chest training,

“What are the best chest exercises to build my pecs?”

This is one of the most common questions that lands in my inbox on a weekly basis, and it’s no secret that the majority of lifters out there place chest training at the very top of their list of muscle building priorities at the gym.

In this post I’m going to outline a highly effective sequence of 3 individual chest exercises that I personally recommend to maximize your overall gains in pec mass and thickness.

Rather than blindly telling you to “do these exercises for this many sets and reps”, I’m also going to give concrete reasons for why each exercise has been selected and why I recommend performing it in place of other possible alternatives.

These lifts should be executed in the exact order that they’re listed and will give you a complete, well-rounded pec workout for consistent size and strength increases.

Do keep in mind that there are a million and one ways that you could effectively train your chest, and I’m not claiming that this is the be-all-end-all by any means. Any set of exercises that allows you to place the pecs under tension and consistently add weight over time will result in significant gains in muscle size and strength.

However, this is a specific sequence that I believe will be particularly effective for most people for all of the reasons I’m about to explain…

Chest Exercise #1: Flat Or Decline Dumbbell Press

In my view, these are the two very best chest exercises to select from as they utilize the best chest training tool available (dumbbells) at the optimal angle (flat/decline) to maximize pec hypertrophy.

Either variation is fine, and I simply recommend selecting the one that you most prefer and that you use it as the primary exercise in your chest training routine.

What makes the flat/decline dumbbell press the best choice to build chest mass as effectively as possible? Let’s go over it…

First off, why a dumbbell press rather than a barbell press?

I’ve talked in detail about the barbell press vs. dumbbell press for building chest size in previous posts, but I’ll quickly summarize the main points here…

* The primary function of the pecs is horizontal adduction of the humerus (bringing your upper arm across the front of your body), and dumbbell presses offer a superior range of motion through this function since the hands and arms can be brought together rather than being locked onto a fixed bar.

* Dumbbell presses force each arm to move independently, which prevents strength imbalances and ensures consistent development across the entire chest.

* Dumbbell presses reduce the chance of shoulder injuries since you can position your hands more comfortably and press your hands in a more natural arching motion.

Secondly, why the flat/decline angle?

The pec muscle is comprised of two main portions: the upper clavicular fibers (otherwise referred to as the “upper chest”) and the lower sternocostal fibers.

While some upper chest training is definitely important (we’ll cover this in the second exercise), it’s actually the lower fibers that make up the vast majority of the pec muscle.

For that reason, you’ll want to specifically target these fibers when your strength and energy are at their peak, and a flat or decline angle places your body into the proper position for this.

To start off your pec workout, perform 3-4 sets of flat or decline dumbbell presses for 5 to 7 reps per set.

Chest Exercise #2: 30 Degree Incline Dumbbell Press

As I just mentioned, targeting the upper clavicular fibers is still important for complete chest development from top to bottom, and an incline dumbbell press is the best way to accomplish this.

You’ll be using dumbbells here for the same reasons we just talked about, and you’ll be using the 30 degree incline since this properly angles your body for direct stimulation of the upper chest.

Perform 3-4 sets of incline dumbbell presses for 5 to 7 reps per set.

Chest Exercise #3: Cable Flye (High-To-Low Angle)

To finish off your pec workout you’ll be performing a cable flye utilizing a high to low angle. Flyes isolate your pecs at a slightly different angle than presses and are a great way to round out your chest routine for complete pec development.

There are a ton of different flye exercises you can choose from, such as dumbbell flyes, cable flyes and machine flyes, but as I discussed in my previous post (The Best Chest Fly Exercise), cable flyes are definitely the superior choice.

First off, why use cables rather than dumbbells?

Simple: because of the direction that gravity is pulling the weights (straight up and down) and the path that the weights are traveling in, dumbbells only provide a high degree of tension on the pecs in the bottom half of the range of motion.

As you press the weights up past halfway the tension gradually decreases on the pecs, and at the very top of the movement there is very little to no stress on these muscles at all.

Cable flyes solve this by pulling the resistance out to the sides rather than straight up and down. As a result, you’ll be placing your pecs under significant tension both at the very bottom of the movement all the way into the fully contracted position.

Secondly, why the high-to-low angle?

Setting the cables high up on the stand and pressing them downward places the resistance in line with the lower sternocostal fibers where the bulk of your chest mass is located.

And since the upper chest makes up such a small portion of your overall pecs, there’s no need to directly train it any further using a flye movement if you’re already performing an incline press as part of the workout.

