Mountain dog style chest destruction

"Chest training has always been a challenge for me"

It's not bad genetics (as with the back) or pain (as with the legs). Chest for me has always been about health: I've had my pectoral muscle pulled so many times over the years, so many times it didn't take much to tear it, so many times I've had rotator cuff issues that required medical attention, that I've had to take a closer look at my style and adapt creatively - or keep pushing forward like an idiot, and seriously hurt myself.

Surprisingly, that fear has led me to what works best for me, and the pectoral and shoulder injuries no longer bother me. It's been said before, but I'll repeat it for the sake of argument: chasing muscle is a marathon, not a sprint. So why did I keep stretching my pectoral muscles? Because I trusted bodybuilding magazines, and did the classic workout consisting of benches, overhead one-armed pull-ups, and supine pull-ups.

Article content:

• It starts with how you start
• The sequence of exercises
• Pushing angles
• Range of motion
• Volume of work
• Intensive training techniques for the chest
• Bonus!
• Final Thoughts

It starts with how you start

Whenever I've started bench press workouts with a heavy axle, I'd say about 25% of the time I've stretched my pecs at least a little bit whenever I've even touched a heavier weight. No exceptions; it went well and after a few weeks of feeling good, boom! I've stretched something.

Then I started doing my first one-arm pull-ups on the positive bench and unfortunately the exact same thing happened. It annoyed me because I wasn't going to any heavy weights for 2s or 3s; I was doing sets of 6-8 reps. More and more pulled muscles, more and more irritability, more and more rehab. When the BMW dealer sent me a card for Christmas from my physical therapist, I knew something was wrong.

People around me were also tearing their boobs like they were on a treadmill. A former Mr. Ohio and several of my world-class triathlete friends had torn their pectoral muscles so severely that it required surgery, and I began to consider my methods. I was headed there, what about them? However, I was stubborn and wondered how to build a huge chest without benching or one-armed barbells in the first place. That's how you do it, right?

The pattern was hard to leave. So many bodybuilders told me that the best way to grow is to do heavy, multi-joint exercises first. I've also read a lot of consensus studies on the subject. I never doubted those studies and I don't now, but there's not just one path to the finish line if you have enough creativity.

So how did my training turn into something that allowed me to make significant gains without injury?

The sequence of exercises

I always had the most trouble with straight bench and one-arm bench presses on the positive bench. The problem is that I love both of these exercises and want them in my training - I just needed to figure out how to do them safely. After much experimentation, I present my findings.

Bench third or even fourth in your workout: You probably won't be doing personal bests, but try looking at it differently. You might put 140 pounds six times if you bench first, and if you bench third, you'll probably only put six with 125. Make a new benchmark out of that 125 and try to beat it; the only difference will be that you won't rip your pecs off doing it.

Personal best addicts, I can assure you, will be surprised when they adapt to this new order of things. You probably won't get to 140 sixes right away, but after a few weeks you'll be getting close.

Head-up ones second or third: at this point in your training, you should be fine as long as you follow the technique I describe below.

Pushing angles

Smaller angles work better than exaggerated ones. Dorian Yates believed in very small positive and negative angles, and he was on to something. A slight positive tilt works best for my entire chest, without that intense burning in my shoulders that I get with regular positive tilt push-ups.

Regular positive incline big axis pushes are among my favorite shoulder width exercises. I find that when I stop doing them, my shoulders start to seem narrower and my upper chest noticeably flatter.

It's as if my genetic predisposition for sagging shoulders came into play instead of that straight line between the shoulders that we see in every bodybuilder, including myself. So I find the classic positive incline bench press to be an excellent exercise for shoulder width and upper chest. (I train shoulders and chest at the same time, so this exercise fits well into that day.)

As for the negative tilt, the traditional angles for it absolutely destroy my rotator cuff; it's probably the least enjoyable exercise I've ever done. I think the benches I was using were to blame; the angles were just too big.

The solution is to find an adjustable bench that can be just a little negatively angled in the bottom position. This is the perfect angle for natural contractions; you can use this position for both bench and one-arm bench presses.

