THE ULTIMATE GUIDE BUILD A GREAT CHEST

“How much can you bench” is a common question men will ask each other as a way of
gauging each other’s strength. A big powerful and muscular chest is a very clear signal to
those around…it says, “I am strong and I am alpha.” As men we instinctively know this, which
is why the chest is the favorite muscle group to train for men. Go into any gym on any day of
the week and the bench press; incline press and other chest machines are among the most
popular. The chest is also FUN to train. Who doesn’t love getting the chest all pumped up?
With all of this chest training going on you would expect to see big muscular chests all over
the place…however we don’t. Think about it…its quiet rare when you see a muscular well-
developed chest.

If we consider all of the chest training out there and if we factor in that men LOVE working the
chest and do work it consistently then why is it so rare to see impressive chest development?
Is it because the chest is inherently difficult to build? NOT EVEN CLOSE. Although individual
variances and genetics can play a large role, for the most part the chest is not a stubborn
muscle group WHEN it’s trained properly along with good exercise programming.

The problem is that men don’t train their chest right. They don’t activate it to its best capacity,
they don’t train it in its fullest range of motion and they drive their bodies to plateau over and
over again. If you would like to build an impressive chest or you are frustrated keep reading…I
am about to blow your mind. Below I list the TOP 3 myths that are likely keeping you from
developing chiseled and muscular pecs.

FOR A FULL EXPLANATION OF MUSCLE ADAPTATION

AND HOW IT WORKS… CLICK HERE
 t t e r s
1 l the m a

Myt h o u t i s a l
w orking

The best and most effective exercises that build the pecs are pressing movements. Bench
presses (barbell or dumbbell), incline presses (barbell or dumbbell) and heavy dips for exam-
ple. Bodybuilders and experienced trainees know this which is why one or more of those
exercises starts off every one of their chest workouts. If those are such great exercises and
everyone does them then why aren’t people building their pecs easily?? The short answer…
they aren’t ACTIVATING their pecs to their fullest capacity.

Look around you. Look at the posture of people walking down the street or sitting at their
desks or even people at the gym. What is the most common issue with their posture?? They
“slump” and their shoulders round forward. The technical term is “upper cross syndrome”
and it is EXTREMELY common. In fact when I do an assessment of a new client I almost ex-
pect to see this postural deviation.

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 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE BUILD A GREAT CHEST

I am not going to get into the potential pain and injury risks with this type of posture…
that’s a different article. What is of most interest to you is that having this postural
deviation WILL prevent you from fully and effectively activating your pecs when you
press.

When you look at the pectoralis muscles (the major muscles of the chest) you can
clearly see where the attachments are…on one end you have it attaching all along
the sternum (the area in the middle of your ribcage) and its other end attaches at
the upper humerus (the upper arm bone). When the pecs contract they BRING THE
TWO ENDS TOGETHER…this is the action of the muscle. They bring your upper arm
towards the midline of your body. Now picture every chest exercise you know…they
all have this movement pattern.

In order for you to fully activate the pecs you need your shoulder blades to be very
stable…in fact when you press you should pin your shoulder blades back (but not
shrugged) to allow the chest to do the movement fully. Pressing without this crucial
factor involves and asks for much more muscle recruitment from muscles OTHER
than your pecs. If you want big triceps and shoulders from bench press and don’t
want a big chest then don’t worry about this…but if you want a big chest, you are
missing out on a LOT of progress if you don’t activate your mid-back while pressing.

In fact powerlifters have known this for years which is why you see them arching and
pinning their shoulders back to extreme levels when pressing…they know that doing
so maximizes leverage for big bench numbers.

In order to get good at this you will have to work muscles other than your chest so
that when you do your heavy presses your shoulders get the stable support you need
to fully activate the chest. Practice rows where you focus on pinning the shoulders
back and down so that you get the right posture to maximize your presses. A strong
back is essential for a strong and well-developed chest.

Bottom line: Work on correcting your posture with back exercises and pin your
shoulders back when pressing for maximum results.

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 e t t e r
s a l w ays b
avier i
t h 2 he
My Men have high levels of testosterone. Men
are also the physically stronger sex. These
are two true statements but they are
also an area of weakness for men. We
emphasize strength, and our testosterone
drives us to be competitive, so its easy to
predict that men tend to want to lift more
weight than they should. When I train
women, I usually have to convince them
to lift heavier but when I train men, its
VERY common that I have to convince
them to go LIGHTER. One of the biggest
ways this problem affects men is in how
they train within ranges of motion. If
you shorten your range of motion in an
exercise you can definitely lift more
weight…this is a fact. Take your max
bench press and add 50lbs, but when you
bench it only go down 6 inches. It will
undoubtedly be manageable.
 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE BUILD A GREAT CHEST

The longer the range of motion the less a muscle can contract…HOWEVER, long range of
motion also affects the greatest percentage of muscle fibers. When you lift weights you
are trying to send a stress signal to the body through the muscles. This signal tells the
body to become stronger. Keep in mind, muscles are made up of thousands of individual
fibers and one of the keys to building maximal muscle is in STIMULATING as many of them
as possible. Although short ranges of motion allow you to lift more, they are far less
effective at stimulating the entire muscle…they are LESS effective at building muscle and
they are less effective at developing real world strength.