To finish off your pec workout, perform 3-4 sets of cable flyes at a high to low angle for 8 to 10 reps.

There are 3 main questions I usually receive in response to these recommendations, so let me quickly address them here…

“Why Are There No Barbell Presses Included?”

There’s nothing wrong with a barbell press, and it certainly is an effective chest exercise for building size and strength.

However, the truth is that there is no necessity for a barbell press in a routine that is designed for muscle hypertrophy, as it doesn’t offer you anything that a dumbbell press does not, but yet does pose several disadvantages which we discussed previously. (See previous post “Are Bench Presses Necessary” for more info)

“Why Are Wide-Grip Dips Not Included?”

Contrary to traditional bodybuilding advice, if you examine the exact mechanics behind a wide-grip dip you’ll see that it actually isn’t a great movement for maximizing chest gains.

Dips primarily involve flexion of the shoulder and extension of the elbow (rather than adduction of the humerus), meaning that they mostly hit the front of the shoulders and the triceps rather than the pecs.

They also place the shoulder joint into an awkward position and are easily the most dangerous pressing exercise you can perform at the gym.

Again, dips certainly will allow you to build your chest, and performing them doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get injured, but all things considered, the risk-reward just isn’t worth it, especially when you already have superior chest exercises in your arsenal anyway.

“What About Targeting The Inner And Outer Chest?”

There are no are exercises specifically for this purpose because it’s simply not possible to target the inner or the outer chest over any other portion of the muscle.

You can target the upper or lower chest because you’re dealing with two different sets of fibers, but you can’t target the inner or outer because when one portion of the same set of fibers fire, the entire set of fibers will fire with it.

The Perfect Pec Workout: Review

So, that’s all there is to it…

Flat Or Decline Dumbbell Press: 3-4 Sets of 5-7 Reps

Incline Dumbbell Press: 3-4 Sets of 5-7 Reps

Cable Flye (High-To-Low): 3-4 Sets Of 8-10 Reps

Again, there are an endless number of different ways you could train your pecs for mass gains, but this is particular routine utilizes the most effective chest training tools available and at the proper angles to allow for effective, balanced stimulation of the chest, and in a safe and sustainable way.

how to protect your hormones

If you care at all about your body and health, I'm sure you already know to avoid the obvious sugary cereals like the flakes with sugar frosting, the fruity sugar cereals with artificial colors, the frosted wheat biscuits, or the marshmallow cereals that so many parents are poisoning their kids with these days.

However, even most breakfast cereals that aren't frosted in sugar are marketed heavily as "heart healthy", "rich in fiber", and "a good source vitamins & minerals"... Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth!

As a Nutritionist that's studied the biochemistry of nutrition for over 25 years, and how certain foods affect the cells of your body, there are at least 10 important reasons to be extremely concerned about what cereals are doing inside your body.  I'll touch on a few of the important details in this short article...

Most cereals (even "whole grain" or "high fiber") cause extreme harm to your hormones and create runaway blood sugar in your body

One of the WORST things about most cereals, even so-called "whole grain" cereals is that they ALL cause a significant spike in your blood sugar (regardless of whether they are wheat, rice, or corn based) to dangerously high levels, which results in a cascade of fat storing hormones to be released in your body, and causes more carb cravings later in the day. 

This is NOT the way to start your day if you care about your waistline or how much belly fat that you have.

In fact, even cereals that have added fiber (such as bran flakes or raisin bran) have been found to cause just as much of a massive spike in blood sugar as the low-fiber cereals such as rice or corn based cereals.  Remember that the starches in wheat, corn, or a bowl of rice cereal break down quickly in your body into SUGAR and immediately do as much harm to your blood sugar regulation system as if you ate 40-60 grams of pure corn syrup or pure table sugar.

Those massive spikes in your blood sugar essentially damage your cells in your body through a process called glycation, which accelerates the rate of aging in your joints, skin, organs, and even your brain.  Ouch...  That tiger on the cereal commercials is never going to warn you about that!

And speaking of hormones, another effect of high blood sugar is that it blunts the ability of your body to release growth hormone (aka, the youth hormone), so if you want to look and feel younger, cereals are NOT helping you in that department!

Note:  Regarding the claims that cereals are a "good source of vitamins and minerals", this is actually FALSE... The majority of vitamins and minerals in most cereals are not naturally occurring, but rather, are synthetically added vitamins, which have been proven to be less absorbed than natural vitamins and potentially even harmful in some cases.  As an example, synthetic vitamin E is shown in some studies to be harmful to us, while natural vitamin E is beneficial.

