Week One-A
lesson in pain!
Let’s get
this week off on the right foot, and introduce you to the experience that is 8
weeks to bigger pecs part deux!
Exercise
one:
Flat Bench Dumbbell
Press
You’ll be
doing 4 total sets. With the rep scheme (a rep scheme just means a plan that you
will use to dictate the general range of reps you want to hit with each set)
To better
illustrate what a rep scheme (plan) is I’ll lay the rep scheme out for this
first exercise.
Set one – 10
reps
Set two – 8
reps
Set three –
6 reps
Set four – 6
reps
Here are the
special instructions for this exercise. You will follow this protocol for the
first and last set of this exercise.
We will be
utilizing the
partial reps
principal
and the
static hold principle
for the 1st and 4th set.
So, after
you reach failure on your last rep, keep your arms at the top of the range of
motion on your last rep. From there, lower the dumbbells a few inches and press
back up. Continue in this manner until you can no longer move your arms even
1/16th of an inch! I mean keep doing these partial reps until your
arms won’t budge! This is going to burn on your chest like crazy, but you have
to keep it going until your arms will absolutely not move at all. This should
feel similar to the pain of doing partial reps on your calves!
Now hold the
last partial rep in the fully contracted position at the top of the range of
motion for 10-30 seconds.
You will
feel a monstrous burn in your middle chest when you do this! Remember the
longer you can hold the static hold the more muscle growth it will induce! Aim
for at least a 10 second hold. If you can’t get that high that’s OK, but make
sure you drop the weights because of true failure and not just the pain. There
is a HUGE difference between these two. This static hold is going to feel like
someone lit a match and set it on your chest, especially after the partial reps.
Your job is to hold it until your arms give out and not because of the pain!
Exercise 2:
Lying Cable
Low incline Flys
To do this
exercise, simply set a flat bench between two low cable pulley stations. Make
sure the bench is evenly in the middle of the two low cables. Now adjust the
bench so that it is at a low incline. Go for 15-30 degree incline. The choice
is up to you. I personally like a 25 degree angle, but it can vary by
individual.
Now, simple
grab each cable, lie down on the bench, and perform the same movement as you
would a dumbbell fly. Keeping your elbows fixed and “hugging” the weights
together for a peak contraction. This is going to give you the best pump in your
chest! Hold the peak of each rep for a few seconds, and really fight the
negative hard on these. Remember on these to really contract against the
stretch! It will make all the difference!
Go with a
rep scheme of 12, 10, 8
As soon as
you finish a set, do some intense fascia stretching with the method of your
choice. I personally like stretching my chest between a squat rack; however my
advice is to go with your preference for stretching. Really you should select
the one that is most uncomfortable! I find the more pain the stretch causes the
more gains you will get from the fascia stretching! And for those who are
wondering if this method of stretching works…do three sets like this with a 30
second stretch immediately afterwards and you’ll be believers!
Follow the
30 seconds of stretching with intense flexing and squeezing of the pecs. You may
find it hard to do 3 sets like this at first, but lower the weight if you have
to. The main focus of this exercise is to get a strong burn in your chest and
contract against the stretch.
Exercise 3
-
Decline
Barbell Bench Press
Finish off
with 3 sets of Decline Barbell Bench Presses, with a rep scheme of 6, 8, 10, 2.
Do the first
two sets contracting against the stretch (you’re going to get sick of hearing
me saying that by the end of this, but I keep emphasizing it because I hear so
many guys saying they can’t feel their chest or they can’t feel their lats. Not
finding the stretch then contracting against it is the reason why!).
However on
the last set, I want you to go super heavy, and take a power lifting mentality
on it. Make sure to give yourself a 3 minute break before attempting this so you
will be rested enough for it.
Do whatever
it takes to get 2 reps. If you have a partner do forced reps. I recommend
asking someone in the gym to spot you if you don’t have a partner. But if you
work out a home use rest-pause to get 2 reps. You can also use the cheat rep
principle I discussed in the “Shock yourself out of the comfort Zone article” to
help cheat out a rep, just use safety with this method!
