I’ve whined about only having a bare-bones home gym in a lot of newsletters—50-pound PowerBlock dumbbells, an adjustable bench, and a doorway chinning bar.
The new ebook details how I made the best of that pathetic setup and re-muscled my 62-year-old physique training only 35 minutes 3 times a week.
My ideal chest exercise, which I emphasize at most upper-body workouts, is dumbbell decline presses.
But how does that exercise stack up to another ideal, cable chest presses. Let’s take a look at each…
One factor that makes both ideal is the almost perfect resistance curve: The resistance tapers off as you press; however…
There is zero resistance at the top on dumbbell declines while you still have some resistance at the top on cable chest presses—if the pulleys are set slightly outside the shoulders.
With zero resistance at the top on DB declines, the tension is off of the pecs for an instant. Since continuous tension is best, that’s a demerit…
Yes, you could stop short at the top, but that reduces your range of motion, as in a barbell bench press with hands locked on a bar outside your shoulders. Not good…
So the cable chest press is best, right? Not so fast…
With cables you get drag on the negative stroke. As your hands move back, the weight plates slide on the guide rods. It doesn’t matter how perfect the machine, there is always going to be friction.
That’s important because research shows that the eccentric, or negative, stroke significantly contributes to hypertrophy—perhaps more than the positive.
And you’re stronger on the negative than the positive…
So you don’t want the negative stroke to have less resistance due to friction, as in the cable chest press—if anything, you at least want it to be the same as the positive stroke, as on the DB decline…
If that factor is most important, then the DB declines are best. But there’s that zero-resistance thing at the top. Dammit!
So which is better?
Not to cop out, but if you have both exercises available, do both. You could do DB declines at one chest workout and cable chest presses at the next…
Or do both at each chest workout. Simply divide your sets, a few for DB declines and a few for cable chest presses. And that’s the order I recommend…
Do the DB declines first to get that full negative-stress effect. Follow with cable chest presses for some contraction action at the top.
It’s the efficient way to get your pec-size pop.
Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, my complete workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
The Great “Magnesium Conspiracy”
If you’re on social media, which we all are, you’ve been hearing a lot about magnesium lately. The fact is, magnesium deficiency could be one of the greatest health conspiracies in history…
First, let’s be clear: Magnesium is THE single most studied mineral in existence. It powers over 300 critical, life-saving reactions in your body (including dozens of shockers mentioned here).
To date, thousands of studies have proven it to be beneficial for the heart, energy, metabolism, immunity, sleep, pain relief, and more.
The only two-time Nobel Prize winner, Linus Pauling, recommended daily supplementation of magnesium (at least 350mg per day). So do over 100,000 courageous doctors—including top MDs from Harvard.
BUT THERE’S A PROBLEM…
- Most fortified foods/products use SYNTHETIC (chemical-made), low-grade magnesium the body can’t absorb, AND…
- Most ONLY CONTAIN 1-3 forms of magnesium (at best); when the reality is your body needs ALL 7 FORMS OF MAGNESIUM
Given how much magnesium helps with stress, sleep, heart health, energy and more, it’s easily one of the most dangerous health hoaxes ever.
THE GOOD NEWS: there’s a miracle that occurs when your body gets ALL the magnesium that it needs, in all the forms that it needs, at the optimal dosage.
Just remember — if you’re *only* taking one form of magnesium — YOU ARE STILL DEFICIENT!
===>> Why Getting ALL 7 FORMS Of Magnesium Lowers Stress, Fixes Sleep, and Boosts Healthy Metabolism