In order to build an eye-catching physique, your body needs to be well-developed & proportionate, while simultaneously being at a relatively low body fat percentage. However, to make your physique stand out from the rest, it’s important to prioritize a few key muscles on your frame. One of the most appealing muscle groups when well-developed is the chest — with a built chest, eyes automatically turn to your physique as it shows dominance, power, and strength. In bodybuilding as well, chest is one of the most heavily judged body parts (especially in classic physique and open bodybuilding). In essence, you can’t go wrong with having a huge chest — with that, let’s go over Pur Pharma‘s 3 staple chest exercises for developing a massive chest.
Barbell Bench Press
Even if you only read the title of this blog, you could probably guess that this exercise was going to be on the list. The barbell bench press is a great, efficient, and effective way to build a massive chest. Check out this article for a full read on how to perfect this lift! It targets both heads of the pec, and all fibres (lower, middle, and upper). While hitting the chest, the flat barbell bench press also activates the triceps and front deltoids just as efficiently; the amount of overall muscular development you can get from this exercise is at the top of the exercise spectrum. In order to get the most out of the barbell bench press, you’ll want to work with a wide variety of rep ranges. Generally speaking, anywhere from 3-16 reps will provide great growth, given that you’re working at an RPE close to/to failure — some great set & rep setups for growth are 5×5, 3×12-15, and 4×6-10. If you’re looking for better strength development, you should try out Masteron Enanthate or Belitropina HGH but if lean muscle growth is your goal, you should 100% be looking to add either Sustanon, Testosterone Enanthate, or Primobolan Depot into your cycle.
When performing the bench press, remember a few key cues before you start your lift:
- Retract your shoulder blades and create a small arch in your lower back to support great shoulder & joint health.
- Place your hands at about 1.5x shoulder width grip for more chest development, or 1x shoulder width grip for more triceps and front delts.
- Make sure your feet are planted, and shoulders, head, & butt are touching the bench.
- Perform the eccentric of the movement slow, pause for 1-3 seconds, and explode through the push while controlling the weight.
- Tuck your elbows as you press; don’t flare them!
For those who are including the barbell bench press into their upper body, push, or chest routine, remember to include it as one of the first exercises performed as it will target the most muscles and stimulate the most muscle growth. Barbell will generally yield the most overall muscle growth and the most strength gains, but if you want to isolate the chest a bit more, try out the dumbbell variation: the Flat Dumbbell Bench Press.
Incline Dumbbell/Machine Press
Dumbbell? Machine? Which one do I do?!?
The reason that we’ve summed the two into one, is because it’s yours to choose! Incline pressing movements are great for building the upper chest muscle fibres closer to the collarbone, which form “a shelf” look onto one’s physique. The dumbbell and machine variation generally present the same amount of muscle development — however, dumbbells will work stabilizing muscles slightly more than machines, whereas machines will allow you to isolate the muscle more. If you’re wanting to work on building that upper chest, we definitely recommend placing this exercise either first or second in your chest routine. Sticking in a rep range of 8-15 reps for a total of 3-4 sets will help to target the upper chest fibres more efficiently while working through a slightly more hypertrophy-oriented rep/set scheme. We’ve found that hypertrophy-based anabolics such as Deca Durabolin or Testosterone 400 work wonders when used in combination with a focus on upper chest growth.
The incline press cues remain the same as the flat barbell bench press and the flat dumbbell bench press, but come with a couple extra tips:
- Elevate your bench to a 35-45° incline; 35° for more chest activation, or 45° for more front delt activation.
- Slight flaring of the elbows is okay and recommended on this movement in order to hit the upper chest fibres more efficiently, but only to about 45-65° of rotation away from the sides of your torso.
Low to High Cable Chest Fly
As a finisher and a great accessory movement to 
add into your workouts, the low to high cable chest fly will isolate your chest (more specifically, upper chest) more than any other exercise when performed correctly. If you want a shredded and muscular chest, don’t leave this one out. The reason that we opt for a cable variation of the low to high chest fly, is for two reasons:
- To provide the chest with tension throughout the whole movement.
- To direct where the tension is coming from, more efficiently.
Free weights such as dumbbells can be used for your chest flies. However, tension is lost at the top 30% of the movement on a dumbbell chest fly and the tension only works vertically through the plane of gravity — utilizing a cable approach is a much better way to get more growth out of your flies. For the low to high variation of cable flies, make sure to set the cable at a low starting point on the machine and squeeze upwards and in, as if you’re throwing something up into the air. When doing your cable flies, remember to:
- Retract your shoulder blades
- Keep a slight bend in your elbows to keep stress off the shoulder joint
- Think of pushing your upper arm/bicep into your chest as you’re squeezing through the movement, as the chest’s main purpose is to bring the elbow closer to the body
After doing the cable chest fly and the other exercises on this list, your chest will be burning, fatigued, and need out of this world recovery — something that MK-677 can provide you with.
After reading this article, hopefully you’ve added at least one, if not all of these exercises into your routine. These lifts are all staples in the routines of many bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts across the world, for one good reason: they work. For more fitness, nutrition, and supplement information & tips, check out our blog and contact us now if you have any inquiries! Until next time, Pur Pharma out.
Recent Comments