“How to build those pecs?” is probably the most frequently asked questions by male gym goers worldwide. Undoubtedly, well developed pectoral muscles impose a strong and confident figure to anybody out there, and although this is an article directed mostly to men, for ladies it is also extremely important to train the pectorals for many reasons, from aesthetics to shoulder health. In order to understand how to build pectorals, we need to first understand basics. So let’s go through anatomy and some basic anatomical functions of the pectorals:
HOW TO BUILD A GREAT CHEST PART 1: Anatomy and Anatomical Functions
Mainly you have 4 muscles over there – Pectoralis Major, Pectoralis Minor, Serratus Anterior and Subclavius
Major – from the word “major” you might guess, it’s the biggest and most visible muscle in your pectorals. It originates at your clavicle, ribs, and sternum, and inserts into the upper portion of your humerus (upper arm bone from elbow to shoulder.), and its main functions are shoulder flexion (bringing your arm upwards), shoulder adduction (bringing your arm inwards across your body) and internal rotation (rotating your elbow up towards the center of your body).
Minor – it’s a little muscle found underneath the Pectoralis Major, it attaches at the 3rd, 4th and 5th rib, and it reaches to the scapula (shoulder blade.) Think of it as the little (yet very powerful) brother of the pectoralis major. Its job is to help pull the shoulder forward and down.
Serratus Anterior – although it is not truly part of the chest anatomy, it is commonly associated to it because it attaches near the pectorals on the ribs. Its functions are to move the scapula forward and upward.
Subclavius – The main function of the subclavius muscle is the active stabilization of the clavicle at the sternoclavicular joint during movements of the shoulder and arm. Its contraction leads to a depression of the sternal end of the clavicle and subsequent elevation of the first rib.
So from those anatomical descriptions, we already know there are ONLY 2 POSSIBLE MOVEMENTS for chest development: Presses and Flyes (No, those presses holding a plate between your hands are a shitty exercise, don’t do them). Those 2 can be done with dumbbells, barbells (presses), machines and cables.
HOW TO BUILD A GREAT CHEST PART 2: Targeting different portions of your Pectorals
It is widely spread that incline motions will work the upper portion (Clavicular) of the chest, flat motions will work the Sternocostal (middle) portion of the chest, and decline movements will work the Abdominal Head (lower portion) of the chest. It is important to note that some authors like to “split” the chest into Clavicular and Sternocostal portions only. Regardless of how many portions your pectorals really have, how much of that info is true?
In this study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33049982/
it was found that “the horizontal bench press produces similar electromyographic activities for the pectoralis major and the anterior deltoid. An inclination of 30° produces greater activation of the upper portion of the pectoralis major. Inclinations greater than 45° produce significantly higher activation of the anterior deltoid and decrease the muscular performance of the pectoralis major.”. The study was designed with 30 trained adults, and electromyography was recorded at 0°, 15°, 30°, 45° and 60°, at 60% of 1 Rep Max. The results also showed that maximal activity for Upper Chest was recorded at 30° of inclination. The middle and lower portions showed higher activities at 0°. Unfortunately no decline bench was tested, so we can’t conclude anything from here.
In this other study though
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25799093/
they tested 0°, 30°, 45° and -15°. 14 healthy resistance trained males participated in the study, and 1 set of 6 repetitions was performed for each condition (angles) at 65% of 1 Rep Max. There they found that “The results of this study support the use of a horizontal bench to achieve muscular activation of both the upper and lower heads of the pectoralis. However, a bench incline angle of 30° or 45° resulted in greater muscular activation during certain time points, suggesting that it is important to consider how muscular activation is affected at various time points when selecting bench press exercises.”
As you see, indeed angle variation is important, and from my own experience, usually the upper chest is the hardest to develop. Considering that, I would suggest finding an exercise that you have the best feeling with and stick with it, try to progress as much as possible. In my case, it’s the Incline Barbell Press where I feel the most benefit.
HOW TO BUILD A GREAT CHEST PART 3 : Frequency
Frequency of training is the number of exercise sessions performed in a period of time, generally a week. In this case, it includes the number of times a muscle is worked over the course of a week.
