When a woman lays her head on your chest, she doesn’t
want to smack her cranium on your collarbone or the top of
your rib cage. This is one reason a little muscle on your
chest goes a long way to creating a physique that has more
sex appeal and the fuller the better when you’re snuggling.
Working the entire chest area isn’t as difficult as
many trainees make it out to be. For example, the bench press
actually does a decent job of hitting most of the pectoralis
major, the fan-shaped muscle that starts at your shoulder
and spreads down and across to your sternum and up and across
to your collarbone. Beginners can concentrate on this exercise
and its variations and achieve good chest development. Due
to this muscle’s fan shape, however, the more advanced
bodybuilder should divide it into lower and upper sections
and train each separately for more complete size and shape.
What’s more, to make chest training as effective and
efficient as possible, you should think optimum contraction
as well as pressing.
To get optimum contraction, or hypercontraction, of as many
muscle fibers as possible, you must activate the myotatic
reflex. This happens when you incorporate exercises that have
a high stretch component for both your upper and lower pecs,
for example, flat and incline flyes. Dumbbell flyes are great
for achieving the prestretch you’re looking for; however,
there’s no resistance at the top of any dumbbell flye
movement, and that means you don’t get a contraction
at the top. You can squeeze your pecs in this position, but
if you have access to the right equipment, there’s a
better way. To make the flye more efficient, do the movement
on the cable crossover machine.
With standard crossovers and incline crossovers you not only
get a prestretch, which activates the myotatic reflex, but
you also get peak contraction, or resistance at the top. After
you do your bench presses or incline presses, always perform
a crossover movement for the area of the pecs you’re
trying to hit, and you’ll increase the growth stimulation
of your workout substantially. Here’s a good pec routine
that focuses on your upper and lower with the proper pressing,
stretch and contraction movements:
Lower pecs
Bench presses 2 x 8-10
Cable crossovers 2 x 8-10
Upper pecs
Incline presses 2 x 8-10
Incline crossovers 2 x 8-10
If you really have a weak chest, you can divide it into three
sections. Once again the muscle’s fan shape puts certain
fibers in a more advantageous position to contract, depending
on the angle of pull, for example, work on a decline will
target more of the lower-pee muscle. In this case you consider
any flat-bench work to be midchest training, and you incorporate
specific decline work for your lower pecs.
Here’s a sample routine:
Middle pecs
Bench presses 2 x 8-10
Cable crossovers* 2 x 8-10
Upper pecs
Incline presses 2 x 8-10
Incline crossovers 2 x 8-10
Lower pecs
Decline presses 2 x 8-10
Decline crossovers 2 x 8-10
*Pull the handles out and to the front of your body, rather
than down in front of your crotch, to hit your midpecs.
Twice-a-week pec work should do the trick, with one to two
minutes between sets. Give it a shot with plenty of intensity
and you’ll be amazed at the results. Your shirt will
fill out, and the ladies will get a strong urge to rest their
heads on your padded pecs. Life’s rough for a man with
muscle, isn’t it?
Chest Exercises
Bench Presses - Recline
on a bench with a loaded bar on the racks. Take a slightly
wider-than-shoulder-width grip on the bar, lift it off
the racks and lower to the middle-chest area. Without
a pause, ram the bar back to arm’s length and repeat.
Tip: Keep your elbows out away from your body.
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Start |
Finish |
Incline Bench Presses - Lie on a 35 degree
incline bench with a loaded bar on the racks. Take a slightly
wider-than-shoulder-width grip on the bar, lift it off the
racks and lower to the upper-chest area. Without a pause,
ram the bar back to arm’s length and repeat. Tip: For
a slightly different pec effect try using dumbbells.
Cable Crossovers - Position yourself
between the two cables in a cable crossover apparatus
with a cable handle in each hand. Simultaneously pull
the handles down and across your torso until they cross
at mid-to-lower-chest level. Slowly return to the top
position and twitch the chest muscles to initiate the
next rep. Tip: The section of your chest that you cross
the handles over is the section that will get the most
stimulation.
Incline Crossovers - Place a 35 degree
incline bench between the
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Start |
Finish |
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| handles on a cable crossover apparatus.
Grab the lower handles, one in each hand, keep a slight
bend in your elbows and pull the handles up until your
arms cross over your upper chest. Slowly return to the
stretch position and twitch the upper pecs to initiate
the next rep. Tip: To more fully work your chest, focus
on keeping your rib cage expanded. |
Decline Presses - Perform
these exactly like bench presses, only use a decline bench
and touch the bar to your lower-pee line.
Decline Crossovers - Perform these exactly
like incline crossovers, only use a decline bench and cross
your hands over your lower pecs.
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