Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
Q: I need to build up the inside of my chest, the cleavage, so to speak. A training friend told me that really squeezing and flexing at the bottom of cable crossovers will get my inner pecs popping. Is that true?
A: While full-range cable crossovers can help develop the entire pec muscle—even the inner sections—believe it or not, the BEST way to attack that insertion point of the target muscle is by emphasizing stretch overload… [Read more…]
Q: I’m using the Size Surge program, and it’s absolutely fantastic. My only complaint is that I want my bench press power to go up faster. I’m not sure that the two work sets on the bench are enough to make that happen. What would you suggest?
A: Two work sets can be enough. During Jonathan’s original 10-week cycle, his bench went from 200 x 10 to 290 x 6. But to be fair, he was regaining some size and strength that he’d had previously. Still a spectacular increase. [Read more…]
Q: I got the X-traordinary Arms e-book, but not for the arm routines (although they are great, and I learned a lot from them). I got it for the 3D HIT program, which is absolutely fantastic (I’m done in about 45 minutes!) and is working really well for me. Anyway, my arms are good; it’s my chest that needs work. You’ve said that the 3D HIT program is perfect for specializing
A: Yes, because of the efficient abbreviated nature of 3D HIT, it’s perfect for rotating in specialization routines for one or two bodyparts. It’s so efficient because it has you train each muscle with one work set in each position of flexion for full-range work, a minimum for continuous full development. That leaves more fuel for concentrated work on weak areas, which, in your case, is chest.
[Read more…]Q: I’m trying to get that crisp division between my pecs. I want to be able to see the inner part of my chest muscles from the lower part all the way up to the collarbone. I do lots of cable crossovers, but I’m only seeing a bit of detail in my lower chest. Any suggestions?
A: One problem may be fat in the area. A bit of adipose covering the pecs will blur or negate any detail. You need to be fairly lean to see the chest-muscle division (cleavage) from top to bottom.
[Read more…]Q: I have trouble feeling my chest working on bench presses. I’m in phase 1 of Jonathan’s X-traordinary Size Surge Workout program, so my sets for chest are limited. Is it okay to do more bench press work sets, or should I add an isolation exercise like pec deck flyes?
A: First be sure you’re using the concentrated warmup sequence for big multi-joint exercises as we’ve mentioned in a previous article. For those who missed it… [Read more…]
Q: Bench press seems to be the “measure of a man” even today. I’ve always sucked at it, but never really hurt for chest development. I prefer the decline alternative, just like you guys, but I also observe that many military guys have good chest development, many with pushups alone. How do you build a good chest if you suck at bench pressing?
A: Funny you should mention pushups. Steve has found that to be a great exercise to end his chest routine with—and he sucks at bench presses, too. Injuring his shoulder bench pressing powerlifting style in his 20s didn’t help matters. And it still hurts him… [Read more…]