Rest Period
Exercise 4:
Machine flat
press
For our last
chest exercise of week 1, we will use the machine flat press. I prefer Hammer
Strength machines, but if you don’t have access to that equipment use whatever
flat bench press machine you have at your gym. Use the rep scheme of 8, 8, 6.
There are no
shocks here, just controlled heavy presses. Make sure to flex your pecs hard at
the end of every rep!
-
Now slug down a shake, go home, eat and sleep!
Week Two - Sore just took on a new meaning
As I explained
in the “Method to the Madness” article, dips can literally etch your pecs out of
stone! In this workout we will use dips to force our chest into extreme
soreness!
Exercise one:
Non-Peak Flys
We’re going to
be using some non-peak flys for a little pre-exhaustion work. This will ensure
our chest is coming total failure when we proceed to dips.
For all 3 of
these sets, go just short of failure. Aim for the reps I give, but concentrate
more on feeling your pecs. Go at a medium pace and squeeze your chest hard when
you come to the end of the range of motion, and resist the negative at a slower
pace.
Go with a rep
scheme of 15, 12, 10. Remember you’re not going to failure, just pre-exhausting
the chest. You’ll need the energy for the next exercise!
Exercise 2:
Forced Dips
Make sure to
review the article to ensure proper execution of this exercise. You need to go
to total failure then aim for 3 forced reps after initial failure.
Go deep enough
that you feel your chest being stretched then contract against that stretch. By
your failure rep, your chest should really be tightened up, and struggling to
bring you back up! I find this exercise is the most painful of all chest
exercises, so I just want to warn you again, not to quit because of the pain,
but because of failure of the muscle to contract on the positive portion of the
lift.
Remember from
“Shock Yourself Out of the Comfort Zone Part I” that failure during the positive
portion of the lift doesn’t mean that all strength in a muscle is gone. You
still have negative and static strength left after positive failure has
occurred. The forced dips will use that principle to our advantage for the sole
purpose of inducing hypertrophy! Make sure on the forced dips to go ultra slow
on the negatives (at least a 5 second descent), and hold the peak contraction
for a good 3 seconds before proceeding with another forced dip.
Go for 4 total
sets of forced dips. I’m not going to give a specific rep range here. This will
depend upon your fitness level.
I recommend
not going above 12 and preferably aim for a rep range of around 6-10. If you can
easily do 12, it’s time to strap on extra weight. If you can only do a few or
none at all, that’s fine. However, you can still do the forced dips. If this is
the case, go as slow as you possibly can on the negative, and go for at least 3
forced reps.
Exercise 3:
Smith Machine
Flat Bench Press
The smith
machine is an excellent piece of equipment to follow up with after a heavy
stabilizer movement. After those forced dips your stabilizers will bet
completely thrashed! In fact your delts and tris will probably be so pumped
you’ll look twice as big as normal!
So we’ll be
finishing off with the smith machine flat bench press.
There are no
special techniques here. Just go heavy, all the way down, and to failure. If you
are alone don’t be afraid to go heavy on these. Experiment with your power on
this machine. The theme of exercise three is heavy, so I want you to go with a
scheme of 6, 6, 4.
Power is the
key here. On the last set go for 4 reps, power lifting style. If the weight is
to heavy and you only get 2 reps, don’t worry about it. The key here is to go
for the heavy feel. Training super heavy like this will stimulate your nervous
system. As you progress with training the nervous system, it will learn how to
better adapt to heavy weights and all your lifts will go up.
Rest Period
Exercise 4:
Incline
Barbell Press
After the rest
period finish this week off with incline barbell presses.
This exercise
is perhaps the most effective for developing the upper pectoral region. This is
an area that is often overlooked, but in desperate need of attention. A
developed upper chest makes your pecs 100 times more 3D from every angle!
Especially side chest poses.