Crunching your way to Diabetes and belly fat every morning?

Think about this next time you're gobbling down that bowl of bran flakes, rice puffs, or wheat biscuits while you're running out the door in the morning...

The more cereal you eat, the more you constantly stress your pancreas and other organs involved in controlling your blood sugar.  Insulin levels surge every day to try to control your massive blood sugar attacks from all that cereal, and eventually, your insulin sensitivity suffers, leading many people to type 2 Diabetes, and a life of injecting insulin with needles and stabbing your fingers every day for blood tests every day of your life.

Not only that, but causing high insulin levels in your body every morning by eating cereal also triggers your body to STORE body fat.  So if you want to be lean, cereal is directly going against your goal, and only making you fatter!

Gut Inflammation and even gut damage?

More bad news about cereal...

Any cereals with wheat ingredients in them can possibly cause gut inflammation and long term gut damage from too much gluten and lectins, even if you're not officially gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive. 

Think those corn-based cereals are better than wheat?  Think again!  Corn-based cereals are almost always made with GMO corn, which has many scientists very concerned about long term health threats, since there are no long term studies on the effects of GMO corn to your health, as well as your children's health.

And rice-based cereals (krispies, etc) aren't much better, as they cause just as high of a blood sugar spike as pure table sugar... Ouch!

Cereal causes CRAVINGS for more carbs later in the day, leading to excess calories

The blood sugar spike and subsequent insulin surge from your morning cereal makes your body to try to get all that sugar out of your blood and into cells (usually fat cells), and that causes a big drop in your blood sugar hours later.  This makes you CRAVE more carb-based or sugary foods later in the day.

The result of this is a constant wild roller coaster ride of blood sugar and insulin all day long, leading you to eat more calories in any given day.

I recently read a study about people that ate egg-based breakfasts vs cereal-based breakfasts...  Even though the people that ate egg-based breakfasts consumed far more fat in the morning, they ended up eating much less calories throughout each day because they didn't have the wild blood sugar swings, hormone imbalances, and subsequent cravings.  Egg breakfasts are proven to CONTROL your appetite, while cereal breakfasts are proven to INCREASE your appetite for more food, particularly more starchy and sugary carbs. 

Cereal makes your body a carb-burner instead of a fat-burner

The more carbs that you eat each day from foods such as cereal and breads, the more you train your body to rely on carbs for energy.  So when your blood sugar dips again, you need more carbs again, or you'll have a major energy slump.

On the other hand, the more that you get most of your calories from healthy fats instead (avocados, coconut oil, grass-fed butter and cream, olive oil, nuts, seeds, eggs, and pasture-raised meats), the more you train your body to be a fat-burning machine.

This is called creating a "fat adapted metabolism" and you do this by reducing your overall carb intake and simultaneously increasing your healthy fat intake.  This doesn't mean you need to go extremely low in carbs like Atkins, but just a LOT lower than the average carb addict, which is pretty much everyone eating a modern diet.

By relying mostly on healthy fats for energy instead of carbs, this balances your hormones and gives you VERY stable blood sugar levels throughout each day, allowing you to also have VERY stable energy levels throughout each day without the typical spikes and slumps in your energy that most carb addicts feel every single day.

Another benefit of creating a "fat adapted metabolism" in your body is that you will naturally lose body fat easier!  There is no magic ratios of macronutrients that's perfect for everyone, nor do I think you need to obsess over exact calories or exact ratios of carbs to fat... However, to give you an idea of how far off most people are... Most people currently eat a diet that is in the range of 60% carbs, 20% fat, and 20% protein.  What I'm describing to you in order to create a fat adapted metabolism would be more around eating 20% carbs, 60% fat, and 20% protein. 

Basically, as you can see, it's like flip-flopping the typical western diet ratios of carbs to fat. 

Healthier alternatives to cereal that are still QUICK (helping you to be a fat-burner instead of carb-burner)

Instead of the typical cereal in the morning (that's slowly killing you and making you fatter), try a bowl of plain greek full-fat organic yogurt (which is loaded with healthy gut probiotics, healthy fats, AND protein) and add in a handful of fresh, organic berries (or frozen wild blueberries), a handful of nuts such as either almonds or pecans (more healthy fats), and a little stevia or vanilla protein for a little added sweetness if you need it. 

This breakfast will leave you leaner, keep your blood sugar, energy levels, and hormones balanced for the day, and prevent cravings for more starchy and sugary carbs later in the day.

