Best Overall Chest Development Excercise

[Red Dog]

http://www.thefitshow.com/week3/milos_chest_med.htm


I know this has been posted here a couple times in random, old threads, but some of the tips in that video are really helpful..

The main things he's advocating in that vid -- dropping the weight down, really strict form, pausing, mind-muscle connection and all that noise -- really helped me out when my chest was stalled.. so I figured I would just call a little attention to it for whoever may be interested..

 

[bryan4592]

Gotta go with DB incline for this one. Flat DB would have to be second for me. Probably Dips after that.

 

[packers1200]

usually i have to do normal bench which for me is alot of triceps. then at the end of a work out i do wide grip to finish my pec workout off. It really depends on the grip for me with flat barbell bench.

 

[Sortabuffdude]

None of the traditional exercises really did much for me and my pecs, so I just totally went by feel and concocted a homeade recipe that worked for me (like Really worked!)

I alternate between 3 exercises, 2 of which I seem to have invented. I do something I call "pec crunches" where I hold a barbell just above my upper pecs near my neck and do a crunch movement just a few inches up (really works the peak contraction angle). Then instead of regular flyes with arms to the side I just put my arms down toward my hips, and just raise the dumbells from the floor to just past my hips and down again (while keeping my back flat on the bench, no arching). Then I do a bunch of "power twister" flexes (the thing with the big coil spring in the middle and two handles). The one comon theme among these is they all really emphasize the "peak contraction", the one principle I find most effective. I also do the conventional stuff quite often, but these are my 3 favorite that seem to work the best. Isometric Flexing also works good, again all about the peak contraction thing with me.

And one other thing, You can't ignore your front delts! Make sure you INCLUDE front delt work when you work on delts. Your body is only as strong as your weakest link and weak front delts will greatly inhibit your ability to develop your pecs.

 

[Matt6969]

for me i do heavy flat bench obviosely and dumbell flys after that i do light weight bench and dumbell flys

 

[Bravoboy]

I love this one trully. and don't get to do it enough. incline seated cable fly's. hooked on the bottom of the cable machines. with a pause @ the closing rep. superset that with some close grip pushups. Burn baby burn.

 

[Gutterpump]

I love this one trully. and don't get to do it enough. incline seated cable fly's. hooked on the bottom of the cable machines. with a pause @ the closing rep. superset that with some close grip pushups. Burn baby burn.

I do these now as well, but try holding and contracting on each rep hehe. I now have striations between my pecs / upper chest when I never had them before. Closegrip pushups are awesome too, I contract with rep as well and hold the contraction. It's bringing in some nice definition.

 

[Gutterpump]

And one other thing, You can't ignore your front delts! Make sure you INCLUDE front delt work when you work on delts. Your body is only as strong as your weakest link and weak front delts will greatly inhibit your ability to develop your pecs.

I have problems with my front delts, they are too big lol. I personally don't need to hit them ever with isolation work, they get worked on heavy chest days. Trying to even out my chest to the size of those front delts is a tough task for me lol. My shoulder days only consist of side lateral raises, rear delt work and clean + press / standing military press, occasionally upright rows, but they are by far the largest/most developed muscles on my body.

My main problem is trying not to utilize front delts while working chest, this will hinder chest growth.

Right now I'm straying away from BB press, and just doing incline DB press supersetted with flies, then repeated on flat and decline. Then I move onto cable flies and closegrip pushpress and my pecs are screaming at me the next day.

 

[Bravoboy]

oh yeah, good stuff.

 

[Gutterpump]

great video here as well:

http://thefitshow.com/week3/milos_chest_med.htm

 

[BigLester]

Been lifting for 5 years and i know this is a ameture question, but as all of you know the chest is a very strong section of the body. It seems as if you could work out doing chest excersises all day. What I want to know is how much is too much in one day? ( 1 Hour-5 Hours- or longer)? When does it become bad for your muscles? How Easy is it to overtrain?

 

[xtreme1]

If you are looking to put on mass I would do your flat bench with resistance bands. You will get greet development using any of the exercises on the poll. the problem is how is your chest shaped. The key is not always to go heavy to put mass on. The overall key is to get resistance all the way through the rep. When you push the weight up pause at the top. The bands will push against you requiering you to hold more weight at the top of the lift, I do a 3 to 4 count before I bring the weight down. If you want to be creative you can set up dumbell presses at the cross over machine, If your gym has those leather ankle straps put them at the bottom on each side. Put the leater collars on your wrists. The on the stack put the pins at 20 lbs to start. Now do your presses with the dumbells. You will have the stack going against you each rep. Stay with the same dumbell weight but go up on the stack each set. Your goal is to get the stack up to the same weight as your dumbells. So if the dumbells are 50lds and the stack is 50lbs you are pushing 100lbs but the resistance against you is equal. This is by far the best chest exersize you will ever do. For the record I have my PT cert from NASAM. Good luck with the development.

 

[SteelEntity]

contracting at the end of the movement is so key with chest. Really the burn.

 

[MrBrightside]

DB Incline FTW.

I swear, it seems like I move up +5 lbs every week on DB Incline.

 

[griller88]

Just watched that film on chest exercises by Milo. Really great stuff. I learned a lot. Thanks for the link Gutter!

 

[SteelEntity]

Milos' routine, the one where you take no breaks in between. I don't see how that is beneficial at all, except for stamina conditioning.

 

[MEH89]

what do you think of push ups for chest development?

