A powerful, full looking chest is something most guys dream of. It allows you to look great in a tank top, and makes the upper body look bigger and fuller. Aside from that, there is functional strength and performance to be gained by having a big chest. To understand how to maximize growth in the chest, we need to understand the anatomy first.
Chest 101
Pectoralis Major: this is the largest part of the muscle that most people refer to when talking about a big chest.
Pectoralis Minor: This assists with shoulder movement.
Serratus Anterior: This stabilizes the shoulder blade and assists with pushing movements.
Understanding this allows you to understand better how to maximize training the area to stimulate the most growth.
Top Chest Exercises
Bench Press: This targets the pec major. I actually prefer the incline bench as it’ll stimulate not only the entire chest just as well as a flat bench press, but also emphasize the upper portion of the chest muscle for that fuller upper pec look.
Push-Ups: a bodyweight exercise that can be modified for those limited on equipment or unable to add weight yet. You can incline, decline, or add weight.
Cable Flyes: This will isolate the chest more and provide a stretch and tension on the muscle like no other chest exercise can. This will induce stretch-mediated hypertrophy, which allows for more growth of the distal region of the chest.
Dips: These are perfect for hitting the lower region of the chest while also stimulating the triceps.
How to Build a Chest Workout
Rep Ranges: Make sure you have a variety of rep ranges you cycle through monthly. You can do 3-6 reps for more of a strength focus, 10-15 for more overall muscle size and fullness, and 15+ reps for added volume and size. They all target different muscle fiber types differently to allow the chest to get all fibers fully stimulated over time.
Progressive Overload: If you want to add muscle, you should aim to do 1 more rep or lift 5 more pounds each week. This may be linear at first and eventually plateau and that’s okay. We can’t expect to see consistent results every week. The overall goal during a muscle building phase should be to see the numbers move up on some level. This allows you to judge intensity properly while ensuring you aren’t going too heavy.
Form: Make sure you are taking the above exercises through a full range of motion. When people complain about a lack of chest growth, it usually has to do with improper form, or an overcompensation of other muscles moving the weight. Your form should allow you to feel the chest getting the bulk of the stimulus during the exercise. While the burn is not the sole indicator of growth, you should feel the chest being worked and fatigued over the course of your sets.
Nutrition: Make sure you are eating a diet high in protein (1 gram per pound of your goal weight). Make sure you are consuming enough carbohydrates and fats to fuel your workouts. You want to make sure you are in a surplus to grow. This can look like seeing your strength go up week to week or seeing the scale go up over time. If you find your strength and weight is plateauing, it may be time to increase your caloric intake.
Recovery: Lifting is when you break down muscle. The recovery time from that is when your muscle is growing. Get 7-9 hours of quality sleep to allow for proper muscle repair. Allow yourself at least 24-48 hours before you hit the same muscle again to give the muscle time to heal.
