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How do you know when your training intensity is high enough?
When I’m asked that question, I usually answer with
a question: Could you have gotten two more reps with that
weight before you racked it? If your answer is yes, you’re
not training intensely enough. So how do you increase your
intensity? You have to change your mind-set when you’re
in the gym. Your mind is a lot more powerful than your muscles
will ever be. Before you do a set, you have to tell yourself
that you’re going to get two more reps than you got
last week, and do it. In order to take your body to a new
level, you must increase your threshold for pain.
A Grueling Chest Match
There are hundreds of exercises and variations of exercises
for the chest. Nevertheless, after training hundreds of bodybuilders,
I’ve observed that most trainees lack upper-chest development.
I’m talking about the kind of chest you could lean your
own chin on; the kind that Arnold bragged he could set a glass
of water on. Not only does a strong upper chest look impressive,
but it tends to highlight your middle-chest development as
well. I’d also go so far as to say that the weight of
a massive upper chest will push your pecs down so that you
achieve the look of a hanging lower chest.
Variation Is the Key
The trick to keeping your muscles from adapting to any one
routine is very simple: Change your routine frequently. There
are so many good exercises that hit the pecs directly that
it shouldn’t be difficult. It’s important to pick
movements that isolate and put as much stress on the chest
as possible. For that reason alone the bench press isn’t
your best option because the assisting muscles, the triceps
and shoulders, get too much attention. Obviously, there’s
no way to completely isolate any muscle group without using
some assisting muscles. Here are some variations and techniques
that are guaranteed to turn up the intensity.
Warm Up for Intensity
Due to the difficulty of the exercises it’s a good idea
to fully warm up your chest before you jump into them. I like
to warm up by pre-exhausting my chest with some moderately
heavy cable crossovers. The cable crossover is also a great
stretching exercise to get your chest ready for a grueling
session. I suggest three sets of six to eight reps: On the
first set cross the handles directly in front of your chest
and hold them in that position for about four seconds; on
the next set hold them crossed in front of your neck for four
seconds, and on the final set hold them crossed at hip level
for four seconds. That should get your blood flowing and get
you adequately warmed up.
A Super Intense Superset
For the two exercises you’ll need a standard bench press
setup and a pair of dumbbells. The weights you use depend
on your strength level. Set the bar on the bench press with
an amount you can comfortably handle for 30 reps. Most trainees
(even some of the strongest guys I’ve trained) use one
45-pound plate on each side. As for the dumbbells, they should
be slightly lighter than you normally use for regular dumbbell
bench presses.
This combination involves doing a set of flat-bench dumbbell
presses followed by a burnout set of barbell presses, but
you perform the dumbbell presses with a slight variation.
Lie on the bench as you would for a set of flat-bench dumbbell
presses but slide all the way down the bench until only your
shoulder blades and head are still supported. Your butt should
be practically touching the ground, and your body should be
balanced on your feet and shoulder blades.
Perform a set of eight to 12 dumbbell presses in this position,
and when you’re done, immediately put down the dumbbells,
slide up the bench, pick up the barbell and do as many presses
as you can. You’ll be burning big time in no time. Do
three supersets in this manner, increasing the weight if you
need to up the intensity.
Drop Sets to Raise the Pain Threshold
This one uses the incline dumbbell press. Keeping in mind
the need for variety, I’ve included two different drop-set
routines for you to try:
Drop set 1 - Set an incline bench at a 45
degree angle and get three sets of dumbbells that are 10 pounds
apart, with the heaviest being a weight you can handle for
six reps. On your first set go to failure with the heaviest
weights, then immediately grab the dumbbells that are 10 pounds
lighter and do a set to failure. After that, you guessed it,
you immediately grab the third set of dumbbells and rep to
failure. If your muscles aren’t burning after that,
something is wrong.
Drop set 2 - Technically, this is an up-the-rack
sequence, not a drop, as you go up in weight on each set but
decrease the angle. Adjust the incline so that it’s
two notches higher than 45 degrees and again select three
sets of dumbbells that are 10 pounds apart. Perform your first
set for 10 reps with the lightest weights, then immediately
set the incline down one notch and grab the next heaviest
set of dumbbells. Do 10 reps or go to failure, then drop the
dumbbells, drop the incline to 45 degrees and perform a set
with the heaviest weights you choose for 10 reps or to failure.
The exercises are very grueling, and you probably won’t
be able to do the supersets and the incline triple drops on
the same day. There’s a fine line between high intensity
and overtraining. You must learn your limitations so you don’t
cross it.
Create Your Own Chest-Crushing Routine
One simple solution to the need for variety is to change your
order of exercises frequently. Another is to do one of the
two intense workouts described above with one or two of your
favorite exercises and then switch at the next chest workout.
Pay attention to the areas of your chest that need the most
work. If you have a weak upper chest, start with and emphasize
incline movements. If you have a weak inner chest, try incline
cable crossovers and standing cable crossovers. Just train
intelligently. As stated above, your mind is much more powerful
than any muscle in your body.
Chest Blaster 1
Cable crossovers* 3 x 6-8
*Include a four-second pause in the fully contracted position
and do one set with the hands crossed in front of the chest,
one set with the hands crossed in front of the neck and one
with the hands crossed in front of the hips.
Superset
Dumbbell bench presses* 3x8-12
Barbell bench presses 3 x failure
*Performed at foot of bench with body supported by shoulders
and feet.
Chest Blaster 2
Cable crossovers* 3x 6-8
*Include a four-second pause in the fully contracted position
and do one set with the hands crossed in front of the chest,
one set with the hands crossed in front of the neck and one
with the hands crossed in front of the hips.
45 degree incline dumbbell presses* 3 x failure
*Perform as one triple-drop set, going down the rack without
stopping, and use dumbbells that are 10 pounds lighter on
each successive round.
or
Incline-dumbbell presses * 3 x 10 or failure
*Perform as one giant set, going up the rack without stopping,
and use dumbbells that are 10 pounds heavier while dropping
the angle on each successive round.
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