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MuscleHead
- Sep 24, 2011
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Pecs That Pop: 5 Training Experts Weigh In On The Best Methods For Building A Massive Chest
Tip 1 Instability Tactics
“One trick that works well to build the chest is called Stabilization Equivalent Training,” says Rodney Corn, MA, PES, CSCS, director of education for the National Academy of Sports Medicine. “For example, you follow a stable chest exercise like the dumbbell flye on a flat bench with an unstable equivalent move a dumbbell flye on an exercise ball with one leg bracing you.” Most guys steer clear of exercise-ball moves because they have to drop to a much lighter weight than they’re used to handling. But by doing so, you grow much stronger in the long run performing both stable and unstable moves. “Stability training places a greater demand on your body to internally stabilize itself,” Corn explains. “By training the brain how to work the pecs while stabilizing the body, you increase the potential of your pecs to produce more force.”
By doing the ball exercise immediately after the traditional version (with little to no rest between sets), the lighter weight now becomes more of a challenge for the chest because those muscle fibers are prefatigued.
Do This:
Do a set of flyes on a flat bench with dumbbells that allow you to get no more than 8-10 reps. After little to no rest, grab a pair of lighter weights and do 10-15 flyes on an exercise ball. Rest two minutes and repeat the superset twice more.
Tip 2 Partial Reps
“Doing partial reps at the end of a set will take your chest to a place it’s likely never been before total fatigue,” says Guillermo Escalante, MBA, ATC, CSCS, president of Sports Pros, a sports medicine, fitness and rehabilitation center in Claremont, California.
What is it?
A partial rep is a rep that stops short of the typical range of motion for that exercise. If you gauge your fatigue by the inability to complete a full repetition, you aren’t taking the muscle to its true limit. If you continue with partial reps until you can no longer budge the weight, you know without doubt that you taxed the muscle to its upper limits.
“For chest training, partial reps are perfect on press exercises like the bench press or machine press,” Escalante notes. “The reason is that the triceps play a monumental role in the top half of the exercise, Often you surrender on the bench press when your smaller triceps muscles fatigue, not the chest.”
By doing reps in the lower three-fourths of your full bench range of motion, you minimize the role of the triceps and maximize the use of the pectoral muscles ultimately leading to bigger pecs. Be careful when using this technique; it’s very taxing. Use it on only the last set of an exercise.
Do This:
With a spotter close by, do three sets of incline barbell presses. When you can no longer do complete reps on the third set, continue repping in the lower one-half to three-fourths of the range of motion until you can no longer push the weight to the halfway point.
Tip 1 Instability Tactics
“One trick that works well to build the chest is called Stabilization Equivalent Training,” says Rodney Corn, MA, PES, CSCS, director of education for the National Academy of Sports Medicine. “For example, you follow a stable chest exercise like the dumbbell flye on a flat bench with an unstable equivalent move a dumbbell flye on an exercise ball with one leg bracing you.” Most guys steer clear of exercise-ball moves because they have to drop to a much lighter weight than they’re used to handling. But by doing so, you grow much stronger in the long run performing both stable and unstable moves. “Stability training places a greater demand on your body to internally stabilize itself,” Corn explains. “By training the brain how to work the pecs while stabilizing the body, you increase the potential of your pecs to produce more force.”
By doing the ball exercise immediately after the traditional version (with little to no rest between sets), the lighter weight now becomes more of a challenge for the chest because those muscle fibers are prefatigued.
Do This:
Do a set of flyes on a flat bench with dumbbells that allow you to get no more than 8-10 reps. After little to no rest, grab a pair of lighter weights and do 10-15 flyes on an exercise ball. Rest two minutes and repeat the superset twice more.
Tip 2 Partial Reps
“Doing partial reps at the end of a set will take your chest to a place it’s likely never been before total fatigue,” says Guillermo Escalante, MBA, ATC, CSCS, president of Sports Pros, a sports medicine, fitness and rehabilitation center in Claremont, California.
What is it?
A partial rep is a rep that stops short of the typical range of motion for that exercise. If you gauge your fatigue by the inability to complete a full repetition, you aren’t taking the muscle to its true limit. If you continue with partial reps until you can no longer budge the weight, you know without doubt that you taxed the muscle to its upper limits.
“For chest training, partial reps are perfect on press exercises like the bench press or machine press,” Escalante notes. “The reason is that the triceps play a monumental role in the top half of the exercise, Often you surrender on the bench press when your smaller triceps muscles fatigue, not the chest.”
By doing reps in the lower three-fourths of your full bench range of motion, you minimize the role of the triceps and maximize the use of the pectoral muscles ultimately leading to bigger pecs. Be careful when using this technique; it’s very taxing. Use it on only the last set of an exercise.
Do This:
With a spotter close by, do three sets of incline barbell presses. When you can no longer do complete reps on the third set, continue repping in the lower one-half to three-fourths of the range of motion until you can no longer push the weight to the halfway point.
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