Chest & Calves workout on 3/30/16

A video posted by Ian Heydecke (@bodybyian) on Mar 30, 2016 at 3:12pm PDT

Incline Hammer 4 x 20, rest - pause, Go halfway then come back down then do a full rep. That's one rep.

Smith Flat Bench press 4 x 20, SAA

Cable Crossovers 5 x 12-15, last set do 100 reps, rest - pause.

Seated Calf Raises 4 x 30, do 10 reps then hold for 10 seconds and repeat til you hit 30 reps.

Standing Calf Raises, 10 reps, then 10 bodyweight reps and repeat til you get to 100 per set. 4 sets.

Cardio (video)
10 rounds of 30 seconds intervals.

It's Grow Your Chest

Dips 

Some people don't have the shoulder stability or even the mobility at the shoulder joint to do dips pain-free. However if you can do dips then do them because they are one of the most underused mass builders for your pecs. With a slightly wider grip, with slow controlled negatives, they really place immense tension on your pec muscles and also lead to a great contraction of the muscle. You can also change the angle of your body to change the emphasis on different areas of your chest when doing dips.

Chest and Traps Workout 2/19/16

Doing Dumbbell Floor Presses

Chest
Cable Crossovers 4 x 20-25
Incline Hammer Press 4 x 8-12, last set drop set
Dumbbell Floor Press 4 x 20-25
Wide Grip Bench Press 4 x 8-10
Dips 7 x 12 FST-7 style (Rest between 30-45 seconds)

Traps
Machine shrugs 4 x 15, last set drop set
Behind the back shrugs 4 x 15
Shrug Row 4 x 15
DB Shrugs 4 x 15

Chest Training Like This

As with any muscle group, there are multiple ways to target it, stimulate it and accelerate growth. It's having a clear understanding of these different ways which enables you to continue development, and ultimately take that muscle to the next level. 

With your chest workout try to start with flies rather than pressing, the emphasis, in this case, was on pre-exhausting the pec muscles without involving the triceps. By the time you come to press, your pecs are already partially fatigued. 

This isn't the only way to train your pecs, though, this is just ONE of MANY ways you can go about it. 

I don't want you to get into the mindset that one thing is necessarily superior over another, instead view each training tool as a means of creating a new stimulus and opportunity for growth. Collectively, they can come together to create a multi-faceted training approach to ensure a muscle group is constantly worked through different mediums which are great for optimizing hypertrophy. 

In relation to training your chest, here are 3 ways you can change up your chest workouts to change the emphasis.

Flexing After My Chest & Biceps Workout

Flexing after a #chest & #biceps #pump at @diamondgympro A) Incline cable flies X 3 for 15-20 reps **Squeeze for 1 second at top of every rep!** B) Incline smith machine press X 3 for 15-20 reps C) Flat dumbbell flies X 3 for 15-20 reps D) Seated hammer chest press X 3 for 15-20 reps **Squeeze for 1 second at top of every rep!** Rep tempo - 3 second negatives Rest periods - 90 seconds Giant set X 3 Spider curls 15-20 Seated incline hammer curls 20-25 Preacher curls triple drop set 12-15 EACH #bodybyian #bodybuildingmotivation #bodybuilding #motivation #training #gymlife #lifestyle #gym #goals #teamBBI #instafitness #fitfam #fitspiration #lightweightbaby #workingout #diet #nutrition #growingseason #hardcore #trainhard #diamondgym #swole #beatingcancer #cancerwarrior #cancerfighter #cancersurvivor

My Chest, Biceps and Calves Workout at Diamond Gym

Here's my Chest, Bi's & Calves workout today at the Home of Hardcore, Diamond Gym, It's a mixture of Neil Hill's Y3T and Hany Rambod's FST-7 style. This was my second chest workout of the week and I wanted to try something different out. The chest workout is only six sets but trust me, it's a Brutal six sets. I pre-loaded my calf workout with FST-7 and finished the Biceps workout with FST-7. Give it a try and let me know what you think of it. More workouts coming soon. 

Chest
Exercise A) Incline smith machine press TRIPLE drop set X 2 sets aiming for 10-12 reps PER drop set (equating to 30-36 reps in one working set)

The Best Training Split

HOW should you divide your body parts across the week? That's the question!

Back/Bi's

Chest/Tri's

Legs

Shoulders/Calves

Incline Chest Tip

Do incline presses on a 30-degree bench produces a significantly more upper chest activation and recruitment.

Bench For a Bigger Chest!

Key Points:
► Keep shoulders back and down (retract & depress)
► Apply inward intent on the bar.
► Use continuous motion, no stop or pause
► For maximal muscle recruitment, the spine is in a slightly flexed position - lower back touching the bench
► The FIRST move on the negative is to retract your shoulders.
► A wide foot position helps for stability and safety.

MUTANT In A Minute - HEX PRESS - Unique Chest Exercise

Hex Press aka Chest Busters. I like to do these when I superset with DB Flyes (incline or flat). I do these for failure.

Dips For a BIGGER Chest!

Key Points:
► Abs semi crunched position. Knees slightly in front and bent.
 
► As you descend to the bottom of the rep, pull shoulders back to ensure maximal stretch in pecs and not overstretch the shoulder.
 
