Motivational Speaker

If there’s one thing that every bloke wants at some stage in his evolution, it’s a big muscular chest. Wide shoulders are great and a tidy mid-section is always desirable, but nothing beats a pair of big, thick pecs. You know the chest I’m talking about; the one you can rest a beer on, the one that has absolutely no issue with gravity. And if there’s one thing that the ultimate Alpha male doesn’t want; it’s the dreaded man-boobs. On the social-stigma scale the man-boobs come in at number one, followed closely by the highly undesirable, but often seen, inverted chest.

In this article we will discover the best exercises to combat the above conditions and also learn how to get on the road to Pectoral Perfection.

1. Getting a big chest is about finding the best overall approach for you taking into account program design, diet, recovery, attitude, effort and your genetic potential. The program written by the pro bodybuilder on page 72 of ‘Muscles are Us’ is probably not your best bet when it comes to finding the program best suited to you.

2. Spend the first 4 to 6 weeks easing into it and creating a training and strength base – this way you’re more likely to create better results in the long term and less likely to get injured in the short term.

3. Don’t under-eat or under-recover. What you do when you’re at the gym is stimulate your body to adapt to stress. What you do when you eat and recover after the workout is – GROW. Don’t necessarily equate more training with bigger muscles. Quite often the young bucks who train too much actually lose size, get frustrated, get injured and throw in the towel. Getting big should be a logical and scientific process, not an emotional one. What you do when you’re not at the gym is often more important than the actual gym sessions.

4. Leave your ego at the gym door. Getting great results is all about quality training, not about how much you and your boofhead mates can bench press in front of the girls.

5. Start each exercise with higher reps and lower weights and as you progress through your sets, decrease the reps and increase the weights. Warm-up sets are the light sets we do at the start of each exercise to prepare our muscles for the working sets (the get-big sets) we do once we’re warm and stretched.

6. The program I have included is suitable for beginners to intermediates. Remember it is a sample program only and no generic program (in any magazine) will suit every body type. However, it will give you a reasonable starting point if you’ve got no idea how to get under way. This program should be done no more than twice a week.

7. It is always safer to train with a partner who can ‘spot’ you when you use free weights. If you have to train alone lift lighter weights and increase the reps slightly.

* Okay, let’s get into it…….

Position yourself on an adjustable flat bench, keeping your feet firmly planted on the floor. Lie flat on your back and hold the barbell with a grip slightly beyond shoulder width apart. Keep your head on the bench and lift the barbell off of the rack and slowly lower it to about 2 to 5 centimetres above your chest and then press the bar back to the start position – this is called the eccentric phase on the movement. There is no need to touch the bar to your chest as it can place unnecessary load on your shoulder joint (a joint which is very unstable and prone to injury). Be sure to lower the bar slowly and smoothly minimising stress on ligaments, tendons and joints and maximising stress on the pecs. When you press the bar upward (the concentric phase of the movement) you can incorporate some speed into the movement. This will help you develop some power as well as strength. Ensure you use a spotter when doing most free-weight movements - especially when there’s a heavy weight hovering over your head!

This exercise is very similar in execution to the flat bench press, except we’re on a different bench, lifting at a different angle (usually between 30 and 45 degrees) and we take the bar to a point a little higher on our chest (about 2 to 4 centimetres above the nipple line). This exercise is great for building the upper pecs; an area which is sadly lacking in many wannabe beefcakes.

This exercise is as old as the dinosaur and is great for building and shaping the lower pecs and providing some separation between the chest and the abs. It is a relatively intense exercise and not suitable for people with little upper body strength and / or heavy bodyweight. Start at the top of the movement with your arms almost fully extended (almost straight arms). Grip the handles on the dip frame and lower your body down from the starting position. As you lower yourself (slowly) your body should be angled slightly forward at about 10 – 20 degrees from vertical. Lower yourself until your elbows are at somewhere near the 90 degree position and push yourself back up to the starting position. If these are tough for you, start with half reps (go down half way) and go deeper into the movement as you get stronger.

Lie flat on your back on a flat bench and hold the DB’s directly above your chest with your palms facing each other, your arms vertical and your elbows slightly bent (about 5 – 10 degrees). Slowly lower the DB’s out to the side, maintaining the same angle at the elbow joint. When you lift the dumbbells back to the starting position visualize yourself hugging a big tree or perhaps a keg of Fosters. At the top of the movement squeeze your pecs together, hold for a second or two and then slowly start your next rep.

There you have it; Big-Pecs 101.

See you at the Bench Press,