• A Chest to Stand a Glass on (The ‘Strong as You Look’ Series)
• “I don’t want my pecs to look like breasts!”
• How to train for ‘old-timer pecs’
• Having a hard time recruiting your pecs? – We’ll fix it!
• Powerlifting secret of pec power
1. Bench press
2. Hand clap pushup
3. Incline dumbbell press
4. Floor fly
There is no need to get cute and reinvent the wheel, the bench press remains the number one builder of pecs to stand a glass on. But in order to get the most out it I insist that you study the following fine points in technique.
Lie down on the bench and force your chest out to the max while drawing your shoulder blades together and pushing your shoulders down towards your feet. Performing a ‘pullover’ with the bench uprights will help you get into that position. The above is essential for max power, greatest pec overload, and shoulder safety.
Plant your feet like you mean it. Take a deep breath and brace your whole body as if you are about to get punched – that can be arranged! – and unrack the barbell. Flex your pecs hard on the top and literally pull the bar into your sternum with your lats. At the same time, keep pushing your chest out as if you are trying to meet the bar halfway. Your pectorals should feel a tight stretch as they are being loaded like rubber bands.
Trying to inhale with a heavy barbell compressing your ribcage is an exercise in futility, so hold your breath on the way down. Pause for a second when the bar touches your chest. Do not relax, stay tight and ready for a blast-off.
Squeeze the weight off your chest and push it towards your feet as if you are doing a decline press. Thanks to Louie Simmons, this technique has saved many pecs and shoulders in the powerlifting community. You will get best results if you imagine that you are pushing yourself away from the bar, sort of wedging your body between the weight and the bench. You will feel tightness and pressure in your upper back if you do it right. When you approach failure you will be pleasantly surprised that the bar keeps inching up, persistent and stable, as if in a Smith machine.
When the reps get hard and you hit your sticking point grip the bar hard. Simultaneously flex your glutes, abs, and grunt – imagining that you are sending energy from your stomach into your fists. The effect of this martial arts technique is nothing short of amazing. At a course I just taught at the Albuquerque Police Academy, an instructor benched twelve clean reps with his seven-rep max. His results are typical.
Before heading down for another rep make sure that your scapulae have not slipped out. If they have, pinch them together. If the weight in your hands is too heavy to allow it, rack the bell and continue your set in the rest-pause fashion. Enjoy!
Recommended sets & reps: 5x5
How to bench.
Plant your feet like you mean it.
Lie down on the bench and force your chest out to the max.
Take a deep breath and brace your whole body as if you are about to get punched.
Draw your shoulder blades together and push your shoulders down towards your feet.
Flex your pecs hard on the top and literally pull the bar into your sternum with your lats.
Keep pushing your chest out as if you are trying to meet the bar halfway.
Pause for a second when the bar touches your chest.
Do not relax, stay tight and ready for a blast-off.
Squeeze the weight off your chest and push it towards your feet as if you are doing a decline press.
Imagine that you are pushing yourself away from the bar.
You will feel tightness and pressure in your upper back if you do it right.
When the reps get hard and you hit your sticking point grip the bar hard. Simultaneously flex your glutes, abs, and grunt – imagining that you are sending energy from your stomach into your fists.
How not to bench.
Do not relax.
Do not push the bar, push yourself away from the bar into the bench.
Don’t lift your feet.
Don’t lift your head.
How not to bench.
Push your shoulders down towards your feet, not up.
A favorite of many power athletes, this exercise will quickly pack slabs of beef on your chest, thanks to the extreme and unusual overload it generates. If you are not strong enough for the mainstream version of the drill, you may do it off your knees or even against a wall.
Assume the pushup position with your hands and feet slightly wider than your shoulders – and your elbows out. Keeping your weight on the bases of your palms, drop until your chest almost hits the ground. With as much hesitation as you would have displayed had you touched a hot stove, explosively push up and clap your hands. Land back on your hands and carry on. Have enough sense to stop before your kisser is in danger of a plastic reconstruction.
