| Bodybuilding:
Building a Standout in the Crowd Chest
By Craig Ballantyne
Since the beginning of bodybuilding time, men have wanted to build
a chest that enters the room a good 2 seconds before the rest of
their body. They want a chest that stands out and commands attention,
a chest that steps up and sticks out. A broad chest that women seek
to lay their head upon.
And ladies too,
seek a beautiful chest, one that accents their natural assets. But
they also want their chest to be sleek and feminine like the rest
of their physique at the same time.
Well, achieving
either of those goals is easily attainable with a thorough chest
routine. And add a few expert tips and tricks into your overall
plan, and you’ll have the chest of your dreams without the
shoulder injuries of your nightmares.
Shoulder injuries
have always been the rain on the chest training parade. Injuries
are often due to overtraining, improper form, or simply not applying
a back training ying to the chest training yang.
So when you
do this routine, it will train your entire upper, upper body. By
that I mean your chest, your rear delts, the rhomboids between your
shoulder blades, your traps, and your rotator cuff muscles. From
your ribs to your collarbone, at both the front and back of your
body, your muscles will be exhausted, but trained to just the right
level of exhaustion.
With just the
right volume, but without overloading the shoulder joint, we are
going to use basic chest exercises, but with a twist in a few cases,
to make the most of the least. By training with supersets, you’ll
get in and out of the gym if you do only the 6 exercises below.
Talk about a beautiful chest fast.
While the full
program offers the optimal volume for mega-chest-mass, I’ve
included some substitutions for women that are a little concerned
with adding too much mass too fast to their chests. So make sure
to read training substitutions, included below the workout, so you
can customize the program to your goals.
I’ve also
included a summary of the methods, and a bonus instant chest building
technique you probably never think of, after the workout. As well,
a complete set of exercise descriptions is included at the end of
the article.
THE UGN STANDOUT-IN-THE-CROWD
CHEST workout
Superset 1:
Rest 60 seconds between exercises. Rest 90 seconds before repeating
the superset.
A1) DB Flat Chest Press (4 sets x 6 reps) Tempo: 3-0-1
A2) Barbell Row or Seated Wide-grip Row (4x8) 2-0-1
Superset 2:
Do not rest between exercises. Rest 60 seconds before repeating
the superset.
B1) DB Incline Press (3x8) 2-0-1
B2) DB Chest Fly (3x10) 3-0-1
Superset 3:
Do not rest between exercises. Rest 60 seconds before repeating
the superset.
C1) Medium-grip Bench Press (3x12) 2-0-1
C2) DB External
Rotation (3x10) 2-0-1
Female exercise substitutions:
Do only 2 sets
of each exercise.
For exercise A1), substitute the maximum number of pushups you can
do in place of the DB Flat Chest Press.
How to Instantly
Increase Your Chest Size
This is something
that everyone should be doing, several times per day. If you work
at a computer, you should be trying to hold this position all of
the time.
Here’s
what to do:
In a seated
or standing position, hold your arms down by your side. Externally
rotate your shoulders so that your palms are now facing forward.
Use the muscles between your shoulder blades to bring your shoulder
blades together. Squeeze extra hard and pull your shoulders back
by contracting your rear delts. At the same time, try to pull your
shoulders down (you might feel a stretch running along your neck
between your shoulders and your ears – the more stretch you
feel, the more you need to work on holding this position). This
should pull your shoulders back and pop your chest out at least
two inches. You should feel tension between your shoulder blades
as your muscles work to hold that position. You might also feel
a stretch in your chest. Now hold this proud posture as much as
you can all day and when standing around in the clubs or in line
at the grocery store. Trust me, someone will notice!
Exercise Descriptions
DB Flat Bench
Press
Hold the dumbbells
above your chest with your palms turned toward your feet. Lower
the dumbbells to chest level. Press the dumbbells straight up above
the chest. BB Row
Stand with your
torso bent and parallel to the floor. Contract your glutes, brace
your abs and keep your spine in a neutral position. Keep the lower
back in a neutral position and your knees slightly bent. Grasp the
barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Row the barbell to the abdomen and bring your shoulder blades together.
Slowly lower to the starting position and repeat. Do NOT round your
lower back. Wide-grip Seated Row
Use a long bar
and take a greater than shoulder-width overhand grip. Keep your
arms and back straight, knees slightly bent. Row the handle back
as far as possible bringing your shoulder blades together. DB Incline
Press
Lie on a bench
with the backrest inclined at 45 degrees. Hold the dumbbells above
your chest with your palms turned toward your feet. Lower the dumbbells
to chest level. Press the dumbbells straight up above the chest.
DB Fly
Lie flat on
your back on a bench and hold the dumbbells with your palms turned
towards your body (palms will face each other). Maintain a slight
bend in your elbows at all times. Slowly begin to lower the dumbbells
out to your side until your elbows reach shoulder level. Don’t
lower the dumbbells any further. At this point, squeeze your chest
and bring the dumbbells up and in to the start position under control.
Medium-Grip
Bench Press
Keep your feet
flat on the floor, legs bent, and upper back flat against the bench.
Grip the bar half-way between shoulder-width and your normal bench
press grip. Keep the elbows close to the sides to emphasize the
triceps. Have your spotter help you take the bar from the rack.
Keeping your elbows close to your sides, lower the bar straight
down to the bottom of your chest. Pause briefly and then press the
bar back up above the chest in a straight line. DB External Rotation
Sit on a flat
bench holding a light dumbbell (start with 5lbs). Bend your right
knee and place your right foot on the end of the bench. Rest your
right elbow on the top of your right knee and hold the DB in the
bottom position. Slowly, using the small muscles of your rotator
cuff, externally rotate the DB up and back until it is in the finish
position (your forearm is perpendicular to your body at the top
of the movement).
Craig Ballantyne
is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes
for Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and
Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts
have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum
Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around
the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes
three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training
workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions
or fancy equipment, visit http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com
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