High Intensity Chest Workout For Men To Pack on Muscle - Part 2

This is Turk again and we are training at the Xtreme Edge Gym here in Beaverton, Oregon. Josh is going to be working with us today and I will be putting him through the second set of our high intensity chest workout. This workout is going to consist of a 3 movement set. The first exercise is the incline barbell bench press and he will be doing slow reps along with rest pause. So, that is 2 training principles on the first exercise. Then Josh will go over and do flat bench dumbbell presses for his second exercise. He will be going super heavy and hard on this exercise. Finally, he will finish up the high intensity chest workout today with cable crossovers. So in this workout, we are incorporating 3 training principles that we will be working with. These include a giant set, slow reps and rest pause.

Let me explain a little about the rest pause training principle for anyone who is unfamiliar with this. A rest pause is simply doing a set to positive failure and then when you're done, you rack the weight and rest for only 20 seconds before you begin again. This short 20 second rest period gives your body just enough ATP (adenosine triphosphate) to recover so you can pump out a few more reps on your second set for the incline barbell bench press. ATP is the source of energy that keeps your muscles going during a hard workout. This training principle is excellent if you train by yourself and you don't have a training partner because it essentially takes the place of what a forced rep would do. However, if you don't have a training partner, obviously you cant do a forced rep and this training principle is the next best thing.

So, that is what Josh is going to do when he does the slow reps and rest pause training principles on this first movement. For the slow reps, it will be a 4 count negative and a 2 count positive. This means that Josh will lower the bar down in 4 seconds (eccentric portion) and raise the bar up in 2 seconds (concentric portion). So, we are only really slowing down the negative portion of the movement for the incline barbell bench press.

High Intensity Chest Workout - 1st Exercise (Set #2):

Exercise:
Incline Barbell Bench Press

Workout Advice:
Your repetition range is determined by the weight you will be using. In this giant set workout routine, you will be going from one exercise to the next with very little rest between movements. On this exercise, we are doing the training principle called "rest pause" so after your first set, you will rest for 20 seconds and then do another set and your goal is to get up half the number of reps that you did on the first set.

Training Notes:
On the first initial set on the incline barbell bench press, the goal will be 8 reps. If the weight is a little light and you can easily go past the 8 repetition goal, then you can adjust your weight for the next workout and increase it to match your goal reps. The key to this first set is to make sure and go to positive failure. Once you hit failure, rack the weight and rest for 20 seconds. Then begin your second set on the incline bench press and your goal here is to get about half the number of reps that you did on your first set. So, if you did 10 reps on the initial set, shoot for 5 reps on your second.

High Intensity Chest Workout - 2nd Exercise (Set #2):

Exercise:
Flat Bench Dumbbell Press

Workout Advice:
Your repetition range is determined by the weight you will be using. In this giant set workout routine, you will be going from one exercise to the next with very little rest between movements. On this exercise, we are going heavy and hard so make sure to choose a weight that you can do for around 6-8 reps maximum.

Training Notes:
On the second exercise, Josh will be doing flat bench dumbbell presses. The key here is to go super heavy and super intense. You will be burned out from your first exercise, so you want to really push it and try to squeeze out those reps. Josh ended up only doing about 3-4 reps for this exercise which is great on this movement since it was super heavy and intense but if you want to go a little higher on your rep range, take a mental note of the weight you used and the number of reps and adjust it down just a little in order to get a few more reps on your next chest workout when you do the dumbbell press movement.

High Intensity Chest Workout - 3rd Exercise (Set #2):

Exercise:
Cable Crossovers

Workout Advice:
Your repetition range is determined by the weight you will be using. In this giant set workout routine, you will be going from one exercise to the next with very little rest between movements. On this exercise, we are doing the "slow reps" training principle so make sure to focus on going down in 4 seconds and then back up in another 4 seconds.

Training Notes:
The last exercise in this high intensity chest workout will be cable crossovers. The important thing here is to make sure your technique is solid and to actually crossover at your wrists. This is really crucial because it maximizes contraction and places increased tension on the chest muscles in order to stimulate your pecs and make them grow. At the end of the exercise, you might notice in the video that Josh starts to gradually "come over" or "lead" with his shoulder. That basically shows that his technique is shot and he is very close to positive failure on this exercise. You need make sure and terminate your set immediately when this happens. Remember to practice strict exercise technique at all times to ensure overall safety and to place maximum tension on the specific muscle group being trained.

By Turk Fickling