If you do them the right way, you won’t have to do
so many other exercises. (Photo: Courtesy of John Fedele / Getty Images)
In general, men focus too much on their
chests. After all, the bench press is the first weightlifting move most of
us learn, and we too often aim to build our pecs before addressing
a weak core, legs, or poor
functional strength. That’s not to say you should skip the chest.
Instead, take a smarter, more holistic approach to the upper
body, outlined here.
Exercise 1: 1.5 Rep Bench Presses
(Photo: Courtesy of Dave and Les Jacobs / Getty Images)
This exercise is simple
and effective. Unrack a standard barbell bench press, and lower the weight to
the chest. Then drive it up to the halfway point, pause, and then
lower it down to the chest once more. Finish the rep by pressing the
weight all the way up to the top. That’s one rep. This method allows the chest
to work twice as much as the triceps, since the half-rep in the beginning
doesn’t involve the arms. It’s a great way to bust through plateaus and make
lighter weight feel heavy. Focus on sets of 6-8 reps. Rest 2 minutes between
sets.
(Photo: Courtesy of Andy Crawford / Getty Images)
Stand up tall and with flat hands, squeeze a 5 or 10
pound plate between your hands at chest level. Maintaining pressure on the
plate, slide the hands away from the chest, in a straight line. Don’t allow
your shoulders to round. Squeeze the chest hard upon full extension, and slowly
return to the starting position. Work on sets of 10 to 15 reps. this
is great as a secondary movement to a major chest movement like the bench press
or incline press. It’s also an excellent “finisher” post workout. Watch an example here.
Exercise 3: Ring Push Ups
Exercise 3: Ring Push Ups
(Photo: Courtesy of Dominique Douieb / Getty Images)
Doing push-ups using rings or another suspension
training system like the TRX, creates instability at the hand that needs to be
steadied via the rotator cuff. As a bonus, the chest now has a further, more
complete range of motion to travel through, since there’s no ground to block
it. Focus on sets of 12-15 reps. If you feel too much shoulder stress during
this exercise, adjust either the rings or your positioning so you’re set up
with your hands further away from the ground.
Exercise 4: Bench Press Ladder Sets
(Photo: Courtesy of Mike Harrington / Getty Images)
Using a barbell or dumbbells, start by selecting the
weight for a 10 to 12 rep max, performing 2 reps of a standard flat or incline
bench press. Then take 10 to 15 seconds of complete rest. Immediately following
the rest, perform 3 reps. Rest for 10 to 15 seconds and then do 5 reps. Rest
once more, and then finish with 10 reps.
This is a good way to trick your muscles into
performing 20 reps with your 10 rep max, taking advantage of mini breaks within
the set. Perform 4 sets of ladders, and rest 3 minutes between rounds.
Exercise 5: Pin Press
(Photo: Courtesy of Eric Bean / Getty Images)
Set up a bench in the squat cage and set the safety
pins so the bar lands on them instead of your chest, about 6 inches away from
your torso. Load the weight and perform a single repetition by driving the
weight off the pins, to full lockout. Lower the weight quickly, and let it
crash to the pins and settle. Reset yourself, and perform another rep. Cluster
your reps using this fashion, until you’ve performed 5 to 6 reps.
Rest 3 minutes between rounds, and perform 5 sets. This will train strength
from a dead stop — you won’t be using momentum to help the weight get out
of the bottom position, which asks more of your absolute force production.
Exercise 6: Post Workout Burnouts
Exercise 6: Post Workout Burnouts
(Photo: Courtesy of David Foster / Getty Images)
After a heavy flat or incline bench press workout,
you want to keep going. After your final work set, finish off by dropping the
weight to 60 percent of what you just lifted, and performing one set of as many
reps as possible — NFL combine style. Make it your goal to hit 20 reps in
your burnout set. Use a spotter for help as you approach failure. Check out
this example.
Exercise 7: Dumbbell Floor Press
(Photo: Courtesy of Wulf Voss / Getty Images)
If you’ve got bad shoulders, this one’s for you. Lay
flat on the floor, get tight, and set up dumbbells in the same position that
you would normally set up for a bench press. Using only your chest and triceps,
drive the weights up to the top position, and lower slowly. Pause briefly with
the elbows on the floor, and repeat. The lack of bottom-end range can act as a
shoulder saver, and the use of dumbbells can allow a lifter to play with his
elbow position to find one comfortable for his joints. Here’s a video example.
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