An intelligent approach to building a big, strong chest

[SemperMachina]

As taken from wannabebig.com, I did not write this article and I take no credit for it whatsoever. It's a great read!

If you’re a lifter, I guarantee you’ve been asked The Question. It’s almost like a prerequisite to even joining a gym: “Here’s your towel, your member key, and, by the way, how much do you bench?”

Although it’s often asked nonchalantly, the true intent of The Question is to find the answer to an even deeper question: How much of a man are you?

The truth is, unless you’re a powerlifter, how much you bench is irrelevant. In fact, if your goals are primarily hypertrophy and aesthetics, chasing some number on the bench may be detrimental to your progress.

Developing a full chest—one that looks like it could bench a ton—lies in proper science and proper application of training.

In this article, I will cover scientific principles, how to apply functional exercises for better neural and physical development, and also the proper methodology for building the strong, muscular chest you want!

Function and Anatomy (Don’t Worry, It’s Not Boring!)

The chest is comprised of two muscles: the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor. These two muscles perform two functions: one is horizontal adduction (drawing the arms toward each other) and the other is flexion of the shoulder joint (pushing the arms away from the body). This tells us that there are only two movements that activate the pectoralis major and minor, and those would be presses and flies.

The chest also functions best in the plane of motion between 0 and 45 degrees from a prone position (that translates to ‘from a flat bench to a 45-degree incline bench’.) Now I know that you’re thinking “What about decline presses?” Decline versions of presses and flies involve more than the chest as a prime mover and though they can be included (depending on the structure and leverage system of an individual), they are not necessary.

Because we know that a) the chest is most efficiently stimulated in the 0 to 45 degree plane of motion, and b) its main functions are to push away from the body and draw the arms together, the main components of your chest workout should be presses and fly movements done in a flat or incline position of no more than 45 degrees.

How to Target the Chest

Exercise selection

The most efficient way to develop the chest is to use mainly dumbbells for presses because they require you to perform both functions of the chest (drawing the arms together and pushing away from the body) for greater stimulation and overload.

As you perform presses, make sure to push the weight upward at first, and then as you get to the top of the movement, bring the dumbbells together for full contraction of the pecs.

To ensure that you maintain tension on the chest, do not go below parallel to the shoulders; this way the chest is in its fully stretched position, but you are not putting the stretch into the shoulders. A phrase coined by my mentor Scott Abel is “a muscle that is stretched with resistance will receive the most overload,” so making sure you keep tension mainly in the targeted muscle is very important.

Now this is not to say you can’t or shouldn’t ever use barbells for presses, but the majority of your training protocol should be geared around dumbbells and cables. Cables, tubing, dumbbells, and even machines can and should be used for fly movements.

Technique

The barbell bench press performed the traditional way - feet on the floor - is a poor choice for chest development for a majority of individuals, especially for those with bad leverages (long arms). If your goal is to just press as much weight as possible, then the traditional approach is the preferred set-up. But if you’re looking for size and full development, we need to make a few adjustments.

Start by placing your feet up on the bench. By doing this, you lose stability in your hips and knees. The joint stress transfer goes to the shoulder joint, the pectoralis major becomes the prime mover, and your chest receives the greater amount of overload, which is what we want. Now you’re ready to rock.

A quick note about dumbbell flies: I see a lot of guys going extremely wide on the eccentric (lowering) portion of the lift. This is wrong. A fly performed with DBs should be more of a modified press in order to avoid stress on the rotator cuff and shoulder joint in general. As you descend, drop down at the elbows, making a semi-circle. As you perform the concentric portion of the lift, straighten your arms toward the top of the motion and squeeze your chest, without letting the DBs touch in order to maintain tension.

Overall, good form is essential with any exercise to ensure that you are targeting the intended working muscle and not just letting any muscle lift the weight from point A to point B. We seek quality contractions on each and every rep so that the muscle we are targeting receives the most overload.

When just focusing on weight, most people tend to lift the weight up instead of contracting it up for maximum stimulation.

The Quality of Each Rep

One of the main goals for a bodybuilder or any athlete should be to increase one’s Training Efficiency Percentage (TEP), which is defined as the percentage of reps in a given set that forces an adaptive response. When this is increased, the intensity of the set and reps increases, as well as the stress on the targeted muscle. This causes more of an adaptive response. Therefore, you want to make sure to train intensely on every rep of every set, focusing on training the muscle and not your ego.

Lastly, overall intensity is the key to any workout. I’m not talking about doing a one-rep max; I’m talking about exertion levels. When lifters come as close to their maximum workload capacity as possible, they will get much bigger payoffs in the end.

Functional training

Functional training is a great tool that can be used within a training protocol to stimulate the muscle in a different way than with traditional exercises. I’m going to show you one of many ways to implement this concept for better chest development (and no, it doesn’t involve wobble boards or other weird stuff) .

The basis of functional training is to train movements and not specific muscles. If applied correctly, functional exercises can fit into a program to induce more hypertrophy, which is what all bodybuilders and most regular individuals want. It also enhances balance and proprioception, which lead to better overall development.

