The Truth About Achieving A Ripped, Rock-Solid
Chest
Everyone wants a huge chest, plain and simple.
It is all too common to see inexperienced lifters
slaving away on endless sets of bench presses
and cable crossovers in search of full, thick
pecs. The reality is that there is nothing complicated
about building an impressive chest. The bottom
line for huge chest gains is consistency, effort
and steady progression in weight and repetitions.The
chest is made up of two main heads, the pectoralis
major and the pectoralis minor. To stimulate the
chest using weights you will be using one of two
motions: a press or a flye. If you want the greatest
bang for your buck from your chest workouts, the
true gains lie in your pressing movements.
Flyes may have their place from time to time,
but nothing can compare to the overall anabolic
effect of high intensity pressing movements. I'm
talking about the basic, bread-and-butter lifts
such as heavy barbell presses, dumbbell presses
and wide-grip dips. Save the pec-deck and cable
crossovers for the pencil necked geeks on the
treadmill; real men train with real lifts.Like
I said before, building a thick and well-developed
chest is fairly simple.
There are no secrets,
magic formulas or killer techniques that will
"shock" your chest into massive growth. Stick
to your basic presses, focus on overload and progression,
and I promise that you will see impressive gains.
Here are the most effective lifts for packing
muscle onto the chest:Flat/Incline/Decline Barbell
Bench Press:A standard barbell press is the meat
and potatoes of any effective chest routine.
This basic compound movement will allow you to
handle the most weight through the given range
of motion. The incline press will shift more of
the stress to the upper region of the chest while
the decline does the opposite, targeting the lower/outer
region. The flat bench press works the upper and
lower regions equally. I highly recommend a standard
barbell press as a basic component of your chest
routine.Flat/Incline/Decline Dumbbell Press:Dumbbell
presses are another basic and highly effective
movement for stimulating chest development. The
main advantage that they have over the barbell
is that they allow you to move through a more
natural range of motion, helping to prevent shoulder
injuries.
They also prevent strength imbalances from occurring
since one arm can't cheat for the other. The only
drawback is that you are not able to handle as
much weight. Overall, a standard dumbbell press
is an awesome movement that allows for great chest
stimulation.Wide-Grip Dips:An amazing movement
for the chest that is often overlooked. Make sure
to use a wider grip and lean forward to shift
the stress from the triceps onto the pectorals.
If pressing your own body weight is not sufficient
then you can always add weight using a weight
belt.
Dips are an excellent compound movement for
overall chest development.Here are a couple sample
chest routines:1) Flat Barbell Bench Press: 2
x 5-7Incline Dumbbell Press: 2 x 5-7Wide-Grip
Dips: 2 x 5-72) Incline Barbell Bench Press: 2
x 5-7Wide-Grip Dips: 2 x 5-7Flat Dumbbell Press:
2 x 5-7All sets should stay within the 5-7 rep
range and should be taken to complete muscular
failure. Write down the details of each workout
you perform and focus on progressing in either
weight or reps from week to week. There is nothing
more to it than that. Good luck!About The AuthorSean
Nalewanyj is a bodybuilding expert and writer
of top-selling Internet Bodybuilding E-Book:
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