IronOnline Chest Workout Routines

Bill L's Mass Blast Chest Workout #1

"Up the Rack Until You Can't Do No More"

This is a *very* high volume workout that is guaranteed to leave your pecs screaming for a day or so afterward. Nothing left on the table here. For most folks, it takes nearly a full week to recover.

The idea is to start out with each exercise at a fairly light weight (which feels way too easy at first) with high reps for a thorough warmup. The reps lower toward the peak weights, until the last 3 sets or so which are to failure (or very close) - whatever the rep count may be. I'm using my weights and reps from yesterday's workout. Adjust yours accordingly. If your total 4-6 max is much lighter, just start out at a lower level and proceed with 5 lb jumps between sets. Conversely, if it's higher, you may want to start higher and use 15 pound jumps.

The idea is to get 7-9 sets in each of the first two movements. Rest is limited to about 2-3 minutes between sets with the bigger weights, less with the light weights. With this many sets it takes an hour or so to complete, moving almost all the time. For me, it's 26 sets. Looks like a bunch because it is, but may be less if you reach failure earlier. Each workout should test the upper boundaries at your 4-6 rep max for the movement. By the time you reach the end of the Inclines, you should really be feeling it. The pec deck and cables are just to finish off. Over time, the goal is to always be pushing the numbers at the higher levels.

Good luck and enjoy.

Flat Dumbbell Presses:

40 X 15
50 X 15
60 X 15
70 X 12
80 X 12
90 X 12
100 X 8
110 X 6
120 X 4

Incline Dumbbell Presses:

40 X 15
50 X 15
60 X 12
70 X 8
80 X 8
90 X 8
100 X 6

4-5 sets of Pec Deck (or lying flys) supersetted with Cable Pulley Flys (here, the weights vary widely depending on the equipment). So, the 60 X 15 Pec Deck is immediately followed by the 30 X 15 Cable Pulley Flys, and so on.

Pec Deck

60 X 15
80 X 12
100 X 8
120 X 8
140 X 6

Cable Pulleys

30 X 15
40 X 12
50 X 8
60 X 8
70 X 6

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Here's our big bench press routine

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You'll find other great training tips in Dave's book, Brother Iron, and there's an excerpt right here.