Are you one of those people who have a hard time building up their chest? Do you feel like you're stuck on a plateau and can't seem to break through no matter how hard you try? When it comes to working out, there is one body part that always seems to lag behind – the chest.
Building a muscular chest can be a challenge until you know the right exercises and techniques, and that's when you can start seeing results real soon.
Well, if you are struggling to achieve that Hulk-like chest, here is a sure-fire way to Hulk up your chest without having to resort to heavyweights and long hours in the gym. And it's called the 1/4 rep pump. Sounds too good to be true? It's not. I'll show you how it works below. Keep reading!
Tips for Training Your Lagging Chest
Training the lower pecs (chest) is thought to be challenging, but that's just a generalized assumption. Try these clever tricks to build your pecs real fast and without burning yourself out.
Compound Exercises for Increased Muscle Engagement
If you're looking to build your chest and boost your upper body strength, it's important to focus on compound movements that use multiple muscle groups at once. This is particularly true for lagging chest muscles, which tend to be weak than larger muscle groups like the back or shoulders.
Using exercises like bench presses or pushups can help strengthen those muscles and increase overall upper body strength.
Related Article: Compound Vs Isolation Exercises
Repeat the Lower-Pec Movement
For lagging chest development, a great tip is to do the chest moves twice in a workout - the first rep at the beginning and the second one mid-way.
The first time through, focus on getting a good stretch in the pecs and really contracting the muscle hard at the top of the rep. The second time through, focus on lifting heavier weight and getting 6-8 reps. This will help you build a strong and muscular chest.
While compound exercises help strengthen the entire body, building chest along the way, make sure to add in some isolated movements. These exercises will help you target each individual head of the pec muscle and ensure that your entire chest is evenly developed.
Try New Chest Exercises
It's essential to keep surprising and challenging your body with new exercises. You do not have to invent new moves; anything you have done in the near past counts as a "new" move because your muscles will have forgotten the pattern, and they will have a healthy surprise.
Doing new exercise makes your body move out of its comfort zone, which requires more effort. More effort means more resistance and consequently bigger, stronger muscles as they try to overcome the new resistance patterns.
Train Chest After a Rest Day
Recovery is one of the most important muscle-building factors, and anyone with even basic know-how of fitness training knows rest is essential for building new muscles.
So, let your chest rest often during the workout routine. Ideally, there should be a couple of rest days after every workout day, so your body builds new, stronger muscles after breaking the existing, weaker ones.
Related Article: The Science of Muscle Recovery: How Much Rest Between Workouts for Muscle Growth?
Try New Techniques for Increased Intensity
- Building your chest will demand working out to muscle failure. But here is the shocker, you are going to train after failure too. Rest a few seconds and give it a shot again. You will be able to do 2-3 reps again, and those 2-3 reps are precious. They will grow your chest like nothing else.
- Choose a very heavyweight - something that seems almost too demanding. Now do only three reps and pause for about 20 seconds. Give it a shot again for just 3 more reps. You will be able to do it because of the pause techniques. Do this 5 times, and you would have lifted that impossible weight 15 times, and it's mind-blowing!
- Now that you have reached your limits, try the negatives. Ask a gym buddy to hold the weights, and you lower them down until even that's impossible for more than 5 seconds.
- Another great way to keep engaging even after failure to boost muscle growth is to drop the weight by 25% and still train for failure. Sounds too intimidating, but it's a clean shot at a massive chest.
Workout Description
|
Main Goal |
Build Muscle |
|
Workout Type |
Single Muscle Group |
|
Training Level |
Intermediate |
|
Program Duration |
8 Weeks |
|
Days Per Week |
1 |
|
Time Per Workout |
45-60 Minutes |
|
Equipment Required |
|
|
Target Gender |
Male & Female |
This is a challenging workout for those who have progressed well into their fitness routines. It's for intermediate-level fitness enthusiasts. The workout includes heavy reps and a 1/4 rep pump method to give a real boost to muscle growth in the chest area.
The exercises included in the workout are not anything new, but the reps, the formation, technique, and consistency are. We are sticking to the good old bench presses, dips and pushups but with different sets and reps that will give your chest that much-needed "puff."
The workout is spanned over 8 weeks, and it's basically just one session a week routine. It's not demanding in terms of frequency. After heavy sets and reps at the gym, during the rest days make sure your body is doing a wonderful job at anabolism.
It's very important to let your body heal and renew muscles after strenuous exercises because if you keep going without rest, it will be counterproductive. After all, the body will only be wasting muscles in catabolic (breakdown) action.
The workout is a mix of isolation and compound exercises for holistic muscle growth.
What is the 1/4 Rep Pump Method?
A quarter rep or 1/4 rep pump technique is adding an additional partial repetition at the bottom of the movement. Quarter rep variants are excellent for building tension and stretch in the pecs, where they are utilized the most.
Here are 3 ways to do your quarter reps on pressing exercises:
1/4 Rep at the Bottom
This is the fundamental 1/4 rep technique. Begin with a regular eccentric (lowering) portion of the lift. Once you've reached the bottom (or top in an exercise like a dumbbell row), press the weight up one-quarter of the way, then stop briefly before lowering it back down and exploding all the way up.
Iso-1/4 Rep at the Bottom
Begin by pressing both weights up to the start position and fastening them in place. Lower one side while keeping the other outstretched for a quarter rep at the bottom. After completing a 1/4 rep on each side, secure the dumbbell in place at the top position for a 1/4 rep on the opposite side. Change sides with every rep until you are done.
Misdirection 1/4 Rep Method
Start by lowering the weight to its lowest position, then press up to the 1/4 rep range and hold for 2 seconds. Press all the way up to the 1/2 way point as quickly as possible, holding static for two seconds. After resting at the halfway point, lower the weight all the way down before pressing it back up.
Exercises That You Can Do on This Workout
- Dumbbell Bench Press
- Incline Dumbbell Iso Press
- Close Grip Bench Press
- Dips
- Pushups
Workout Plan
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
|
5 |
10, 5, 5, 5*, 3* |
|
|
4 |
5 w/ iso-1/4 rep |
|
|
3 |
3 w/ misdirection 1/4 rep |
|
|
2 |
Max reps** |
|
|
2 |
Max reps*** |
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Summary
Chest is usually one of those areas that lag and seem more challenging to build. This workout plan is a collection of a few selected compound and isolated exercises aimed specifically at building the chest area. With a focus on training to failure and beyond with these exercises, you are sure to build a Hulk-like chest in just 8 weeks. Consistency is the key.