Also try this if you have trouble feeling your pectoral muscles: go for a multipress (yes, a multipress) and use this slight negative tilt. Grip the barbell with a wide grip and do reps where you lower the barbell to your chest, pushing it up to about 75% elbow extension before bringing it back down - we want sustained tension in the pectoral muscles. Do a lot of reps, at least 15-20. Give it a few sets; your chest will be on fire.

Again, smaller angles are better than extreme angles for positive roll. They seem more natural and allow more involvement of the breasts than the shoulders. Notice in the videos below how small angles I use. I believe these small changes have had a major impact on my chest development, as well as the development of most people I have worked with.

What about the different chest muscle heads? Can you isolate the clavicular and sternal parts, for example? Great question. A lot of really smart people would answer that no, that the straight bench press for example works the entire chest muscles equally. Their logic is not flawed, but it goes like this: Sometimes we make things unnecessarily complicated, but we also sometimes make them unnecessarily simple.

I know that when I do things with a negative incline, straight bench press, and a straight bench press with a large axis, my lower and outer pecs hurt significantly more than my upper pecs the next day. When I do a lot of benches and one-arm bench presses on the positive bench, my upper chest hurts a lot more the next day. And when I do a lot of pull-ups on the machine with a good amount of stretching and clenching, my fibers towards my sternum are very sensitive the next day.

So, in simple terms like this, I believe that changing angles can fatigue different parts of the muscles more or less than others. I know this is nothing groundbreaking, but many colleagues would disagree.

Range of motion

Range of motion adjustments can do several things. They can keep you healthy and they can lead to more growth. So how are you supposed to know when to push the weight all the way up, stretch the muscle properly, touch the chest, etc.? Let's take a look at some exercises that you should perform in a partial range of motion, and others where the range should be full.

Bench press on a positively inclined bench - Do not touch your chest. Stop 5-8 inches in front of it and push the axis back up. Also, do not extend your elbows. Keep constant tension through this range of motion and you will be pleased with the results. Watch the video.

This range of motion saved my rotator cuffs, pectoral muscle attachments from possible tearing and allowed me to actually feel the work of my pectoral muscles. Again, I think this is one of the best shoulder width exercises ever, thus it is very useful to have in your training repertoire.

Twist press with one-arms

Regardless of the angle, these presses should be performed with full extension at the bottom of the movement, which is the main advantage of the one-arm over the big axle. There are also variations in execution that can help you achieve a more intense contraction. I use an exercise I call the twist press, in which you start with a normal pronated grip, but as you push upward, you rotate your pinky fingers inward toward you and retract. Watch the video.

Presses on the machine

With this exercise, you can give vent to your creativity and use different ranges of motion. On Hammer machines, I like to take the seat lower to push in a higher arc. The key is to keep your chest off the whole way down the weight, stop at the bottom and explode up with the weight.

You can also incorporate partial ranges of motion from the bottom and top safely and with good results. A decent way to fail is to go to failure with the full range of motion, then pump partial reps like Tom Platz did. Watch the video.

Forearm exercises

Sometimes I like to start a workout by bracing on the machine. I use a large range of motion and complete contraction. When you try it, it burns the whole area around your sternum, which is hard to achieve with other exercises. The pain the next day proves you've put in the work. But be careful; back it up just far enough so that your hands are at or a little behind your body level. I've seen many pulled muscles from overdoing the range of this movement. For safety's sake, I don't recommend going all out with the stretch.

Push and stretch

One of my friends, John Quint, a physical therapist, taught me this. He's huge and has one of the biggest chests I've ever seen, so I paid attention. Between sets of push-ups, take a stretchy band and do the stretch you see in the video below.

When I started this, my shoulder flexibility was ridiculous, but it got better every week. The great thing is that your pumping will be incredible when you perform this between sets. I usually do this later in the workout when my chest is already full of blood, and stretching is as difficult as possible. As your flexibility increases, you can move your grip more towards the middle to make the stretch more difficult.

Do more reps on the multipress

I had to try this on a few people to even believe it. You can build size and width by doing more reps on the multipress. I did this in preparation for competition and noticed that even my training partners were improving their chests by doing this, they had fuller chests - even dieting. I'm generally talking about sets of 15-25 reps. This is one of the other things that every book damns, but I'm totally convinced it's useful.

Volume of work

In terms of volume, my 12 week program for chest has a little less of it , than what you would devote to legs or back, because your chest is not that big of a muscle group.

