Can Disappointing Muscle Mass In The Chest Require Weight Lifting Pre-Exhaustion?

One of the most common muscle groups to focus upon is the chest, with many bodybuilders seeking significant muscle gain in the pecs through performing many sets of intense bench pressing. Despite most weight training plans centering upon the bench press as the main upper body muscle building movement, there are numerous bodybuilders who produce disappointing results in the chest region, and are searching for an alternative to the bench press for significant muscle gain.

Many bodybuilders are likely still unaware as to the true reasons why the chest in many cases does not grow as quickly as other smaller muscle groups, and substituting the bench press is not a viable solution, since this particular exercise is very effective in adding chest muscle, that is, when the triceps and shoulders do not fail prior to the chest, which occurs far too often. This is the factor that many neglect when analyzing how to produce a powerful chest building plan, as there are quite a number of smaller muscle groups that participate in compound exercises such as the bench press, and if they offer less stamina than the target muscle that a bodybuilder wishes to train (such as the triceps or shoulders experiencing fatigue prior to the chest during bench press), the supporting muscles (triceps or shoulders in this example) will fail first, and this will cause disappointing results in the primary muscle group (chest).

How this applies to building larger chest muscles specifically is that the triceps and shoulders are frequently insufficiently powerful to allow the pecs to fail first during bench pressing, which leads to disappointing muscle gain in the chest. Therefore, to rectify this scenario, a bodybuilder must institute pre-exhaustion, a technique that targets the chest in a more direct way, which fatigues the pectorals sufficiently to allow them a far larger chance for failure prior to the triceps and shoulders during the bench press, and this will lead to far faster and more impressive chest muscle gain.

The most effective pre-exhaustion exercise for the chest is pec deck, where both hands or elbows are brought together from an outstretched position either holding handles or placing the forearm behind padding, and this greatly overloads the pecs, causing them increased fatigue. When performing this particular weight lifting movement prior to bench pressing, the triceps and shoulders will in most cases outlast the chest due to performance of this pre-exhaustion exercise (pec deck), and this allows the chest to receive the majority of stimulation during bench pressing.

Some choose to use dumbbells instead of the pec deck, performing a weight lifting movement known as dumbbell flies, but doing so is less effective than using pec deck since the dumbbell fly exercise allows less weight to be used, in addition to requiring the bodybuilder to hold the two dumbbells above his or her chest as if performing the bench press, which introduces unnecessary shoulder fatigue (and the goal is to target the chest and avoid as much shoulder or triceps overload as possible). The pec deck focuses upon the chest in an isolated fashion, which is the true reason behind any pre-exhaustion technique, and thus pec deck should be implemented immediately prior to the bench press for any bodybuilder who experiences disappointing chest muscle gain.

For bodybuilders who do not have access to a pec deck machine, the cable crossover is a somewhat less effective, but acceptable alternative, yet the chances are that those who are unable to use a pec deck likely also cannot integrate a cable crossover unit, therefore, in such cases, dumbbell flies are acceptable for chest muscle pre-exhaustion before bench pressing. You will find that the weight used during bench press will decline as compared with what you were able to utilize before introducing the pec deck as a pre-exhaustion technique, as your pecs will have experienced significant fatigue from pec deck prior to performing the bench press exercise, but this should not be concerning, as the total amount of overload will increase due to a combination of the extra pec deck exercise and the greater focus upon chest fatigue during bench press that occurs as a result of pre-exhausting the pecs. The goal is to use the greatest amount of weight while targeting the primary muscle group, and for numerous bodybuilders, when performing bench press as the first exercise of a workout, without pre-exhaustion, the pecs never receive sufficient stimulation to begin achieving their genetic muscle building potential.

Francesco Castano authors MuscleNOW.com, a diet and weight training program teaching the exact techniques for muscle building without supplements or drugs. He also owns FatVanish.com, where you will find his natural weight loss diet program.