If you want to do a great chest workout, it’s important to define your goals. In this article, I am focusing on a chest routine with the goal of developing a chest along the lines of what a Calvin Klein model might have. If pure bench press power is what you are looking for, then you will obviously want to use a different workout. This routine will build some strength, but it is not the main focus of the workout.
What should a “male chest” look like?
A masculine chest should have a square and angular look, not a rounded and smooth look. Traditional chest training focuses on the basic bench press. While the bench press is great for building size and power, it can develop your lower chest too much. A focused chest workout around the bench press develops the lower pecs so much that they can start to look like breasts. The part of the chest that is underdeveloped in most men is the upper chest. If your chest workout focuses on the upper chest and not so much the mid to lower chest, then you will develop boxy looking pecs.
How to build the upper pecs.
To complete the upper pecs, you need to include a variety of incline pressing movements in your chest workout. You want to make sure your chest routine begins with an incline press of some kind. I recommend starting your chest workout with incline dumbbell presses on an adjustable bench. I like dumbbells as you can really work that hard to hit insides of the upper pecs. If you develop this part of your chest, you will get that “line” down the middle of your chest up to your collarbone.
Here’s a great chest workout that targets hard-to-develop areas.
1) Incline Dumbbell Press: Set the bench about 20-30 degrees above flat level. Choose a weight that you can press 10 to 12 times. Click the bench to the next highest angle setting. With the same weight, try to do 8 to 10 repetitions. Click the bench to a steeper angle and try to do 6-8 reps. Keep clicking at a higher angle until you are close to vertical or until you cannot do more than 5 reps. I like to start my chest workout with this exercise, because it hits every part of the upper chest.
2) Smith machine incline presses: Then I take this same adjustable bench and take it to the Smith machine. I set up the bench so that the bar hits my clavicle at the bottom of the elevator. I will choose an angle between 20 and 45 degrees. I put up a fairly light weight and mostly aim for higher reps to really fatigue the muscle. This is more of a finishing move. The Smith machine makes sure that I keep all the tension on my upper pecs. I find that if I use a regular incline bench press in my chest workout then I can cheat and take the stress off my upper pecs. Include the smith incline press in your chest workout if you have access to this equipment.
3) Cable crossovers: You need to include cable crossovers in your chest workout if you want to develop the line that defines your mid-chest. You can also get a similar effect by using machine flights. Dumbbell flights are a great mass movement, but you won’t get enough tension in the center of your chest. Make sure that when doing machine flights or cable crossovers, you actually flex your mid-chest hard when your hands are at the end of the movement.
Avoid all flat bench movements in your chest workout for a while.
If you’re like most men in the gym, your upper pecs probably need to catch up with your mid and lower pecs. You should consider removing all flat bench movements from your chest workout for a while. I stopped all flat bench exercises for an average of two years and the appearance of my chest improved dramatically. Another nice benefit of incline movements is that your shoulders will also take on a better appearance.
Keep the main points in mind when setting up your chest workout.
When setting up your chest workout, you can be flexible in the exercises you use. Just make sure to focus on the angular and square look. Having great pecs has less to do with size and more to do with proper proportion and definition.
