Build a Bigger Chest in 4 Workouts

By: Tom Venuto

If your chest (or pectorals) are your weakest body part, or, if you’ve just hit a growth plateau in your chest development, then this high intensity chest training program will add slabs of muscle mass on your chest after just 3-4 workouts - and I guarantee it. This is a high intensity bodybuilding workout for advanced bodybuilders only. (Beginners don’t even think about it...)

I’m currently on workout 3 of 4 in this mass building chest routine and the results have been so extraordinary that I decided to write it up for you before I complete the final workout next week.

Bearing in mind I’m on a calorie deficit in a cutting phase, I’m particularly impressed with the swell in my chest size and growth after 3 workouts. You’re not going to  much size at all if you are in a caloric deficit, but NO DOUBT, you can improve the development of a muscle group even while cutting calories. This is an ideal example. I’m going to return to this program again for sure on my next bulking (or mass building) phase. I have officially named this routine…

Multi-Angular Rest Pause w/ Pump Finisher

Here are the details. You choose two exercises. For exercise one (the main course), I chose a basic chest mass exercise that can be completed at any angle from steep incline to regular old flat bench. That’s the main exercise you stick with for all 4 workouts. Incline Dumbbell Press was the natural alternative. I set up on a fully changeable bench that allows multiple angles of incline.

For exercise two, I chose an isolation exercise that would give me a nice pump as my “finishing” exercise, and I chose a different exercise each work-out..

Here’s what I would do in more detail:

1. Incline Dumbbell Press - steep incline - about 65-70 degrees
6 reps
rest 10 seconds

2. Incline Dumbbell Press - medium (regular) incline - about 45 degress
6 reps
10 seconds

3. Incline Dumbbell Press - low incline - about 20-25 degrees
6 reps
10 seconds rest

4. Dumbbell Press - flat bench
6 reps

Now here is where you will rest for 2 - 3 minutes.

That entire list was one "set." Technically of course, that is FOUR DIFFERNET SETS, done in a rest/pause manner, so let’s just call it one “round” one instead.

Now we have to do it two more times to complete our set.

As far as weight goes, you’re going to have to go MUCH lighter than you’re used too.

Even though I don't train heavy chest anymore, last time I did, I was doing 6 reps with 125s on the incline. So for this plan I took about 50-60% of that; 70 lbs on set 1, 75 lbs on set 2,and 80 lbs on set 3. On the last one, I had to jump down to the 75s to finish all 3 rounds and even then I needed some forced reps towards the end.

You might need to reduce the weight on the 2nd or 3rd round, but if it’s at all possible, do NOT reduce the weight during each round. Doing all four angles at the same poundage is the whole idea.

What may happen, mainly if you even slightly overestimated your starting poundage, is that reps may go down with each angle change within a round. First angle - 6 reps is easy. Second angle, a little harder, but still no problem. Third angle, you might be only able to force out 5 reps or hit honest failure on the 6th rep. 4th angle (flat), you might hit complete failure on the 4th or 5th rep.

This is also where a training partner comes in. This routine should not be attempted without any help or a spotter of some kind. Sorry, but you are going to fail if you try to do this without any help.

This program causes direct muscle failure (I’ll give more details on that shortly), so you need the spotter for security, but furthermore, you will need a spotter’s assistance to finish your forced reps, at least on the final round or two, if not the first round. In general, forced reps should not be worn-out, but they play a significant part of this program.

So you just finished your 3rd round. You might be finished! Yeah. Some people will be completely spent after 3 rounds of this routine (think about it - that was 12 sets, camouflaged as 3 sets!)

However, for those who want the full dose…. come with me and lets finish building those pecs with the pump.

The second exercise (exercise B) is going to be an isolation exercise, for example DB flye, pec deck, cable crossover, etc., and you will perform 20-25 reps, non stop in a non-stop fashion. You’ll want to use a quick rhythm, but not so fast that you use momentum.

This isolation /pump work out will change with every workout:

Exercise 2 Workout 1: pec deck
2-3 sets, 20-25 reps

Exercise 2 Workout 2: machine fly’s or standing cable crossover
2-3 sets, 20-25 reps

Exercise 2 Workout 3: decline dumbbell fly’s
2-3 sets 20-25 reps

Exercise 2 Workout 4: flat bench cable fly’s in cable crossover machine
2-3 sets, 20-25 reps

That’s the entire program. Three rounds of multi-angular rest/pause, then come to an end of your workout with 2-3 sets of 25 reps on a pumping, isolation movement.

This routine is performed within a typical bodybuilding sort of split, so it should be done one time in 5-7 days, no more. You would most likely do another body part after chest, such as biceps or triceps, depending on how you sort out your split routine.

I would suggest that advanced bodybuilders use this program a few times a year if and when they need a rapid increase in chest development. This is not the type of program you would use all the time. You would burn out and over train and it will hurt you more then it will help.

There’s one more very essential part of this routine - progression.

On the Incline Dumbbell Presses, you will boost the poundage with each workout. Keep in mind, you will not be able to finish all 3 rounds at all 4 angles for 6 unaided reps. Its going to get more difficult each time, even as you get stronger.

You may have to use a spotter more with each progressing workout. You may also find that on workout 1 or workout 2, you can complete all 3 rounds with the similar weights, but on workout 3, by the 2nd or 3rd round, you have to drop the weight or you’ll hardly be able to get 2 or 3 reps.

Now let me re-emphasize the magnitude of a spotter. There’s something that’s going to take place when you do this routine that does not happen often. You will hit what my training partner and I call “direct failure.” This means that your muscles factually fail, or give out right beneath you. Mind you, this is not something you would typically aim for, but that’s just the nature of this program and this is only a 4-workout high intensity “shock” type of routine.

When I say your muscles will give out, I mean that exactly as I said it. On the last rep or two of 3rd or 4th angle, of the 2nd or 3rd round, your arms may literally cave in underneath you. That’s direct failure.

You see, there are quite a few types of failure… First there is “sissy failure” and that’s when there is a lactic acid burn or an exhaustion in the muscle (you’re worn-out) and because it hurts or you’re exhausted, that causes you to stop. That’s sissy failure.

Then you have positive failure. This is where you can no longer push the weight up in a concentric movement, but you are still able to lower the weight and use an upward force against the weight. For example, you’re bench pressing and you hit the sticking point where you are absolutely stuck, but you are holding that bar at the sticking point (its not coming back down), and you’re still exerting force to push the bar upward, but the bar simply isn't moving up!

Then you have direct failure. This is where the muscle simply just gives out; it buckles on you when you have reached concentric and eccentric failure. This type of failure is hardly ever discussed. In fact I don’t recall anyone ever writing about it except for Arthur Jones and Ellington Darden and the rest of the High Intensity Training (HIT) camp.

Hardly ever does any bodybuilder tread in this territory, and for good reason, as it is really not necessary and can be unsafe for anyone but an experienced person who knows what the heck he is doing - and all the joking aside for a moment, I’m stern about this. It’s no joke if your chest and arms give out from beneath you and you dump a 70 or 80 pound dumbbell on your face.

However, as a method you use on rare occasion for a “surprise” routine that breaks through progress plateaus, that un-taken path is there… for those who dare. There is something about this fussy program (multi angular rest pause) that takes you there. You've been warned! Train hard, but be safe!

Now, go out there and get jacked!

Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Lifetime Natural Bodybuilder
Author of "Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle"

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by CLICKING HERE!