 

[SteelEntity]

what do you think of push ups for chest development?

if you have a training partner to add resistance then they are great.

 

[Matt6969]

my lifts

alright i am just curious.
i do alot of chest, back, and arm work are these lifts good for my size.

flat bench- 250

palms out wide grip pullups- 22

preacher curl- 115

tricep pulldown- 205

for my weight i am outlifting most of the people i lift with but i still dont really know if that is good for a 155 lb. guy

 

[SteelEntity]

alright i am just curious.
i do alot of chest, back, and arm work are these lifts good for my size.

flat bench- 250

palms out wide grip pullups- 22

preacher curl- 115

tricep pulldown- 205

for my weight i am outlifting most of the people i lift with but i still dont really know if that is good for a 155 lb. guy

for 155 that is very good. How tall are you?

 

[Gator Alum 03]

alright i am just curious.
i do alot of chest, back, and arm work are these lifts good for my size.

flat bench- 250

palms out wide grip pullups- 22

preacher curl- 115

tricep pulldown- 205

for my weight i am outlifting most of the people i lift with but i still dont really know if that is good for a 155 lb. guy

for a manlet that is solid, no doubt.

 

[Gutterpump]

Milos' routine, the one where you take no breaks in between. I don't see how that is beneficial at all, except for stamina conditioning.

I think the one posted in here must be different then. I didn't hear him mention anything about no breaks...he's focusing mostly on chest development in this vid.


btw, high rep close-grip squeeze press (slight incline) and seated incline cable flies (holding contraction at end, crossing arms) are working wonders for me right now after including them in the routine. Decline flies as well as squeezing the shoulder blades as far back / close together as I can on bb press. I don't even care about how much I'm lifting anymore, it's all about the contraction/form.

 

[SteelEntity]

I think the one posted in here must be different then. I didn't hear him mention anything about no breaks...he's focusing mostly on chest development in this vid.


btw, high rep close-grip squeeze press (slight incline) and seated incline cable flies (holding contraction at end, crossing arms) are working wonders for me right now after including them in the routine. Decline flies as well as squeezing the shoulder blades as far back / close together as I can on bb press. I don't even care about how much I'm lifting anymore, it's all about the contraction/form.

Yeah I am starting to use machines more for chest because I can really isolate the muscle more. Peck deck is my best exercise for chest development believe it or not.

 

[msucurt]

Yeah I am starting to use machines more for chest because I can really isolate the muscle more. Peck deck is my best exercise for chest development believe it or not.

ive been doing Gironda dips for the last week or so.

 

[HarryManback]

Flys always made my chest nice. Both, cable and bb. i would bring the cable past zero to hit the inner part real well, and do the dumbells like arnie, where you only do half reps where the muscle is streched the most.

 

[jcp2]

I think for someone that is looking to get started lifting the Incline Barbell would be the best exercise. I am 6'3 and the one thing i have noticed is that the incline keeps my chest working through out the movement for a longer period of time than a flat barbell press. I don't think dumbells are great for beginners as they don't develop strength as well imo and strength and size correlate pretty well until you get pretty advanced. This is just my opinion.

 

[BB12]

no sh*t... push-ups!!! lots of them!

 

[pdx89]

dips for sure

 

[Matt6969]

i dont do much dips but when i do them i like them to be weighted.

 

[MMAMONSTER19]

Whats a exercise for your chest that hits the outside lower part of your pec (if your standing and not moving with your arms resting not moving right where your bis hit your chest area, i think its Decling DBs and flies if theres anything else please let me know! thanks

 

[lonewolf0420]

Any good db supersets?

 

[ffmedic32]

How about some good ol DB pullovers.

 

[Brolic]

Dude these polls are lame, why dont you just ask people what exercise they find best for chest mass?

flyes

 

[Arco]

Old school all the way=dips
Dips are underrated, and a great chest work out.

 

[Superdoad]

I didn't read any of these before I posted. I'm just giving my opinion (probably shouldn't cause of the beer buzz). Anyway, I choose the flat db press because of the balancing/strecthing part. but i can push the hardest on a flat barbell press. That makes me think that because I can go really heavy that every muscle is trying its hardest and therefore I'm getting every little bit of recruitment going on, in every muscle involved. If everything is struggling every time, there should be some hypertrophy going on(in everything).

 

[Superdoad]

Finish off your fly's with presses then hit as many dips as you can.
Tri set them titties.

 

[Insidious1]

Dips dips and more dips! Lol

But I have plateued pretty hard recently and started incorporating rest-pauses and heavy negatives on my chest presses (incline and flat)... I have noticed a considerable difference since I started this 4 weeks ago! Chest feels and looks fuller... And I'm finally getting sore like I used to! Feels great... Just my opinion though

 

[chrisrob05]

I think your chest will only grow as much as your back will allow it to-However, flat/incline DB presses followed be 3 sets of incline push-ups to failure gave me good overall growth

 

[Type O Hero]

Finish off your fly's with presses then hit as many dips as you can.
Tri set them titties.

Sometimes I'll do presses right after flyes using the same poundage and I love it at the end of a chest workout (which is usually when I'm doing my flyes). After the point where you can't do any more flyes, you're still able to do some presses which means even though other muscles are coming into play now, the chest is still having to work as hard as it can.

Great technique.

 

[swollwilliams]

like the sound of that one Type O... gonna give this a go next chest day... i think i've i've tried just about every combo/exercise out there for chest lol...