 2-count instead of one before lowering the weights again.
At this point you should really leave the ego at the door and use dumbbells that will allow you to do this safely. If you go too heavy after those previous two sets, you increase the risk of injury. Go for 12-15 reps on this movement.
Once you finish, move on without rest to the next exercise.
Push Ups with Feet Elevated
After you finish with the flyes, you are going to place your feet on the bench and hands on the floor. Doing pushups from this angle targets the chest similar to a decline movement. This is the part of the circuit that you should really focus on getting as many reps as you can.
Perform this exercise until you reach total failure. If you can't do this exercise properly (from fatigue), then do regular pushups until you develop the strength to do them with your feet elevated. If you REALLY want to push it, start with feet up and once you reach failure, place your feet on the floor and continue until you can't do another rep.
After you finish the circuit, take a 2-minute rest period to drink water and catch your breath. Make sure you also stretch the chest muscles out during this time. After two minutes, you will repeat the circuit again.
How Many Circuits?
If you are a beginner or new to giant sets then you should only perform 2 rounds of this circuit. If you would consider yourself an intermediate lifter then you can go for 3 rounds.
If you are an advanced lifter and want to challenge yourself then go for 4 or 5 rounds of this circuit to blast those pecs so they have no choice but to grow.
Championship Chest Circuit: 4-5 Rounds
10 minute cardio warm up with stretching afterward.
Barbell Incline Bench Press - Medium Grip
8-10 reps
Dumbbell Bench Press
8-10 reps
Dumbbell Flyes
12-15 reps
Push-Ups With Feet Elevated
Until failure
Note: Do each exercise without rest. That is one circuit. 2 minutes rest between circuits.
This is going to be a battle so don't take this workout lightly. Make sure you are mentally prepared for this as well as physically ready. This routine should take no more than 20-30 minutes, based on the number of rounds you go through, so it is quick as well as intense.
Do this routine once a week for 6-8 weeks and you will be left with a very impressive pair of pecs.