► Avoid locking elbows at the top. Instead, try squeezing your hands inward, toward each other. This will increase tension on the pecs and prevent the “rest” that happens at the top.

Cable Fly Training Tips

Cables in both hand and walk slightly forward so that the weight stack is elevated when you are in a fully outstretched position (arms extended behind you) - Use a high cable position.

The bottom of the rep should finish about 2 inches in front of your thighs, with your arms pretty straight. Think about touching your elbows together rather than your hands.

Dumbbell Flys Tips

The goal of this exercise is to minimize shoulder and bicep recruitment and maximize pec involvement. To do this, it is necessary on the concentric portion (when contracting) to straighten the arm once you have passed the half way point. The stretch happens with slightly bent elbows for safety and increased stretch on the pec. As you ascend to the top of the movement, gradually straighten your arms and contract the chest maximally without allowing the dumbbell to pass inside the shoulder joint. Passing this point with essentially cease and tension in the pec muscles.

Dumbbell Bench Press 101

► Dumbbells allow for a slightly greater range of motion, take advantage of this. A greater stretch and contraction is beneficial.
► ALL of the key points of the barbell presses hold true here as well (see yesterdays post)
► When pressing a dumbbell, once your hands come above your shoulders, you lose tension in your chest. There is no longer any force exerting tension on the pec muscles. Keep your hands Slightly outside shoulder width to ensure continuous tension.

Want To Build a Bigger Chest?

Flat Bench Press Key Points:
► Keep shoulders back and down (retract and depress).
► Apply intention in an inward direction (INTENT) on the bar.
► Use continuous motion, no stop or pause at the top or bottom.
► For maximal muscle recruitment, the spine is in a slightly flexed position
(aka crunch so your low back is flush with the pad), NOT arched. ► A wide foot position helps for stability and safety.

Why Your Chest Won't Grow: Part 2

Here is part 2, and one point which I think is REALLY over looked in the bodybuilding/physique community. 

Flexibility/mobility, in this case at the shoulder joint.

No matter how hard you train your chest, use tension or angles (which are ALL VERY important) if you have excessive restriction in mobility at the shoulder joint you will struggle to build muscle in the pec area.

When mobility is an issue at the shoulder joint it means you are/will become "internally rotated."

All this means is that you have rounded shoulders so when you press your pecs aren't going to contract as well. To get the BEST contraction in your pecs you need to have your scapulas pinned together and your chest out. If you cannot externally rotate enough you won't be able to do this.

It's very common because people tend to do a lot of pressing and not a lot of posterior chain work. This can also be compounded by the fact that you sit down a lot during the day, which also promotes a certain state of posture.

Here is how you can fix this.

1. Stretch your shoulder joint with static & PNF stretching daily. Make sure an expert such as a sports therapist has cleared your joints in terms of health if you have any doubts.

2. At the end of your back workouts AND shoulder workouts look to finish with some Trap 3 raises for 3-4 sets and cable face pulls with VERY light weight to engage the Trap 3. These are accessory exercises for posture rather than "hypertrophy." Having said that they will contribute towards detail in your back.

3. Focus on holding better posture with your shoulders held back and your chest out.

Dealing With Your Stubborn Chest

The chest is an area most people often tend to find lags on a lot of physiques out there. 

You might say, that I train chest hard, I train it the right way but it won't develop. The answer to that is that your approach is too one dimensional AND you are probably making some common mistakes, such as - 

. Pressing through your triceps rather than squeezing through your pecs

. Inviting too much shoulder involvement 

. Moving the weight from A to B instead of focusing on tension 

. Using the same angles

Point by point let me tell you how to fix this!

Pressing not squeezing

When you push the weight rather than "press" it imagine you are tensing your pecs to push the weight away. The difference in "feel" you experience should be noticeable within a matter of reps. This also relates to TENSION. Focus on tensing, tensing and tensing rather than moving that weight from A to B. 

Shoulder involvement

Are you pushing your front portion of your shoulder into the pressing motion? Also, are you letting the weight come too far down so you are pushing through your shoulder? Keep your back PINNED to the bench, shoulders back and push through your chest cavity. Don't come so far down that your shoulders are loaded too much, involving them excessively. 

More Angles 

If you want to build size rather than strength/power then stop using the flat bench as an ego lift and start doing more incline pressing. This is my favored angle to really bring your chest up because you never see someone with a weak chest, but with good upper chest development. 

Try this for now.

You also need to MAKE SURE you are using different rep ranges and training volumes, if you are serious about building size. It is undeniably the quickest way to bring up a weaker muscle group from my experience. 

2 Moves for a CHAMPION Chest! Johnnie O. Jackson - MUTANT Mash-Up

Here's a new superset to add more blood to the chest. This can be done on flat or incline. Try this out. I'm doing this today. I'll add the comment after I try this out.

Dennis Wolf Chest Workout - Offseason 2015

Dennis starts with flat DB press. Wolf is us giving training tips, take notes. Next is Hammer Strength incline press. He likes this better than Smith Machine incline presses. Next is DB pullovers. Make sure you squeeze the chest. Next is flat DB flyes. He talks about where he'll be next. 

Dumbbell Floor Press with Flex Lewis

Use 3-4 sets with 15-20 reps controlling the weight while squeezing the chest. You can use this in the middle of the workout.