This is
definitely an exercise that you need to contract against the stretch. The angle
this exercise puts your body at places direct emphasis on the upper region. Use
that angle to your advantage, by finding the stretch it produces on your upper
chest, then resisting against that stretch. Bring the barbell all the way down
until it brushes against your upper chest, and then push it back up. Try to flex
your pecs hard at the top of each rep, and concentrate especially on feeling the
upper portion of your chest straining under the weight.
As soon as you
finish a set, do some intense fascia stretching.
Incline Pressing
+
Fascia Stretching
= Insane
separation in the upper chest region.
This technique
brought my upper chest up almost over night! When done properly I’m convinced no
other method will bring out the upper chest any better!
It really
helps bring out the upper pec/ shoulder tie in-s, and carves out that line
across the upper chest that is really hard to target.
Go for a rep
range of 12, 10, 8. I also highly recommend a spotter on this exercise, as a few
deep forced reps will really increase the pump and make the stretch more
effective!
Week Three-
Superset Ferocity
Supersets are perhaps the greatest shock technique of all time!
The sheer viciousness they put the subjected muscles under is enough to be
considered “cruel and unusual punishment”, by legal standards.
The secret to supersets is the taking of the muscle far beyond
initial failure by rapidly changing the angle at which the muscle is being
exposed too.
The angle of the body at the moment it is focused under
resistance plays a huge role in the way you can mold it. As I stated earlier a
muscle either stretches or contracts. However, by changing the angle of an
exercise a muscle group will contract and stretch harder in different regions of
the muscles, depending upon the angle.
Body building is literally Geometry in action!
And
Supersets
are literally like
SuperGeometry.
This is the reason supersets are so awesome! When you are
performing a superset you are literally taking a muscle to failure with one
angle, then rapidly changing angles and taking it to failure again! This
produces a huge shock on the muscle! It contracts and stretches it beyond the
normalcy of regular resistance training. Not to mention a pump that is off the
charts!
With all that in mind, let’s tackle some mind-numbing chest
supersets!
Exercise 1:
Incline Dumbbell Press
supersetted with
Incline Barbell Press
All I can say is you’re going to love this one! It’s one of my
favorites!
Go for a rep range of 6-9 on the dumbbells. And on the
barbell aim for a weight that you fail at 10, 8, 6.
If you don’t get those rep numbers perfectly on the barbell it’s
no big deal. Just aim to go to failure in a descending rep scheme. In other
words if you get repetitions of 9, 7, 4 on the barbell portion of the superset
don’t think you messed it all up. The point is that you gradually put up heavier
weights on the barbell as you progressed through the set and you went to total
failure on both portions of the superset.
The main concern is that you don’t come to failure at the same
number of reps on the barbell on every set, but that you got increasingly
heavier.
Again this is a superset I recommend grabbing a spotter to get a
few deep forced out reps, especially on the barbell portion.
Exercise 2:
Machine-fly movement
supersetted with Machine Press
For this exercise the choice is up to you! Select your least
favorite fly movement first! What do you mean “least favorite”? You know those
exercises you avoid because they are uncomfortable and painful! What I really
mean by dislike is uncomfortable!
Some examples could be the cable crossovers lying on a decline
bench or a type of machine fly like the pec deck. The choice is up to you. I
personally dislike Cybex’s fly machine! Not because it doesn’t work well
but because it hurts so freakin’ bad!
Next pick your least favorite Machine Press. This could be the
smith machine or a piece of equipment like the Incline Hammer Strength press, or
any type of cable/machine press.
Ultimately your choice in the equipment for this superset is up
to you.
The deal is I want you to pick the one that is the least
uncomfortable to you, and therefore the one you probably never do! Or if by some
rare means you like them all, pick the one you rarely ever do, and flourish on
it for this week.
Remember the Golden Rule of shocking your body:
The mentality of being uncomfortable is the primary driving
mechanism in shocking your body!
This superset of uncomfortable-ness will shock your socks off!
However for this shock to be effective means you have to take
that uncomfortable-ness and thrive on it! Tell yourself you don’t care how much
it hurts only that you will push each set as hard as your body can go at all
costs and by any means possible! That is the mindset of a body builder!
Go for a rep range of 10-12 on the fly movements and 6-8 on the
machine press movement.
