Today we’re talking about the CHEST, but more specifically, how NOT to train your chest if your goal is muscle gain. I’m still seeing a lot of the same mistakes in the gym and if you’re not seeing consistent chest growth, I’m sure after this video your workouts are going to be much more effective.
1. Stop Doing So Many Isolation Exercises
Just because you know 15 exercises that target your chest, doesn’t mean you need to do them all every workout. What ends up happening is that you make your workouts MUCH LESS effective because you don’t give exercises that create the most impact for muscle damage and growth the attention they deserve.
For example, some common isolation movements we like to train with are chest flys and the plate press. Now while these are excellent exercises to incorporate into your routine because they help build your Mind-Muscle Connection (MMC) and can be used for high volume training for an amazing pump, you shouldn’t be giving them the same amount of time and attention as you’re giving a big compound movement like the bench press.
And the reason is simple. You will be able to train with 10 times more weight when benching compared to any other chest exercise. So this means if you plan on utilizing a chest fly, make sure you kill your chest first with 8 -10 sets of the bench press, then finish up with 3 – 5 sets of chest flys. You will INSTANTLY see a significant difference in how you feel after the workout and after a few weeks I guarantee you will see growth.
2. Take The Phrase “Less Is More” One Step Further
So this actually plays off the first tip but I wanted to make it a separate point because it’s important, especially if you run into one of those weeks where you’re super busy and your gym time is cut down significantly. I feel like mentally we convince ourselves that there is “no point” in going to the gym if we can’t do our entire workout, so we skip it if life gets too crazy.
Well, I always say that something is better than nothing and if you only have 30 minutes to lift and it’s chest day, don’t divide that time up into 3 sets of flat bench, 3 sets of incline bench and 3 sets of chest flys. Instead, hit as many sets of the flat bench press as you can within your time limit. Keep your rest periods short (around 2 minutes max) and stick to 10 – 15 reps for the first 15 minutes. Then for the last 15 minutes, boost the weight and go for 6 – 8 reps.
You should be able to get 10 sets easy this way and to be honest, if you feel like your chest workout has gotten a bit stale lately I highly recommend trying this even if you are not short on time. Just do this workout for 30 minutes and then maybe give those abs you’ve been neglecting a proper smashing! Actually you should try my old school abs routine, I will link to it HERE.
3. Do NOT Neglect Your Back & Rear Delts
The final tip is make sure you DO NOT neglect your back and rear delts. Yes you might be “training” them, but if your goal right now is to have a big chest, you might not be as excited to train your back and rear delts and could be as a result not training them as hard.
But the rewards for proper back and rear delts training is HUGE. It will decrease your chance of suffering a shoulder or pec injury over time and it will allow you to push heavier weights with more explosive force and stability.
Also, a strong upper and mid back and shoulders will counteract all the pressing motions and restore balance to your upper body. This is the most effective way to reduce your chance of getting a pec tear or rotator cuff tear. Not to mention it will help you fix your posture which will naturally make your chest appear bigger and more muscular.
A strong back and shoulders to push off of while pressing, dipping or performing any chest movement will act as a strong foundation for your pressing and pushing movements.
One more quick tip! If you’re currently having shoulder pain while pressing or dipping, I want you to try repping out ONE set of face pulls (15 reps) in-between every single pressing or pushing set on your chest day.
This might help you not only lift more weight, but it’s also known to frequently relieve the majority of the pain you might feel in your shoulder area if you have some tightness there.
Program Selector – Get The Right Program For You! –
—————————————-
Subscribe To My Channel –
—————————————-
1 on 1 Online Coaching –
—————————————-
DOWNLOAD MY APP! – iPhone & Android!
—————————————-
MORE TIPS! –
chest training,chest workout,chest,bodybuilding,bench press,build muscle,workout for chest,exercises for chest,chest exercises,bigger chest,lower chest workout,inner chest,pec workout
37 comments
iPhone App Is Dropping Tomorrow!!! But today we’re talking about the CHEST, but more specifically, how NOT to train your chest if your goal is muscle gain. I’m still seeing a lot of the same mistakes in the gym and if you’re not seeing consistent chest growth, I’m sure after this video your workouts are going to be much more effective.