Another option is simply any combination of eggs, veggies, avocado, and even organic breakfast meat if you want.  One of my favorite quick breakfasts is to cook up a couple eggs over easy real quick and slice a half of an avocado on a plate. 

I chop the eggs and avocado together with some hot sauce and a couple slices of turkey, and voila... a quick 5-minute breakfast that's incredibly delicious, yet MUCH healthier than that bowl of cereal, and will help balance your hormones for the day instead of creating hormone imbalances and energy crashes like cereal does.see more

WHY EXCESSIVE CARDIO CAN ACTUALLY MAKE YOU FATTER

It may seem counterintuitive. After all, if the ultimate goal of losing fat is to maintain a calorie deficit over time by consistently burning more calories than you consume, how could a calorie-burning tool such as cardio end up working against you? Well, just take a look around your gym for firsthand evidence. It’s all too common to see those same guys and girls who show up day after day… month after month… even year after year… and still don’t appear to have made any real progress. In many cases, despite sweating on that treadmill, stairstepper or elliptical for literally hundreds of hours combined (in combination with plenty of time in the weightroom), they actually appear to have gained even more body fat than they started out with. How is this possible? How is it possible that someone could put so much effort into their training program and actually end up travelling farther away from their goals rather than closer to them? Simple: although the act of performing cardio does burn calories in the short term, it also stimulates your appetite as well. When you combine this with the fact that the majority of people aiming to lose fat do NOT track their daily calorie intake with any real accuracy (they simply wing their diet and “eat healthy” throughout the day), and you end up with a real potential problem. For example, let’s say you performed an hour of cardio 5 days a week, burning 400 calories per session and 2000 calories per week. That’s all fine and good, but what happens if the appetite-stimulating effect of those same 5 sessions caused you to unknowingly consume, for example, an extra 350 calories per day? By the end of the week, you’d have burned 2000 calories from your cardio sessions, but would have also consumed an additional 2450 calories, for a net gain of 450 calories per week. Trust me, this can happen much more easily than you think. Small dietary choices that you make throughout the day add up very quickly, and 350 calories really isn’t much. A handful of nuts here… a piece of fruit there… small late-night snack… If you’re constantly feeling hungry and you aren’t keeping track of your daily calorie intake, there’s an almost certain chance you’ll over-eat. Cardio is not the only culprit here either; weight training or any other form of exercise will also have appetite-stimulating effects as well. And the simple reality is this: it absolutely does not matter how “healthy” your diet is or whether you’re eating nothing but plain chicken breast, oatmeal and broccoli all day long…  if the total number of calories you consume is equal to or greater than the total number of calories that you burn, you are NOT going to lose an ounce of fat, period. This is known as “the law of energy balance”, and there’s no way around it. In order to lose fat, you must maintain a calorie deficit over time by burning more calories than you consume. Plain and simple. The key is in finding a proper balance between your training program and your diet that allows you to remain in a calorie deficit throughout the week without causing you to feel excessively hungry. So, here are 3 immediate steps you can follow right away to help you in this process… First off, stop over-emphasizing cardio and treating it as the be-all-end-all of fat loss. Cardio is simply one tool in your arsenal to help you burn additional calories, and most people way over-value it. As long as your diet is properly structured, 3-4 cardio sessions per week is easily going to be enough for the vast majority of trainees, and some will do just fine with even less than this. Secondly, include some high intensity interval-based cardio as part of your overall plan. High intensity interval training sessions (or “H.I.I.T” for short) in the range of 8-20 minutes do not stimulate your appetite to the same degree that traditional slow pace cardio does (in some cases it may even blunt your appetite),  and while burning more total calories at the same time. However, because this type of cardio is more stressful to your body as a whole, you can only perform so much before you start getting burned out. Aim to perform a balanced mix between these two types of cardio throughout the week. For example, 1-2 aerobic sessions lasting 45-60 minutes and 1-2 H.I.I.T sessions would be a good approach. Third, start tracking your total calorie intake in more detail. This is by far the most important step of all. If you’re just eating “on the fly” throughout the day and don’t have a reasonable idea of how many calories you’re consuming in total, your overall progress will definitely be compromised or even eliminated altogether. Once you have these 3 steps in place, you can simply test and tweak from there to see what works best for you in terms of maintaining your calorie deficit while managing your overall hunger levels. Some people prefer to create a larger calorie deficit through their diet by reducing their overall food intake and scaling back on the cardio, while others prefer to consume more food throughout the day and burn more of their calories using exercise.

WHY AREN'T You GAINING MUSCLE RIGHT NOW

So you’re putting your time in at the gym… you’re following what you think is a proper diet… you’re taking the supplements… you’re getting your rest every night…

There’s just one problem: you’re not gaining any noticeable muscle.