Exercise 3:
Decline Barbell Press
supersetted with
Incline Barbell Press
We’re going to finish this week off with an iron onslaught!
This super set is going to attack your chest from every angle!
Start with the decline press and aim for a rep scheme of 6, 8,
10. And a rep range of 6-9 on the incline barbell press! Again with the rep
scheme on the decline press follow the same protocol as exercise one of this
week in regards to getting the exact reps I prescribed. The only real difference
with this one is we are doing an ascending pyramid rep scheme in exercise 4
instead of a descending pyramid rep scheme like in exercise 1.
Rest Period
Exercise 4:
Pause-press flat dumbbell press
supersetted with
neutral grip non-peak flys
Pause-press flat dumbbell presses are one of my favorite chest
exercises. The concept is simple. Do a standard flat dumbbell press. The key is
at the bottom of the range of motion; you will go as deep as possible and pause
for two seconds before going back up.
When you are in the bottom position you should be feeling a real
intense stretch across your chest. You need to go really deep here.
I’m talking as far down as you can. Now hold that stretch for two
seconds, and then fire back up contracting the chest hard. Also be forewarned
you will have to use lighter dumbbells than you normally use for flat dumbbell
presses. Pausing at the bottom like this will really strain your pecs hardcore.
One key point I want to make here. As you are in the stretched
position of the exercise don’t think about the ascent. If you do you’ll take
your mind off the stretch. Keep focused on the stretch. Once you feel the pull
and hold it for a 2 count, then concentrate on the push. Keep that in mind
because when you get into the bowels of the stretch your first instinct will be
to push out of it. You really need to stay in the stretch and hold the weight
there. After that you can focus on the positive portion.
Immediately after you complete your pause-press reps, grab two
lighter dumbbells and perform 2 or 3 reps of neutral grip flys. Stretch your
arms out far on these and go slow on the descent. The first rep is really going
to be a killer. Don’t come all the way to a peak on these either. The main
concept of these is to stretch the pectorals from a different angle. The idea
behind these exercises is that we are super setting an over-emphasized pressing
movement then topping off the super stretch with a over-emphasized fly movement.
This will stretch your chest from every angle. I’m not going to candy coat this
at all. You’re in for some serious pain with this superset. But the pump is
incredible and so are the results it will produce!!
Go for a rep scheme of 10, 8, 6 on the pause-press dumbbell
presses and only like 2 or 3 reps on the flys. Believe me 3 reps on the flys is
all you’ll need!
Week Four-T-Rex
Pecs
Week four is all about power of the pecs! The following exercises
are going to test your mental stamina to the core of your very being! Get ready
to take a test in pain! If you want bigger pecs, don’t settle for anything less
than an
A+
on this exam!
Exercise one:
Dumbbell Pullovers
This exercise is better known as the
sultan of
stretching
when we’re referring to the chest. The only exercise that rivals the stretch it
provides is dips.
This exercise places a pull on your chest that is unique to its
range of motion. The pullover will build mass especially well on the tough to
target upper chest, and as a genuine all purpose torso mass builder, it’s hard
to beat.
There are two important things to remember if you want the
pullover to be effective in targeting your chest. The closer you keep your
elbows the more stress your chest will take in the pull. The wider your elbows
the more the back comes into play. So keep your elbows
in.
Also keep your hips low and stationary throughout the set.
Raising them up and down steals from the movement as momentum takes the brunt of
the load. So, in summary of executing a pullover for chest emphasis…elbows
in, hips low and stationary.
I have found the easiest way to transfer the weight from a
stationary position to the beginning position of the exercise is to first place
a 10 lb. plate on the edge of a flat bench. Now, rest the end of the bolt of the
dumbbell in the center hold of the 10 lb. plate. This will keep it motionless
and will prevent the dumbbell from ripping the bench padding.
Now, you can get into position for the exercise. Once you are in
place and ready to go, simply lift the dumbbell and drag it onto your shoulder.
