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35 Years Ago
70 Years Ago
Plan One: Press and Pullover
The combination of a power movement (bench presses) with a stretching movement (pullovers) creates a tremendous upper body pump. It's also a convenient superset, because after you finish the presses you can rotate 90 degrees on the bench to begin doing pullovers.
Bench Press - 4 x8-12
superset with
Dumbbell Pullover - 4 x 10-15
Incline Flye - 3 x 10-12
Dip - 3 x 10-12.
Plan Two: Pre-Exhaust
The idea behind pre-exhausting is to perform an isolation exercise before you set out to do a compound exercise. The thought is that the muscle you're trying to target has been trained to exhaustion, which in turns triggers optimum growth. Your front delts and triceps will do a lot of work when chest presses are performed, but if you do flyes before presses your pecs will give out before your delts or triceps.
Incline Flye - 4 x 10-12
superset with
Incline Bench Press - 4 x 10-12
Pec Deck - 4 x 10-12
superset with
Machine Press - 4 x 10-12.
Plan Three: Flye Zone
The bench press may be a chest day staple, but you should consider flyes when it comes to sculpting out some great pecs. They better isolate the muscles you want to train on chest day. Once a month, give this flye-only workout a go to help maximize your pecs without extra toll being taken on the delts and triceps.
Incline Flye - 4 x 10-12
Flat Flye - 4 x 10-12
Pec Deck Flye - 4 x 10-12.
Plan Four: Full Court Press
Another approach to pumping up your pecs is to devote an entire session to presses, hitting them from all angles.
Bench Press - 4 x 6-12
Incline Press - 4 x 8-12
Decline Press - 4 x 10-12.
Plan Five: Incline/Decline
Kicking the flat bench to the curb will allow you to fully compartmentalize your chest into upper and lower sections and to focus more intently on each area. Additionally, if flat work takes its toll on your shoulders or elbows, you might find that altering the angles can be less straining.
Incline Press - 3 x 8-10
Incline Flye - 3 x 10-12
Decline Press - 3 x 8-10
Decline Flye - 3 x 10-12.
Plan Six: Descending Sets
Think of descending sets as extended dropsets. Perform a set of 6-10 reps. Once you reach failure, strip a plate (or lower the weight stack) and do another set of 6-10. Repeat for four total sets. Those four dropsets equal one set.
Bench Press - 2 x 24-14
Pec Deck Flye - 2 x 24-40
Machine Incline Press - 2 x 24-40.
Plan Seven: High/Low
The high/low principle alternates a series of low-rep sets with a series of high-rep sets. The combination works both the fast- and slow-twitch muscle fibers to maximize size and strength and increase blood flow to the area.
Incline Dumbbell Press - 4 x 10,8,6,4
Incline Flye - 3 x 15-20
Bench Press - 3 x 8,6,4
Cable Crossover - 2 x 20-25.
Plan Eight: Unique Lifts
These moves are unique twists on familiar chest exercises. The different stimulus will give your muscles something new to adapt to - and help you break out of your boring chest rut.
Pullover and Press - 3 x 8-10
- Start by performing a barbell pullover, then bench press the weight. That's one rep.
Smith Machine Stop Press - 3 x 6-8
- Set the safety stops on the Smith machine so the bar stops about 5 inches above your chest when doing bench presses. When you lower the bar during any press from any angle, let the weight come to a stop when it reaches the supports (you can do this in the power rack as well) and keep it there for 1 second before pressing it back up. This way you've removed momentum from the equation and forced your pecs to work harder when pushing the weight back up.
One-Arm Pec Deck Flye - 3 x 10-12
Low Cable Crossover - 3 x 10-12.
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