Yes, there’s nothing more frustrating than committing yourself to a muscle building program and not seeing any appreciable changes to your appearance as each week passes.

But I can tell you this with certainty…

If you truly aren’t getting any return on your muscle building efforts right now, the immediate fix is likely very simple and straightforward.

Before I give you the 3 simple reasons why you aren’t gaining muscle right now, let me first clarify that achieving significant gains for an average natural trainee takes time and patience.

If you’re idea of “failing” to gain muscle is that you haven’t put 2 inches on your arms in 4 weeks, it’s time for a reality check.

This whole thing is a gradual process, and if you’re gaining somewhere around 0.5-1 pounds of relatively lean body weight per week and your lifts are going up in the gym consistently, you’re definitely on the right track and just need to give it more time.

However, if you’re truly in a place of complete stagnation and your body weight, strength and muscle measurements are not budging at all, you are guaranteed to be making at least 1 of the 3 following mistakes…

“Why Can’t I Gain Muscle?” – 3 Critical Mistakes

Mistake #1: You’re Not Training Hard Enough, Period.

Muscle growth is an adaptive response to stress. If you aren’t using up a sufficient percentage of your muscle’s available momentary resources on each individual set, your body has NO incentive to build upon its existing resources by increasing the size and strength of the muscles.

Your body has no idea that you’re standing in an air-conditioned gym lifting barbells, dumbbells and cables. All it is doing is responding to the direct physical demands placed upon it. And if it already has enough available resources to respond to those demands with relative ease, there is no need for any change to occur.

So buckle down, and get serious.

Every single set should be a fully focused effort, and those last few reps should be downright uncomfortable and tough to perform. If they aren’t, you’re just not training hard enough.

My recommendation is to perform every set within the 5-12 rep range, and to continue the set at least 1-2 reps short of concentric muscular failure. Concentric failure is the point in the set where you cannot complete an additional rep using proper form despite a 100% all-out effort.

This level of intensity will be sufficient to stimulate hypertrophy to an optimal level.

Mistake #2: You’re Ignoring The Law Of Progressive Overload

Putting forth a good hard effort in the gym is the foundational first step, but it’s only half of the equation.

That’s because in order to see continual, ongoing gains in muscle size over time, you must be continually progressing in the amount of weight you lift and/or number of reps performed on all of your major exercises.

This is known as the “law of progressive overload”, and it is absolutely central to your entire training program.

If you’re bench pressing 150 pounds today, and are still using the same weight 8 weeks from now, your body will again have no incentive to adapt further, and your muscle gains will stagnate.

Solution: keep a training logbook, and for every workout that you perform, write down the exercises utilized, weight lifted and number of reps executed.

Then, center the entire focus of your workout program around “beating the logbook” by either adding extra weight to the bar on the following workout (usually 5-10 pounds for big compound lifts and 2.5-5 pounds for smaller isolation lifts) or squeezing out a few extra reps with the same weight (while staying in that 5-12 rep range).

You’ll be amazed at how quickly this adds up over just a few months.

This simple combination of training 1-2 reps short of concentric failure on every exercise and progressing in weight/reps every single week is a sure-fire, 100% guaranteed recipe for ongoing muscle growth.

If you aren’t seeing measurable progress right now, one or both of these factors is off.

Mistake #3: You’re Not Eating Enough.

Assuming you are training with sufficient intensity, and you are focusing on getting stronger in the gym each week, the solution to your muscle building plateau is even simpler…

You’re overall calorie intake is too low.

I’ve talked about this a million time before, but if you aren’t creating a consistent “calorie surplus” every day by consuming more calories than you burn, you are NOT going to gain any appreciable amount of muscle.

Your body already has energy demands in place in order to sustain your current body weight, and it must be provided with the extra fuel necessary in order to build new muscle tissue.

If your overall body weight isn’t budging, you can be guaranteed of the fact that you’re simply not eating enough.

Why Can’t I Gain Muscle?” – Wrap Up

I’m certainly not claiming that these 3 points are the be-all-end-all of building lean muscle, but they do make up the foundation of the entire process and are by far the most important principles to be aware of.

Yes, there are many other things you can do to optimize your gains, but if you just employ these 3 strategies consistently, you WILL gain muscle on an ongoing basis. It would be physically impossible not to.

And on the flipside, if one or more of these elements is not in place, it will be physically impossible for you TO gain muscle, or at least to gain any significant amount over time.

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