If you want to come up with a great chest workout, it is important to define your goals. In this article, I am focusing a chest routine with the goal of developing a chest along the lines of what a Calvin Klein Model might have. If you are purely after bench pressing power, then you would obviously want to use a different workout. This routine will develop some strength, but it isn’t the main focus of the workout.
What Should a “Masculine Chest” Look Like?
A masculine chest should have a square and angular look to it, not a rounded and soft look to it. The traditional chest workout focuses on the basic bench press. While the bench press is great in developing size and power, it can develop the lower part of the chest too much. A chest workout focused around the bench press develops the lower pecs so much that they can begin to look like breasts. The part of the chest that is underdeveloped in most men is the upper chest. If your chest workout focuses on the upper chest and not so much on the middle to lower part of the chest, then you will develop square looking pecs.
How to Build the Upper Pecs.
In order to fill out the upper pecs, you need to include a variety of incline pressing movements in your chest workout. You should make sure your chest routine begins with an incline press of some sort. I recommend beginning your chest workout with incline dumbbell presses on an adjustable bench. I like dumbbells, since you can really work that hard-to-hit inner part of the upper pecs. If you develop this part of your chest, you will get that “line” up the middle of your chest all the way to your collar bone.
Here is a Great Chest Workout Which Focuses on Hard the to Develop Areas.
1) Incline Dumbbell Presses: Adjust the bench to about 20-30 degrees above the flat setting. Pick a weight that you can press 10 -12 times. Click the bench up the next higher angle setting. With the same weight, try to do 8-10 reps. Click the bench up to a steeper angle and try to get 6-8 reps. Keep clicking to a higher angle until you are either close to upright, or until you can’t get more than 5 reps. I like starting my chest workout with this exercise, because it hits every part of the upper chest.
2) Smith Machine Incline Presses: I then take this same adjustable bench and bring it over to the smith machine. I setup the bench so that the bar hits my collar bone at the bottom of the lift. I will choose about a 20-45 degree angle. I put on a pretty light weight and mainly aim for higher reps to really fatigue the muscle. This is more of a finishing move. The smith machine insures that I keep all stress on the upper pecs. I find that if I use a regular incline bench press in my chest-workout, then I can cheat and take the stress of my upper pecs. Include the incline smith press in your chest workout if you have access to this piece of equipment.
3) Cable Crossovers: You need the include cable crossovers into your chest workout if you want to develop the line that defines the mid part of your chest. You can also get a similar effect using machine flyes. Dumbbell flyes are a great mass movement, but you won’t get enough tension in the middle of your chest. Make sure when doing machine flyes or cable crossovers that you really flex the mid part of your chest hard when your hands meet at the end of the movement.
Avoid All Flat Bench Movements in Your Chest Workout for a While.
If you are like most guys in the gym, your upper pecs probably need to catch up with your mid and lower pecs. You should consider dropping all flat bench movements out of your chest workout for a while. I dropped all the flat bench exercises for aver two years and the look of my chest improved dramatically. Another nice benefit of incline movements is that your shoulders will also take on a better appearance.
Keep The Main Points in Mind When Setting Up Your Chest Workout.
When setting up your chest workout, you can be flexible on the exercises you use. Just make sure that you focus on the angular and square look. Having great pecs is less about size and more about proper proportion and definition.