The latest studies show superior neuromuscular adaptations, hormonal markers for recovery, strength improvement and gains in lean body mass in those performing volume equated programs with higher frequencies and less volume per session. As a standalone variable though, frequency of training doesn’t have THAT much impact in your results. It works more like a tool to manage volume load, especially for people who train at higher volumes. Imagine if you are very advanced trainee, and you have planned 40 total sets for chest. Doing all of those in 1 session only might be a bit too much. You will get by the end of it performing poorly, so it’s wiser to split that total volume into 2 sessions of 20 sets, for example. By the end of the week, you got your 40 sets and most likely you were able to perform better in all sets in both trainings. A system that I really like (and there is scientific basis for it, called Undulatory Periodization) is to do one heavy day and one lighter day. One example:
Monday – X sets for 4-8 reps, 4-0-x-0 Tempo, 120″ rest
Thursday – X sets for 12-15 reps, 2-0-1-0 Tempo, 75″ rest
PS: I do not like to work with resting periods less than 75″ for the same muscle group, especially if you are utilizing compound movements. Indeed the latest science in the subject suggests longer resting periods (>2′) for compound movements.
On this Monday training you could work mostly with compound free weight movements, while Thursday you could utilize mostly machines and/or isolation movements like Cable Flyes or Dumbbell Flyes. Remember, the lighter you train, the closer to muscular failure you have to go in order to stimulate hypertrophy.
Also increasing training frequency and total volume for a short period of time can be a good strategy if that specific muscle group is lagging. Ex: Training chest 3x per week for 6 or 8 weeks. Obviously this volume increase can’t be huge, otherwise you will just overtrain. Something around 20% should do the trick pretty well, and also combine a caloric surplus with this strategy.
HOW TO BUILD A GREAT CHEST PART 4 : Training Intensities
Remember when we speak about Intensity, Intensity is related directly to the percentage of your 1 Rep Max. I your 1 Rep Max is 100kg, 80kg is 80% intensity. With that in mind, it is important to understand that training at high intensities all the time increase the potential of injury in the long run. Training at low intensities all the time will be time consuming and also will most likely hinder your capacity to progress with weights, which in turn hinders your strength gains. The idea is to cycle through different intensities through certain periods of time, in order to allow you to get stronger and very low rep ranges (1-5) so you can train heavier in the medium (6-12) and high rep ranges (12+).
It is know that when volume is equated (the same), the gains in hypertrophy are similar, as you can see in this study here
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32304514/
where they compared 3 groups performing sets of 4, 8 and 12 reps with volume equated. The study concluded that “These results suggest that the increase in muscle size is similar among the 3 training protocols when the training volume was equated, whereas the increase in muscle strength is lower with the 12RM protocol than the other protocols.”
This other study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28834797/
suggests more or less the same thing: “The findings indicate that maximal strength benefits are obtained from the use of heavy loads while muscle hypertrophy can be equally achieved across a spectrum of loading ranges.”
Those are just more reasons for you to follow a specific periodization with your training, in order to stay in a logical sequence of progression and maximise your gains in both strength and hypertrophy.
HOW TO BUILD A GREAT CHEST PART 5 : Training Mistakes
Most common mistake: turning your pinkies towards each other when doing dumbbell presses. This configures a movement of external rotation of the shoulder joint, which IS NOT AN ANATOMICAL FUNCTION of the pectorals. You are making the exercise worse, not better. “Oh, but I feel it more this way”. Anatomy and Biomechanics do not care about your feelings, leave them out of the weight room. By INTERNALLY ROTATING your elbows, you will activate a bit more your Anterior Deltoids, yes. BUT, in that case, all you have to do is drop volume from front raises and shoulder presses (except if you’re a powerlifter, you’ll need overhead pressing to help with benching).
2nd mistake: rounding your shoulders when pressing the weights. This will take away the mechanical tension from the chest, placing it exclusively on shoulders and triceps, making the exercise more inefficient and unsafe. Pinch your shoulder blades together at your back and depress your shoulder blades (like you wanna pull them towards your back pockets). This will ensure maximal tension on your pectorals and also safety for your joints.
3rd mistake: THE BENCH PRESS MANIAC – don’t be this guy. I know, bench press is a great strength feat. I know it’s impressive and everything. But it’s not the ONLY alternative to build a bigger chest. Same goes for squats and legs, shoulder presses and shoulders, so on so forth. I’m a huge advocate of the BASIC EXERCISES. There is a reason why they are called BASIC. BUT remember, powerlifters HAVE to bench because that’s their sport. They compete at benching. If that’s not your case, you DON’T HAVE TO. If you want to build bigger muscles, no specific exercise is mandatory.
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