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Add Slabs Of Muscle To Your Chest
The chest is one of those body parts that draws a lot of attention, the other being arms, from everyone that looks at you. But from a bodybuilding perspective we know that bodybuilding is much, much more than a big set of arms and a big chest. But nonetheless a nicely developed chest is necessary to compliment the rest of the physique. Luckily, my chest is one of my easiest muscle groups to get to grow. Only in the past year has the rest of my body really caught up with my chest growth. For the first couple of years I looked like I was walking around with my chest sticking out on purpose. In this article I will tell you what I did in the beginning and what I do now, so get ready to put your pecs through hell.
When I first started training my chest was an eye popping 39". Now after a few years of hard work it is a little above 50". The approach I took is just like all my other articles state "Think Big, Eat Big, Lift Big, Get Big". So I took the lift big approach and stayed really basic with my chest movements.
In The Beginning This Is The Chest Routine I Used:
- Flat Bench: 5 sets of 12,10,8,6,6 reps
- Incline Bench: 4 sets of 10,8,6,6 reps
- Butterfly: 4 sets of 12,10,8,8 reps
- Cable Crossovers: 4 sets of 12,10,8,6 reps
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Click Image To Enlarge.
Barbell Bench Press - Medium Grip
Click Here For A Video Demonstration Of Barbell Bench Press - Medium Grip.
My Chest Work Out Now:
- Incline Bench: 5 sets of 10,8,6,4,10-12 reps
- Flat Bench: 3 sets of 10,8,8 reps
- Butterfly: 3 sets of 12,10,10 reps
Chest Movements
I will do other exercises as finishing movements but they do vary from workout to workout. One week I may do cable crossovers or dumbbell pullovers, etc.
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Click Image To Enlarge.
Bent-Arm Dumbbell Pullover
Click Here For A Video Demonstration Of Bent-Arm Dumbbell Pullover.
As you can see it's basically the same routine except for the change in reps and sets. Now I will throw in some dumbbell presses, both incline and flat bench, from time to time just to change things up a little bit but I see better results from using the barbell for my pressing simply because I feel it's a better mass builder. Now, if you are preparing for a show I recommend using the dumbbell presses in your exercise due to the fact they are a much better shaping exercise and the risk of injury is lessened a lot.
I am also not a big believer in doing a lot of decline work, now from time to time I will do some but your lower chest development is more determined by your body fat levels rather than the actual exercising of it.
The main thing that you need to do to develop a nice full chest is focus on proper form on the incline/flat bench press. That means no bouncing off the chest and don't worry about how much you can bench just worry about getting a good pump and breaking down the muscle. Also, like I said above, stay very basic using power movements:
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Click Image To Enlarge.
Incline Dumbbell Press
Click Here For A Video Demonstration Of Incline Dumbbell Press.
Flat Bench and Incline Bench these are the two movements that will bring the most mass, basically all other chest movements are only shaping movements.
A Few Weeks Later
After a few weeks of going heavy on chest I will take a couple of weeks off from going heavy and do high reps or superset and believe me the pump is out of this world.
Here Is A Sample Change Of My High Rep Routine:
- Flat Bench: 3 sets of 20 reps
- Incline Bench: 3 sets of 20,15,15 reps
- Butterfly: 3 sets of 20,15,15 reps
Superset:
- Incline Dumbbell Press: 3 sets of 10-15 reps
- Cable Crossovers: 3 sets of 10-15 reps
This routine really hits the chest hard and once again the pump is unbelievable.
The only thing I can really stress before I close is just stay basic, I see way to many people trying to do to may sets and exercises and they never experience growth. Just go heavy on your power movements and really squeeze on your shaping movements and you should experience some good pec growth.
On a side note:
If you really want to increase your bench press, really work on close-grip bench press when training triceps and military presses when doing shoulders, if you can get those two exercises up your weight on your bench press will go through the roof. But remember don't sacrifice weight for proper form.
Good Luck!
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