Traditional training can cause severe muscle imbalances, arthritic joints, and a narrower range of motion over time due to training in a single plane of motion. Build-up of scar tissue, adhesions, and inflammation can also occur, leading to diminishing or no returns. Functional training can be used as a hybrid approach to correcting these problems and/or preventing them from happening in the first place. Functional exercises target the muscle differently, without adding any external resistance or load, so the recovery time is much shorter.

For example, medicine ball (MB) crossover pushups are a great functional exercise for the chest. The range and plane of motion involved in this exercise stimulates the chest neurally as well as physically. Activation potential, fiber recruitment, and rate of force production (explosiveness) within a working muscle or movement are extremely important to anyone looking for better development.

These movements should be placed on a separate day from your traditional chest day, such as an addition to leg exercises on leg day. One other benefit to placing them on leg day is the increase in metabolic demand due to the pairing of two exercises that target two different muscle groups. The functional exercises will not interfere with the leg recovery, but will induce greater oxygen debt, and thus helping to increase workload capacity.

Sample Hybrid Chest Workout

A single workout is not a program, and a collection of exercises is not exactly a workout or a program. What you do the day before and after a certain training day does matter and needs to be taken into account.

I design programs as part of a bigger picture and not one be-all/end-all program that will achieve all of your goals. It is a collection of programs over time with proper progression that teaches the body to handle greater intensity loads and to adapt to stress placed on the body.

That said, it’s always helpful to have a guide.

The following workouts are designed to be part of a body-part split that trains each muscle once per week and is intended for intermediate to advanced level trainees. There are three different workouts for chest. Rotate each workout from week to week, keeping them in the given sequence for a total of four repeats, which will give you three months worth of workouts.

The breakdown during the week is as follows:
Day Bodypart
Day 1 Chest
Day 2 Back
Day 3 Shoulders
Day 4 OFF
Day 5 Legs/Functional Chest
Day 6 Arms
Day 7 OFF


See article for the workout- http://www.wannabebig.com/training/a...-strong-chest/

[son_of_samhain]

Great article, repped.

Learned a thing or two as well....such as my DB flies....I think I'm going lower than I'm supposed to on the descent (negative). I like learning new things

[SemperMachina]

Great article, repped.

Learned a thing or two as well....such as my DB flies....I think I'm going lower than I'm supposed to on the descent (negative). I like learning new things

Same!! I was going way lower, and I never knew stretching/contracting the muscle at the peak of the movement was so important.

[SemperMachina]

bump

[TheProgressiveOne]

I think i have read this one before..goodread tho bro.

repped

[russianbear561]

"" If your goal is to just press as much weight as possible, then the traditional approach is the preferred set-up. But if you’re looking for size and full development, we need to make a few adjustments.

Start by placing your feet up on the bench. ""

So benching as much weight as possible does not = training for size and full development? Not criticizing, genuinely asking...

[SemperMachina]

I think i have read this one before..goodread tho bro.

repped

Thanks it really is a good article, reps on recharge.

"" If your goal is to just press as much weight as possible, then the traditional approach is the preferred set-up. But if you’re looking for size and full development, we need to make a few adjustments.

Start by placing your feet up on the bench. ""

So benching as much weight as possible does not = training for size and full development? Not criticizing, genuinely asking...

It depends on your reps and sets, but it also depends on how your body reacts, some can still gain a lot of strength and size with a hypertrophy program, others don't.

I usually stick to 3-5 reps with 4-5 sets on bench if i'm aiming for strength, and around 8-12 for hypertrophy or mass.

Benching your heaviest weight you can for 5 reps will get you your strength, and I think lower the weight so you can get your 8-12 in will assist in size.

[SemperMachina]

last bump for the night. I hope you guys liked reading it, I sure did.
Night brahs

[Tyciol]

If you’re a lifter, I guarantee you’ve been asked The Question.

[SemperMachina]

lolwut

[400Lb Gorilla]

good read. loved the explanation of functional training. repped

[Mr.NoPrint]

makes sense but im not willing to take my feet off the floor or switch back to DBs just yet.

[SemperMachina]

good read. loved the explanation of functional training. repped

Repped back, i'm glad you enjoyed it!

makes sense but im not willing to take my feet off the floor or switch back to DBs just yet.

I just switched to db's for some reason I can go so much heavier on db's than barbell? It's strange to me lol

[chazzy1864]

"" If your goal is to just press as much weight as possible, then the traditional approach is the preferred set-up. But if you’re looking for size and full development, we need to make a few adjustments.

Start by placing your feet up on the bench. ""

So benching as much weight as possible does not = training for size and full development? Not criticizing, genuinely asking...

Weight is a means to an end. Leverages and muscles involved are otehr variables.

it is why things like lateral raises, which use very light weight, can still ellicit results.

