As a competitor in this new Men’s Physique division, we are all trying to figure out what the judges are really looking for. Your guess is as good as mine but one thing I know for sure is that balance and symmetry play a role in their decision. One of the most noticeable things I’ve seen in a lot of competitors, as well as most guys in general, is that their upper chest is underdeveloped relative to the rest of their chest. So to help out those of you that fall into this category here is a workout that I put my PT by Joe (ptbyjoellc.com/) and JamCore Physique Factory (www.facebook.com/pages/The-JamCore-Physique-Factory/218571681502085) through.
As with all my workouts, I do them heavy, fast and intense. If you’re going to do it, you may as well do it right. If you’re content thinking you’re the alpha male in your gym then go ahead and keep doing your thing but if you want to create changes in your physique then it’s time to step it up. The routine is comprised of 4 groups of exercises. They are as follows:
1) Reverse Grip Bench and Medicine Ball Push Ups (2-3 working sets, fail between 6-8 reps)
2) Incline DB Press and Flyes (2-3 working sets, fail between 6-8 reps)
3) Hammer Strength Iso Wide Chest and Dips (2-3 working sets, fail between 6-8 reps)
4) Cable Crossovers (6 sets, 12-15 reps)
Exercise 1: I pull a flat bench over to the squat rack and set the supports to just above my chest. With the bar resting on the on the supports, you want to take a slightly wider than shoulder width reverse grip (palms should be facing your head) and with the bar beginning around your lower chest. Press the bar up with a slight arc towards your head with a pause at the top while making sure your back remains flat on the bench. Control the weight on the way back to the starting position and allow the bar to rest for a moment on the supports. I do this to take the momentum out of the movement. 
I see way too many guys who like to lift their butt off the bench or bounce it off their chest just to get the weight up. If you really need to do this then you need to lower the weight bro! Immediately follow this set up with push-ups on the medicine ball. I place my hands on the medicine balls about shoulder width apart and place my feet up on the bench to force the focus back onto my upper chest. Lift your butt up while maintaining a flat back and lower yourself in a controlled motion. I typically go until just before my head hits the ground to make sure I get a great stretch at the bottom of the movement. Push yourself back up to the starting position and make sure to squeeze your chest at the top of the movement. On the final set I do a drop set on the reverse grip bench to make sure I wore my chest out.
Exercise 2: If you went to failure every set then your chest should already be pretty fatigued so you shouldn’t be able to do the same amount of weight you typically would. You begin with doing incline bench at a 30% angle to take your delts out of it. Press the dumbbells up in a smooth controlled motion with a slight pause at the top where you squeeze the pecs before slower lowering them to the starting position. After finishing the set you immediately move on to incline flyes. Start at the top of the movement with a slight bend in your elbows as if you’re hugging a tree with your palms facing each other. That should be the position your arms remain in throughout the entire exercise. Slowly lower the weight until your arms are out to the side, while maintaining the slight bend in your elbow, and your palms facing the ceiling. Return to the starting position.
Exercise 3: You should be able to do more on this exercise than a regular flat bench so go ahead and load it up since you don’t have to worry about your arms giving out and the bar caving in your chest. Adjust the seat so that your hands are in line with your lower to middle chest. Press to full extension and once again make sure to squeeze the hell out of it at the top of the movement. Slowly lower the weight and let it rest for a second to take any momentum out of it. I see guys all the time bounce it off rubber stoppers at the bottom. If you’re that guy then the only person you’re fooling is yourself. No one is impressed by the dude who puts on more weight than they can handle and has to use poor form and a little bounce to get it up. Finish up the set and move onto dips. I’m going to assume that most of you know how to do dips. Just make sure you go down far enough to feel the stretch in your chest and return to the top position.
Exercise 4: Cable crossovers are the final exercise. This exercise is more for detail and shaping than adding mass so I go with a higher rep count to pump as much blood into the pecs to end my workout. I like to run the position of the cables up and down and back up again on this exercise. Once again I’m assuming you know how to do cable crossovers but if not just Google it since I’m bored with writing exercise descriptions.
If you haven’t figured it out, I like to work to failure but I also I like to hit each body part at tons of angles to create better quality muscle. I just did this workout today with my training partner, who we are also working on building up his upper chest, and finished it up in 30 minutes. The days of doing 3-4 hour workouts are over guys. Get in there, hit it hard and hit it fast!
Subscribe to RxMuscle on Youtube
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|||