If I get a new client who is having trouble building their chest I almost always also notice they
go too heavy on their chest movements (especially the pressing ones) and they use shortened
ranges of motion. They come to me frustrated with bloated egos. When I have them really
focus on FULL ranges of motion with a stretch at the bottom of the lift and a hard squeeze at
the top their claimed strength takes a huge hit but in almost no time they feel better as they
notice their chests developing faster than ever before. It makes a HUGE difference.

Bottom l ine: focus o n t he f ullest ranges of motion (w ithin your in dividual safe range) for
maximum chest development

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My t h 3 lifti ng=bu i l d i n g

Here is a paradigm shift…your chest doesn’t build when you’re in the gym. All the exercises
and reps you do aren’t building your muscles…they only send the signal that tells the body
to build muscle. That signal tells the body to ADAPT. Its all about adaptation and once you
understand this it will become much easier to avoid plateaus.
When you bench press with sufficient intensity you cause micro tears within muscle. This is
part of the reason why you get sore (although soreness DOES NOT signify a good workout).
The body senses this damage and aims to prevent it from ever happening again in the near
future through ADAPTING. It begins the process of building stronger and bigger muscles so
that the same stress doesn’t cause the same damage. Understanding this is key if you want
to build impressive muscles.
Different rep ranges tend to send different types of stress signals to the body and each one
asks for a specific type of adaptation. Studies have shown that the rep range that sends the
loudest muscle-building signal (also known as hypertrophy) is within the 8-12 rep range.
This knowledge has become common which is good (accurate information is always good)
but people have also failed to realize that the body seeks to adapt CONSTANTLY and if the
signal remains the same for too long it doesn’t adapt with the same speed or intensity. This is
why new lifters gain muscle so much faster than experienced lifters…the signal is new. Keep
the signal the same for too long and you enter into the realm of adaptation fatigue. Your
body stops responding regardless of how hard you train. This is one thing I see frequently...
people get stuck in that “best muscle building rep range” of 8-12 reps except at this point it
has become the WORST rep range for them.

FOR A FULL EXPLANATION OF MUSCLE ADAPTATION AND HOW IT WORKS… CLICK HERE

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Its also important to note that although the 8-12 rep ranges send the best hypertrophy sig-
nal this doesn’t mean the lower reps and the higher reps don’t. Up to a certain point (above
25 reps) ALL rep ranges build muscle. Of course, none of that matters if you stay in any rep
range for too long and you hit adaptation fatigue in which case your body stops responding
regardless.

One of the EASIEST things you can do to get your chest to respond NOW is to simply train
in a new and different rep range. High reps 15-25 and low reps 1-3 will pack muscle on you
quickly if they are new stimulus for your body. Focus on training in these new rep ranges
specifically for a few weeks and allow some muscle adaptation to take place but make sure to
switch out before adaptation fatigue sets in. Then switch to another range. This simple tip
alone will prevent a LOT of the pitfalls and plateaus that can bring your progress to a grinding
halt.

You will notice different things in these rep ranges as well. The low rep ranges will give you
a hard feel to your muscles while the higher reps will give you the best pumps of your life.
Learn to enjoy them all because all of them contribute to muscle growth.

Follow the above advice NOW and pay attention to how fast your body responds. Its pretty
amazing what can happen when the right signals are sent for maximum and accelerated ad-
aptation to occur.
 Sal Di Stefano

Sal was 14 years old when he touched his first weight and from that moment
he was hooked. Growing up asthmatic, frequently sick and painfully skinny,
Sal saw weightlifting as a way to change his body and his self-image. In the
beginning, Sal’s body responded quickly to his training but then his gains
slowed and eventually stopped altogether. Not one to give up easily, Sal
began reading every muscle building publication he could get his hands on
to find ways to bust through his plateau. He read Arnold’s Encyclopedia
of Bodybuilding, Mentzer’s Heavy Duty, Kubrick’s Dinosaur Training, and
every muscle magazine he could find; Weider’s Muscle and Fitness, Flex,
Iron Man and even Muscle Media 2000. Each time he read about a new
technique or methodology he would test it out in the gym. At age 18 his
passion for the art and science of resistance training was so consuming
that he decided to make it his profession and become a personal trainer.
By 19 he was managing health clubs and by 22 he owned his own gym.
After 17 years as a personal trainer he has dedicated himself to bringing
science and TRUTH to the fitness industry. Sal is co-founder and highly
instrumental in the creation of a revolutionary muscle development
system know as: Muscular Adaptation Programming Systems or MAPS.
FIND OUT MORE HERE Systems or MAPS. FIND OUT MORE HERE

Take a peek at our YouTube video showing some CHEST exercises HERE:
https://youtu.be/cBIu0lKuZ04?list=PLl4OfNJvCicIE6PCAYaGNsqNE4AwU_WBW