If you use a power lifting style bench, which is generally the strongest way to bench press, doesn't really give the best results for the pecs themselves. Because iwth a powerlifting bench, you are trying to use lats, pecs, shoulders, and triceps all as much as possible to lift more weight.

I personally won't be putting my feet on the bench when I do the lift, but I can see the merit in the thinking.

[im2manly]

Weight is a means to an end. Leverages and muscles involved are otehr variables.

it is why things like lateral raises, which use very light weight, can still ellicit results.

If you use a power lifting style bench, which is generally the strongest way to bench press, doesn't really give the best results for the pecs themselves. Because iwth a powerlifting bench, you are trying to use lats, pecs, shoulders, and triceps all as much as possible to lift more weight.

I personally won't be putting my feet on the bench when I do the lift, but I can see the merit in the thinking.

Cjhazy whter ethe **** do you live its like 4

[_OZ_]

...do not go below parallel to the shoulders; this way the chest is in its fully stretched position, but you are not putting the stretch into the shoulders.

Any truth to this? Upper arms perpendicular to torso is the most stretched position of the chest and further back is shoulders?

[Mr.NoPrint]

Any truth to this? Upper arms perpendicular to torso is the most stretched position of the chest and further back is shoulders?

Its technically not the biggest stretch but its the best place to stop before you bring too much shoulder into the movement and risk shoulder injuries.

[iSkinny]

I'm sorry; I stopped reading when he suggested to "Place your feet on the bench..."

[SemperMachina]

I'm sorry; I stopped reading when he suggested to "Place your feet on the bench..."

It actually helps.

[Mortum]

I agree with most of this. But you can still lift heavy and get good aesthetics at the same time, it's called pyramiding and drop sets...look at Arnold FFS. He was known for doing reps with 400 lbs on the flat bench. Too me that's heavy weight.

[iSkinny]

To injure any person using any form of reputable weight, yeah, it helps. Compromising safety for a potential, if any, increase in activation is ridiculous.

That article is far to verbose, I could write that in a sentence and people would take the same message away from it:

For a big chest you should perform presses and flies while concentrating on MMC.

[Bear_Felix]

To ensure that you maintain tension on the chest, do not go below parallel to the shoulders; this way the chest is in its fully stretched position, but you are not putting the stretch into the shoulders.

I get that the lower you bring the dumbells the more you work the anterior delt but I thought that the top half of presses used more triceps than chest? Can anyone enlighten me please.

[TBU720]

So lesson learned: when training for bodybuilding, train the muscle, not the movement.

[Exdee]

great find, enjoyed reading it- repped.

[ironrat42]

I don't like the article at all and I disagree with it. Why would you change an exercise in a way that increases the risk of injury? Do what you want, but I won't be putting my feet up anytime soon, i'm happy with my 0 lifting injuries in over a year of training.

[Coke_Zero]

I hate my chest. Since I have gotten over a pretty nasty injury and got back into my training, my chest just won't grow. Oh well, back to the gym I guess .

[matt297]

Nice read.

It ties in with what Lyle McDonald writes. For some a pec deck is better. Because limb length n things mean a flat bench puts more load onto the shoulders.
Also due to the nature of the way the muscle works (described in the article) many people don't activate their chest in the bench press. These folk rely more on the tris and shoulders.
So wonder why their bench sucks.

My lifts aren't big by any standards but I've noticed a big improvement in both feel and results by trying to activate the chest more before benching.

Cjhazy whter ethe **** do you live its like 4

And lulz you drunkard

[TBU720]

I don't like the article at all and I disagree with it. Why would you change an exercise in a way that increases the risk of injury? Do what you want, but I won't be putting my feet up anytime soon, i'm happy with my 0 lifting injuries in over a year of training.

How the **** does this make you more prone to injury??

[chazzy1864]

Cjhazy whter ethe **** do you live its like 4

How drunk are you, right now? I am in VA (eastern time zone). It was like 3 or 3:30. I was about to crash out.

To injure any person using any form of reputable weight, yeah, it helps. Compromising safety for a potential, if any, increase in activation is ridiculous.

That article is far to verbose, I could write that in a sentence and people would take the same message away from it:

For a big chest you should perform presses and flies while concentrating on MMC.

Lawlz

I get that the lower you bring the dumbells the more you work the anterior delt but I thought that the top half of presses used more triceps than chest? Can anyone enlighten me please.

In order from top to bottom of muscles involved in a bench press, is pretty much: lats, chest, shoulders, triceps.

[seanthebeast]

Its technically not the biggest stretch but its the best place to stop before you bring too much shoulder into the movement and risk shoulder injuries.

Wait, saying dont go below 90 for db bench is like saying dont touch ur chest when u bench. I feel fine when I touch chest and when I pull the db's really far back. Is this dangerous?

In order from top to bottom of muscles involved in a bench press, is pretty much: lats, chest, shoulders, triceps.

Lats more involved than chest? wut

edit- oooh u mean lats more involved in the bottom position, then chest a little higher, then shoulders, and tris at lockout. ok