Training - Chest

By Neil Hill, Official Gaspari Trainer

 

Every bodybuilder seems to love chest night, yet this doesn’t necessarily mean that they have good chest development. Poor chest development can certainly be down to genetics but it is more often than not down to a poor training protocol. If you took the time to watch ‘Joe average’ train chest you can be sure he will start with flat bench press, probably use very low repetitions and have his partner spot him too much. If this sounds like you and your chest is lagging you need to pay attention to what I’m about to tell you.

 

In order to develop a full looking chest you must stimulate the muscle fibers within the muscle group. Although this may sound obvious, what most people forget is that when they train chest they are in fact placing the majority of the stress on to their triceps, anterior deltoids and shoulder joints. As a result you are in fact failing to break down the muscle fibers within your chest sufficiently which is why your chest development is poor.

 

The good news is that I am able to give you some very clear advice on how to start building some new lean muscle tissue in your chest area. In my experience, the best way to stimulate muscle growth is to use a combination of rep ranges, both low and high. The reason I say this is because a low rep range of 6 will target your fast twitch muscle fibers. However a high rep range will not only target your slow twitch muscle fibers but it will also stretch your fascia. To stretch your fascia you must get a good muscle ‘pump’ and high repetitions provide this. It is so important to stretch your fascia because this band of muscle tissue surrounds your muscle fibers therefore it determines to an extent the amount of growth you can achieve in any given muscle group. That’s the first thing you need to do, incorporate high repetition sets into your chest routines as well as low repetitions. This will add additional mass by stimulating your slow twitch muscle fibers but it will also stretch the fascia which will allow for better mass gains. Another benefit of using higher repetitions is that the increased blood flow will also transport vital macronutrients to the muscle cell, which will increase your endurance and energy whilst training as well as aid your recovery afterwards.     

 

The second piece of advice I would give you on chest training is to really focus on your form. Earlier on I spoke about how most people will focus on the weight they are lifting which unfortunately means more often than not they are not pressing with their pectoral muscles, but instead with their triceps, anterior deltoids and placing tremendous amounts of stress on the connective tissue fibers in the shoulder joints. Therefore whilst I am a big believer in lifting as heavy as you can as long as your form remains solid, when it comes to chest you need to use a weight which your pectorals can press. What I mean by this is when you dumbbell bench press for instance, focus on pressing up with your pecs and contracting the muscle fibers opposed to moving the weight from A to B. Developing new muscle tissue as a bodybuilder is all about gaining a total muscular contraction, not lifting weight. Something else you need to watch with your form is that you don’t lockout at the top, because that transfers all the stress the weight is causing on to your triceps, allowing your chest muscle fibers to catch a break. The same can be said during the negative portion of the repetition, where if you come down too low the stress immediately travels on to your anterior deltoids and the connective tissue within the shoulder joints. To build some quality mass in your chest area you do not want to be allowing the stress of the weight to come off your pectorals on either the positive or negative part of the repetition. In my opinion I firmly believe using this kind of form is the best way to develop your chest because the muscle fibers cant rest, therefore more blood is pumped into the area, the fibers are broken down properly and you are also really limiting the chances of injuring your ligaments and tendons in your shoulder joints.

 

On a final note, there are some fundamental differences I would like you to make to your chest routines. First of all you should pick dumbbells over the barbell every time simply because dumbbells allow for a much better range of movement. Dumbbells also force your fixator muscles to develop more effectively than a barbell. Secondly, you should focus on performing all of your pressing movements and flies on an incline bench. Increasing the amount of muscle mass in your upper chest region will certainly improve the overall look of your pectorals, and it is your upper chest which is more often than not the weakest part of your chest muscle group. Don’t be concerned that you are not stimulating the other key areas of your chest by focusing purely on incline work because you are, and you never have and never will see someone with a strong upper chest yet weak in the middle and lower regions of the chest.

 

Following my advice on chest night should enable you to accelerate your gains. The key to success is to be consistent and smart when you train, not egotistical.