If you can’t do this, then that’s a good sign the dumbbell is too heavy. Now,
keeping your elbows in and hips low and stationary, let the weight slowly go
back along its range of motion. You should feel a nice pull on your chest at
this point.
Next, pull the weight back over until it is right above your
eyes. As you are pulling try to think of the range of motion as trying to pull
the weight over and up. Your arms should be just short of lockout at the top of
the range of motion. At this top point you should be feeling a hard contraction
on your pecs. It should feel like a searing pain. The kind of pain that is
inducing muscle growth!
As you proceed back down, your hips will naturally try to rise
up. You have to fight that urge and keep them planted! Keep going with that
strict technique for the rest of the set!
I went into some detail on the execution of the pullover for good
reason. It is definitely in the top three all-star chest exercises. In
fact I’d do this over a flat bench press any day of the week!
You should make an extra effort to master it. It will take your
chest to the next level when you start getting into real heavy poundages!
You’ll be doing 4 total sets, with a rep scheme of 10, 8, 6, 4. I
won’t lie here; this 4 rep range is really going to hurt. Your chest will be
really fired up by now, and the real heavy dumbbell pullovers will produce a
super stretch. Keep this rule in mind.
Heavy dumbbell pullovers = Heavy Stretch on the pectorals.
This is why they work so darn well!
Remember I said that contracting against the stretch is the
ultimate way to induce hypertrophy? (How could you forget right?). Well this
exercise takes that principle to the max! When you start getting into the big
boy dumbbells you’ll be surprised how fast your pecs grow!
Exercise 2:
Smith Machine Incline Press
This is an excellent way to top off the upper pecs. The pullovers
will really target this area, so we’ll use the incline smith machine presses to
finish them off with a bang!
Go about the 3 sets in this fashion:
Set 1:
Set the bench up at 45 degrees and aim for 6-9 reps.
Set 2:
Set the bench up at 40 degrees (or lower 1 notch on the bench), and aim for 6-9
reps.
Set 3:
Set the bench up at 35 degrees (or lower 1 notch on the bench), and aim for 6-9
reps.
By going through three different angles we will be sure to
stretch the upper pecs from a variety of angles, and ensure that the upper chest
region has been fully stimulated.
Exercise 3:
Supinating dumbbell flys
This variety of dumbbell fly is in a word, awesome. They target the entire chest in one foul swoop, and really nail
the inner pecs.
See the “Method to the Madness” article to read how to properly
execute this exercise.
Make sure at the top of the range of motion, your chest is
supinated and you are flexing it hard at the top. The harder you flex you chest
at the top of this exercise, the more shaping power you are giving it.
Also, on the last rep of every set, hold the dumbbells in static contraction for
10-30 seconds.
Rep range: 15, 12, 8
Rest Period
Exercise 4:
Decline Dumbbell press
The decline dumbbell press has to give one of the best chest
pumps ever. It really makes the lower pecs flex supernaturally hard! These also
provide a great burn.
Just make sure to push the dumbbells up so that they are inline
with the angle of your chest. In other words don’t go straight up and down.
Bring the dumbbells down to your lower chest, and push off at an angle that is
aligned with your lower chest.
This will ensure maximum firing of the lower chest!
Go for a rep scheme of 10, 10, 6
Instructions for
weeks 5 through weeks 8
Week Five-
Repeat week one
Week six-
Repeat week two
Week seven-
Repeat week three
Week eight-
Repeat week four
I suggest logging your weights and reps for weeks one through
four, for comparison to weights and reps completed in weeks 5-8.
I personally log the weights and reps I use for any muscle I am
prioritizing. I don’t usually log all my workouts or muscle groups, but if I am
imploring the prioritization principle I do as I feel it offers unparallel
advantages to setting goals in my mind.
I recommend that you do the same. It will help you organize the
workouts better in your mind, and help you set higher goals for yourself during
the next 4 weeks.
I wish you luck during these workouts!
Just remember you reap what you sow! So sow the seeds of conquest
and pain and reap the reward of a bigger fuller chest!
Yours in sport,
-Old School
oldschoolabcbbing@gmail.com
