STOP, You're Training Your Chest Wrong!

Are you training your chest wrong? You are about to find out in this video on how to get a bigger chest by implementing a chest workout strategy that may be completely new to you. We look to the teachings of the late goat Mike Mentzer to give us clues as to how we may want to switch up the way we do our chest exercises, and all of our workouts for that matter, to get bigger pecs in the long run.

It starts with a declaration by Mentzer where he says that the best chest exercise for growth is hands down the dip. Now, keep in mind that the dip also works the triceps and shoulders. If you focus on the angle of your body when performing the dip, you can more effectively target the triceps or the chest while also hitting the shoulders in the process.

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That said, is he right?

Well, it starts with knowing how to train for a bigger chest and that means getting the right tempo. Likely you are doing your chest exercises way too fast. Slow them down. Try taking a cadance of 3-4 seconds up and 4-5 seconds down and watch how much harder the chest exercise becomes. Even if you have to lower the weight here it's ok. The key is to make the chest do more of the work.

That said, this revolves around the science of muscle building that tells us that there are 3 different types of contractions; concentric, isometric or holding, and the eccentric or lowering of the weight. You are strongest eccentrically and weakest concentrically. If you want to build a muscle to its fullest you want to drive maximum amount of tension into the chest in this case.

You do that by taking advantage of the contraction science.

That said, instead of doing it with pec deck as shown here I choose to do it on the dips exercise mentioned earlier.

But first, let's discuss the pre-exhaust exercise combination that you can do as your chest workout and get bigger chest gains. It consists of an adduction exercise for chest isolation and then is immediately followed by a compound chest exercise like the incline bench press. I don't particularly like to perform the barbell incline bench press since it bothers my shoulders, but you certainly may. I like to swap in the dumbbell incline bench press.

The key is to make sure that you're using a narrow grip to perform the bench press.

This will shift more of the focus onto the triceps which, following the cable fly pre-exhaust, will allow them to help you push the chest closer to its full state of overload.

So I start with the standing cable fly and perform each rep slowly and deliberately. Trying not to involve the triceps by locking out the elbows and keeping them stationary. Lift up to the count of 3-4 seconds and down to the count of 3-4 seconds. Some will want to do a dumbbell bench fly here but I highly advise against it.

Mike Mentzer preferred to do this as a pec deck and close grip incline bench press using a machine but you can choose the variations that you prefer the most. The key is to get the strategy of the tempo down.

Now, Mentzer always advised performing only one set to absolute failure for a muscle group (sometimes consisting of a pre-exhaust exercise combo as shown here) and being done with your workout. I don't believe that has to be the case however. Especially if you don't have access to spotters that are allowing you to perform the forced reps demonstrated by Mike in this video, I think you still will have a little more gas in the tank to do something else.

This is where that dip is performed to all three levels of failure.

Remember, this dip was the exercise that Mike Mentzer felt was the best for building the chest, shoulders and triceps and it was particularly good here because it allowed you to hit your lower chest whereas the first two parts of the combo targeted mostly the middle and upper chest.

Finally, Mike advises against holding in the bottom position of any rep. I don't agree at all. When done with proper positioning, this is the most anabolic portion of the rep. Do not ignore the stretch overload stimulus when it comes to building a bigger chest.

Perform that dip to concentric failure first, then hold at the bottom of that rep for as long as you can isometrically. At this point, step yourself up to the top of the exercise and perform eccentric only dips to finish out your chest workout and fry your chest.

For a complete workout for chest and every other muscle for that matter, be sure to head to athleanx.com

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Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the head physical therapist and assistant strength coach for the New York Mets. Jeff earned his Masters of Physical Therapy and Bachelor’s of Physioneurobiology from the College of Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

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