Phase 1 - Weeks 1-3
Use medium volume. The total number of sets will be between 10-12. Medium volume will be enough to start with, as the intensity and variety of exercises and angles will be enough of a shock.

Phase 2 - Weeks 4-9
Use high volume. Now start adding volume every week. Your body will adapt to the change in intensity, so for the next six weeks we'll shock it with volume and total load lifted. This will usually be 13-16 sets total, and each week we will add a high intensity set. It's going to be a tremendously hard six weeks for you.

Phase 3 - Weeks 10-12
Use low to medium volume with sets that will be almost exclusively high intensity (after a proper warm up). Sets will be between 8-10. The total volume will go down, but the sets you work out will be the hardest you'll ever do.

Deload - Weeks 13-14
As with any heavy program, there is a period of deload to help you recover long term from the cumulative nervous system fatigue that comes with intense work. However, it's different for everyone. I've seen people who needed deload after 6 weeks and others who put in 30 weeks of tremendous intensity and still improved.How do you know when to take those two weeks off? You may have an elevated resting heart rate, you may lose strength on complex exercises, you may have trouble sleeping, you may be in a bad mood all the time. You need to work with someone who knows your training capacity, or you need to have it spotted on you.

Intensive training techniques for the chest

Rest / Pause

This works well for push-ups on machines such as Hammer machines. I also like to perform classic straight bench presses this way. When you do this later in the workout, there is no need to worry about injury from the pause and subsequent explosive execution. You can also do it with single-arm machines, but I think machines and a big axle are better for this.

Constant tension

On almost all exercises with the big sous, you should focus on a controlled tempo of lowering and only go up ¾ of the way complete. I use this primarily on big axis exercises and on the multipress.

Partial reps

I sometimes do them from the extended position on machine exercises, but I'm still afraid to do them on regular big axis exercises. I also like doing partial reps from the contraction position on machines. For example, on a Hammer machine you do a normal ten and then another 6 reps of partial contractions at the top of the movement.Or you can do ten full reps and 10 partial at the bottom of the movement to add some of that extra blood. I usually choose 20-30 on the bottom for partial reps. At the top this is impossible, I tend to put 4-8 there.

Crashing sets

I love crashed sets on machines like the multipress, Hammer, and others. I'm not a big fan of them with a big axis, because the hands give up too quickly, and the whole thing stops making sense. You're after chest stimulation, not triceps.

Three-second starts

As with the legs, I like to do the basics, heavy exercises, occasionally lowering the weight for 3 seconds for exercises like the positive bench and straight bench. I don't do this much on machines. Intuitively, I feel like the triceps do too much of the work there.

How to put it all together

Now you know how I approach chest training. So let's take a look at two sample workouts:

Sample Workout Phase 1

Sample workout Phase 2

Bonus!

Bamboo Bar Bench

Some of you may be familiar with this equipment. It was invented by Jim Seitzer, one of the few people to ever beat Lee Haney. Jim is a genius and invented this fiberglass axle that distributes tension throughout the joint through oscillating kinetic energy by having weights hanging from it. This axis can be used for two things: rehabilitation and building strength. The goal is to properly engage your stabilizing muscles. The New England Patriots, for example, use this thing for rehab - it's especially great for rehabbing damaged rotator cuffs.

It can also be used for improving strength. Louie Simmons uses it in his Westside program. I used to worry about the axle breaking because it's awfully light, but if the westside guys use it and have never broken one, I guess I don't have to worry too much. Watch me practice with it in the video below. The axle dodges in all directions, and my stabilizers have to work hard to keep it steady.

Final thoughts

I hope you understand my stance on chest training. Sometimes we have to compromise in order to continue our efforts. I had to take a different direction than what Muscle and Fitness and other popular magazines describe for chest training. Fortunately, my fear of injury led me down a path that I believe provided me with the best possible chest development.

Once again, I would argue that this is still a fairly simple chest workout; I'm not practicing reverse pull-ups with counter pulleys on a BOSU ball or anything like that. I'm practicing the basics and performing them in a way that is as safe as possible and produces results. Try it for yourself!

Source: www.t-nation.com

Author: John Meadows, CSCS;
Jaromir Uhlir (Cha Cha)
Original article title: Chest Obliteration - Mountain Dog Style