Craft your own powerful pecs with this 4-week Pec Thrashing Program Like Nobody’s Business.

Here’s an old-school program that’ll build size and thickness, while emphasizing complete, balanced development – try it on for SIZE!

The winds of change are blowing through the sport of bodybuilding.  Gone are the days when mind-blowing mass alone was enough to win.  More and more, it’s becoming a game where shape, balance and muscular conditioning gain favor over sheer mass at the expense of aesthetics.  True, mass is still (and always will be) king – and rightly so, this is, after all, bodybuilding – but as the science of nutrition and supplementation bring modern athletes into new territories of muscularity, more than ever, shape and balance determine the difference between competitors, especially at the upper levels of competition.  It’s not just enough to be huge, you gotta be huge, shredded, and symmetrical these days, to push into the upper levels of the physique game.

With that being said, what follows is a chest program specifically designed for complete pec development.  This intermediate- to advanced-level training regimen takes us through a pectoral thrashing to leave even the most hardcore iron warriors clutching their blood-swollen chests and gasping for air.

To maximize productivity in a single chest workout, it’s important to attack the pecs from all angles.  For complete pectoral development, it’s necessary to keep in mind how these muscles cause movement.  The primary function of the chest muscles is to move the upper arm bones anteriorly, or to the front of the body, and to a lesser extent, across the front of the body.  The pecs work in a dynamic range of motion that can be  encompassed in 3 basic angles.  Training the pecs with these 3 angles in mind will target the major components of this muscle group; simply, upper, middle and lower chest.  The workout outlined here prioritizes all three areas of the chest to stimulate maximum visual changes in the shortest period of time.  Try this program for 4 weeks, and watch both your size and strength improve measurably!

Complete Chest Development – attacking from different angles

Begin with flat bench presses.  These are the “meat and potatoes” of chest training, and weight lifting in general.  Flat presses target the entire pec region very effectively, but primary focus is on mid-chest thickness.  Lying on a flat bench, grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder width.  As you lower the bar toward the chest, be sure to keep the bar close to or just above the nipple line.  Forearms should be perpendicular to the floor, or just slightly wider, when the bar is in the low position.  Keep elbows and wrists in line, directly under the bar.  Do not shrug shoulders upward while lying in the working position of this exercise.

Next, we’ll move on to incline presses.  Inclines target the upper portion of the chest.  As with the Flat Bench Press, keep elbows and wrists in line while performing the exercise.  Elbows should be directly under the bar.  As with bench pressing, grip the bar so that the forearms point straight to the ceiling at the bottom portion of the movement.  If the grip is too close, triceps and front deltoids will take over as the primary movers during this exercise.

Follow incline presses with decline flyes.  Notice the angle of the plane of movement during each of the exercises.  With decline presses (done with a straight bar), the bar travels from the nipple line straight toward the ceiling.  Use dumbbells for this exercise but maintain the same plane of movement as with a bar.

Declines target the lower part of the chest and the pec minor.  Keeping elbows bent, lower the dumbbells to a parallel position relative to the body.   Do not lower weights beyond a comfortable, manageable stretch.  Squeeze pecs together, moving dumbbells up toward the ceiling and across the body toward the midline.  At the top of the movement, bring dumbbells close to touching, but maintain control and do not bang them together.

Lastly, we’ll do dips with bodyweight.  Dips can be thought of as “upper body squats” because they target just about all muscle groups of the upper body.

Find the dip bars in the gym that are slightly wider than your shoulders.  Begin the movement with arms extended, supporting your bodyweight.  For dips, keep the head up, eyes directly to the front.  Do not let your head hang forward.  Bend your elbows to lower your body to a comfortable starting point.  Pause with control at the bottom of the movement.  Bend elbows to about 90 degrees of flexion, with upper arms crossing just below parallel to the floor, until you feel a slight stretch.  Drive the body upward by straightening the arms and contracting the pecs.