A cool karate technique will help you recruit your pecs to the max. In the Russian Special Forces we were instructed to pretend that we were punching with our elbows rather than our fists to tap into the powerful torso muscles and keep our arms fast and loose. Do the same, push down straight from your elbows.
Even when you get really good at these, do not attempt to jump higher by straightening out your elbows; your chest muscles will respond best to short powerful bursts in the stretched position. Unlike some power athletes, a bodybuilder has little to gain from pursuing studlier variations of the drill such as clapping multiple times or clapping over his head. Just keep adding reps.
Start out with one set of ten, give or take a few, and build up slowly. Fifty is a worthy goal to shoot for.
Recommended sets & reps: 3x10
In the olden days – when weightlifters trained with incline presses to simulate the Olympic press – the incline bench was just a long board you could lean against while standing on your feet. It was a great setup, very easy on the spine. Unfortunately, most modern incline benches make a bodybuilder sit down with an extreme arch in his back. Which is one good reason to do your inclines with dumbbells that force you to use a lot less poundage than a barbell.
You may vary the incline angle, for instance start steep and work your way down to the flat dumbbell bench press using the same poundage and brief rest periods. The improved leverage will be making up for the fatigue. But this is just one of many options.
As before, start on the top with your pecs flexed, your rib cage elevated, and your shoulders pulled down and back. Unlike the heavy barbell bench, the dumbbell press will enable you to get in a big breath on the negative. Push your chest up with all your might.
Dr. Fred ‘Squat’ Hatfield of ISSA.com offers a cool tip to advance the development of your pecs by light years: let the bells drift out slightly as if you cannot make up your mind whether you are doing presses or flies. Your pectorals will have to immediately get to work to prevent the dumbbells from crashing to the floor.
Get a good stretch on the bottom but do not overdo it, your shoulders are vulnerable in this position to overstretching.
Keep your scapulae pinched together – very important! – and push the weights to the top with your pecs. Flex your pecs hard at the top and come back for more.
Recommended sets & reps: 3x6
It is impossible to isolate a muscle and keep everything else relaxed. Definitely not with any meaningful poundage. An attempt to do so is futile and dangerous. On the other hand, intelligent use of ‘non-involved’ muscles in a single joint exercise such as the pec fly will deliver greater power, safety, and mass. I explain this phenomenon of irradiation in my book Power to the People! Following, is the power bodybuilding technique for a single joint exercise, in our case the fly.
Lie down on the floor face up, spread your arms wide and grab a couple of dumbbells with your palms facing up. Why on the floor and not on the bench? Mostly for variety’s sake, but also to enable you to handle greater poundages without the fear of ripping your shoulders out.
Straighten out your legs and keep your feet together. Maintain a slight bend in your elbows for the duration of the set.
Inhale and force your chest open. Flex your abs and glutes as if tucking in your tail. In martial arts you are taught to bring your navel and your tailbone close together when exerting yourself. Bizarre as it sounds, it works wonders for power.
Tighten up the ‘pulleys’ of your pecs and biceps, squeeze the bells, and fly. Squeeze your thighs together.
Bring your navel and your tailbone close together when exerting yourself.
You may land in the same spots or vary the stress by lowering the dumbbells straight out, slightly above your shoulders, above your head, by your hips, or anywhere in between.
Totally relax for a second when you have parked the weights on the floor. Inhale, tighten up, and carry on.
You will love this power fly. It’s a single joint exercise that expresses a totally unique combination of strength, flexibility, and control – of the kind you’ll find in gymnastics.
Recommended sets & reps: 3x10
Tighten up the ‘pulleys’ of your pecs and biceps, squeeze the bells, and fly. Squeeze your thighs together.
You will love this power fly. It’s a single joint exercise that expresses a totally unique combination of strength, flexibility, and control – of the kind you’ll find in gymnastics.
