Last year when I was in Venice for a couple of days training at Gold’s I met Jerome Ferguson. One that occasion he showed me a new way of doing dumbbell incline presses which better targeted my upper chest and reduced the involvement of my front deltoids. Today he took me through a whole chest workout and showed me a few more tips and new exercises which will help my chest development.
Firstly Jerome debated with himself for a moment whether I would do a free weight workout or start with some hammer presses. I think he sensed that my energy levels were a little lower than usual so he went with his instincts and went for the hammer strength. I mean don’t get me wrong I was still going to put everything into the workout but some days we just feel more energetic than others.
Jerome got onto the hammer incline press and demonstrated how to use it in order to reduce the anterior deltoid involvement. He sat right on the edge of the seat so that his torso was closer to being horizontal. He stuck his chest out to further involve the upper pecs in the movement. Using the machine in this way really did help to isolate the upper chest as much as possible. Obviously the front deltoids are still working but you can’t really avoid that when you are pressing, only minimize it. I started with forty five pounds on each side to warm up and worked my way up to one hundred pounds.
Modified Hammer Incline Press – 3 x 15 – 25 reps
The next exercise Jerome suggested was an old school Hammer Strength plate loaded seated chest press. On this machine the arc of the movement is opposite that of mose Hammer Strength Pressing machines. After setting the seat at the right height I started the exercise. No special instructions here except that the pressing motion should be a continuous pumping motion (as with all of the pressing exercises we did in this workout) to try to get as much blood into the pecs as possible. This also included a lot of partial reps to failure.
Chest Press – 3 x 10 – 25 reps
To finish off the upper chest Jerome got me started on some dumbbell flies. The differences with these were: (i) the bench was an incline bench that gradually tapered off to become flat again at the top so that my back arched over it, (ii) the hand position was such that the dumbbells were just off parallel like a typical chest press position. Jerome was careful to make sure my elbows were almost straight for this exercise and that I kept my mind on contracting my upper chest. He explained that the more the elbows are bent, the more that the front delts kick in and take over the movement. I could feel a burning sensation running in a band all the way across my upper chest during this exercise. We were moving at such a quick pace that the burning didn’t dissipate at all between sets. I completed four sets starting with twenty pounds and eventually made it up to forty-five pounds.
Dumbbell Fly – 4 x 10 – 20 reps
Since we had so far worked the middle and upper chest and Jerome felt there wasn’t much more we could do for the upper chest today, he decided I would do some hammer decline press. The position on this machine was very much the same as the hammer incline press. I was told it should feel similar to a dip. The idea was again to reduce the activation of the deltoids and to increase the lower chest contraction. After three sets of this I had a great pump.
Modified Hammer Decline Press – 3 x 15 – 25 reps
We probably could have stopped there but I jumped at the opportunity to do two or three sets of cable flies. I really enjoy doing this exercise to finish off a workout. The emphasis here was to squeeze the inner chest at the peak contraction of each rep. Jerome also made sure I didn’t extend my arms too far in order to keep maximum tension on the pecs throughout the exercise. He also mentioned that it was important to keep strict form and once I was unable to complete another rep I shouldn’t force it out because it would only cause me to recruit other muscles. A few extra forced reps at the end of each set with the help of Jerome helped to pump some extra blood in to finish my chest off. Three sets of cable flies were more than enough.
Cable Flies – 3 x 10 – 15 reps
Lastly Jerome showed me how he thought I should walk on and “pose” on stage for the Men’s Physique show. It was a riot! But I seriously need to start practicing in my own time to make sure I can show myself at my best on the day. Only one week left now!
In usual fashion I did a few sets for my abs and lower back to conclude the workout. Meanwhile I’m looking forward to see what Jerome has in store for my chest next week.
Abs and Lower Back
Cable crunches – 150 x 40, 150 x 30, 150 x 30 Hyperextensions – BW + 25 x 30
