The Best Exercises To Blast Your Pecs

By Author: Tony Schwartz
Total Articles: 39
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A powerful, hard, cut chest is right up there on the list of most body builders, both pro and amateur. Unfortunately, there is so much bad information out there when it comes to properly working the pecs that chests like I just described are becoming a thing of the past.

The first key to building the pecs you want is to choose exercises that maximally stimulate the pectoral motor units. The first exercise that springs to mind for most lifters when they think of pec exercises is the bench press. But the bench press is not a great chest builder unless you happen to have the optimal leverage for it. On top of that, most people do the bench press incorrectly. If you put together bad leverages and bad technique it is no surprise why you feel the bench more in your shoulders and triceps than in your pecs!

I am going to show you 3 of my favorite chest building exercises. It is important to keep in mind that if these are done with bad technique you are cutting your muscle growth short and may be setting yourself up for injury. To prevent this from occurring make sure to get some technique tips from an expert so ...
... that you can build the pecs you want without getting injured.

Paused BB Bench Press
I know I just got finished saying that the flat bench press is not the best chest builder, but there are certain variations that do hit the pecs well, assuming you perform them correctly. The paused barbell bench press is one possible variation. By pausing the bar on the chest for one to five seconds before pressing it back to lockout you eliminate the stretch reflex and lose any stored energy you created while lowering the weight. This will make pressing the weight back up much more difficult, but it will also force your pecs to create a huge amount of force in order to explode the bar from your chest back to lockout.

Inclined Dumbbell Bench Presses
One of the common complaints of body builders is not just their overall chest mass, but their upper chest size especially. Incline movements are a great solution to this because they target the upper portion of the pecs, which gives the appearance of a more full chest, without giving you man boobs. The use of dumbbells is a good idea here as they allow for a deeper stretch in the bottom of the movement. This deep stretch activates a lot of underused motor units in the pecs which can jump start new growth to occur.

Standing High-to-Low Cable Crossovers
Even though different versions of the bench press are good for variety, to really isolate on the pecs you need to work on the flying motion. This can be done with a variety of exercises, but I really prefer cable crossovers here because of the consistent tension the weight stack gives you during the entire range of motion. The key is to focus on a good stretch at the beginning and continuing to keep constant tension on the pecs during the movement. This is a fantastic ending movement to any chest session.

Keep in mind that while these exercises are fantastic for building powerful pecs, they must be done with the correct technique in order to get the most from them.
See video and get tips on flat BB bench press and more of the best exercises for pecs