You’ll find that by leaning forward a bit, the chest will get more work, as opposed to holding your body straight vertical.  In our program, this is the finishing movement.  Utilize it to put the final nails in the coffin of your chest workout.    Rep, rep, rep until you cannot do any more.

3 sets to failure should finish off the toughest of trainers.

The Program – Building the War Chest

Are you ready?  We’ll hit these 4 exercises hard and strict.  Stay focused and let’s get to it!

Flat bench press:

warm up 1       light weight                20 reps  (not to failure)

warm up 2       moderate weight         15 reps (not to failure)

working set 1  75% 1RM        goal is 8-10 reps          rest 120 seconds

working set 2  75% 1RM        goal is 8-10 reps          rest 120 seconds

heavy set 1      85% 1RM        goal is 4-5 reps            rest 120 seconds

heavy set 2      85% 1RM        goal is 4-5 reps            rest 30 seconds, drop to-

drop set 1        75% 1RM        goal is 4-5 reps            rest 30 seconds, drop to-

drop set 2        55% 1RM        goal is 10 reps or to failure

Incline press:

working set 1  75%1RM         goal is 8-10 reps          rest 120 seconds

working set 2  80%1RM         goal is 8-10 reps          rest 120 seconds

heavy set 1      85%1RM         goal is 6-8 reps            rest 30 seconds, drop to-

drop set 1        70% 1RM        goal is 4-6 reps            rest 30 seconds, drop to-

drop set 2        60% 1RM        goal is 8-10 reps or to failure

Decline flyes:

working set 1         choose a weight to complete 8-10 strict reps       rest 90 seconds

heavy work set 1   choose a weight to complete 6-8 strict reps          rest 90 seconds

heavy work set 2   choose a weight to complete 6-8strict reps           rest 30 seconds

drop set 1               reduce weight by 25%, reps to failure

Dips:

bodyweight to failure rest for 60 seconds

bodyweight to failure rest for 60 seconds

bodyweight to failure

Maximizing Muscle Stimulation – Ramp Up Intensity

There are several variables in any training program that will ramp up how hard your muscles are working and result in greater gains.  The intensifying techniques below are utilized in the above program to bring the greatest results in the least amount of time.

Time: This variable directly relates to intensity.   In this case, we’ll utilize this variable to increase intensity by controlling rest time between sets.  Be sure to keep strict control over your rest time.   This workout outlined above has a fairly aggressive pace that challenges the muscle recovery systems, and will result in greater overall stimulation

Work Volume:  More work in less time.  If you notice, your muscles will endure a significant amount of time under tension during this workout.  The longer the overall time a muscle is contracting against a resistance, the greater the stimulation.

Drop sets: This old-school intensifying technique is utilized to allow the muscles to keep on contracting beyond the point of failure.  This tried-and-true method will wake up even the deepest muscle fibers!

Experienced lifters give the War Chest program above a try for 4 weeks. To prioritize pecs, schedule this priority-training program every 5^th day on your calendar.  Be sure to eat big, supplement wisely, and rest.  Then, train aggressively, and watch your chest grow – bigger than ever!

Supplementation:

Add in, 1 scoop of BODY OCTANE 20 minutes prior to hitting this one.  Throw in 6 caps of Prometheus Rising, and stand back.  Sincerely, push your body like it’s your last workout, and you’ll experience a pump, and strength deep inside the muscles like you read about.  Focus, stay strong, and watch your slabs of pec-meat explode!

Post training, load in your usual 1 scoop of CLOUT and Figure Fuel post-training – GAME OVER, SON!

Pete Ciccone  RN BSN CSCS

Pete Ciccone is a nationally ranked competitive bodybuilder in the NPC.  He is also a personal trainer, as well as an industry consultant to several sports nutrition companies.  He runs a successful personal training and contest prep business out of World Gym, San Diego, where is nutrition store, 619 Muscle is also based.  Pete has and has published many articles in co-authored several books on training and nutrition.