But if you're looking to overhaul your entire workout program and build more muscle than ever before, just answer a few quick questions and my program selector tool will point you in the right direction! Then use code FREEFITNESS for a free 30 day trail for any of my programs!
https://muscularstrength.com/Program-Finder
I love these series! Keep up the good work!
A short chest workout is incline DB press and chest dips.
This info was helpful for me as I was in a stage in my workout where I needed something different. More sets and a simpler workout has def made me sore in a good way. I'm hoping you do a shoulder video like this. Thanks for taking the time to share your advice.
Wtf kind of face pull is that?? Completely took the external rotation out of the movement
Would you say that dumbbell bench press is a good substitute for barbell ?
8 to 10 sets bb bench????? wtf. im doing 5 sets at MOST
I can't even imagine 8-10 sets of 8-10 reps on the bench
2:53 i feel personally attacked scott
Totally agree with the shoulder tip 👍🏼
"How many sets you got left bro?"
"Oh just 9"
"o_0……."
Bahbell
Hey Scott I’m pretty new to working out. Whenever I use the chest press machine it only seems to burn and ache my triceps.
If I use the pec dec it hurts my shoulders too much. Any advice?
I bench every 2 days and periodize rep ranges every other workout. Can’t argue with the results but it’s repetitive.
Hey Scott it'd be pretty awesome for u to do a video on how many reps and set or reps total per week for each muscle group. Like large ones, chest/back/legs, minor ones, bi's, tri's, traps, shoulders(rotator cuff) exercises. So far I go for 300reps a wk total for each large muscle groups and 150reps per wk total for each minor muscle, and ofcourse switching heavy day and moderate day and exercises well as reps….. Looking forward to any responses and tips.
2:53 haha that’s funny & true.. 😂
I watched your video from a while back saying do the dumbbell flys, the plate press thing and dumbbell press, and not give as much attention to the bench press. And do these a few times a week to see progress, so I'd started doing that. Now this video seems to contradict that…confused face.🤔
This guy contradicts himself soo much in almost every video. I could pick this vid apart massively but instead I'll just point out that he says to avoid isolation exercises for chest basically bc they're not good bang for ur buck. But then recommends training abs…..dumby
I'm really weak. I can barely do 3×5 of 85lbs with 4 minutes rest… No way I'll be able to do 8 sets on 2 min rest
En now befo we get stah-ted
Shit this guys changed
@2:56 I heard "give your girl a.proper smashing 😂😅
I feel so targeted lol
Can u talk about pullups next for back mass?
YES to everything !!! I've trained since 1979 and i think YOU are the voice young people should listen to 👍
Great video but 4:38 is not a face pull, especially as you finish each rep with internal rotation.
I missed my last chest day, so I rolled it into triceps day. I didn't have enough time for both so I did a full triceps workout, and then 4 x 10 of the flat bench dumbbell press. That was better than no chest workout at all for the first half of the week (chest days are Tuesdays and Fridays), and keeping in mind that chest and triceps ideally go together, it worked out. So long as I get my second chest routine completed, it's still a net benefit.
In short, just remind yourself that no matter what you're doing at the gym, you're still doing better than the people who stayed home.
Facepulls to the chest? Jeff Cavalier just had a heart attack.
I wish I watched this ages ago. I always do the three sets of three exercises thing. Shit. Great video as always mate!!
are calf raises and wrist curls good for chest?
I have a round shape chest and one with a sharp turn how to make them both look similar
8-10 sets?
Capability to do 8-10 sets of exercise means you doing crap in every set.
Nicely done set leaves you exhausted. Average guy does 3-4 sets
THAT SHOULDER FACE PULL MAN YOU SAVED ME FROM A LOT OF SHOULDER PAIN THANK YOU
tried it last time i had chest but didn't do them right, did them with correct form today and instantly relieved 99.99%of rotator cuff and shoulder pain EPIC
How much sets for chest?..
I'm a fan from the beginning because you are not about click baits but what you want to tell.