Can Disappointing Muscle Gain In The Chest Necessitate Weight Lifting Pre-exhaustion?

Can Disappointing Muscle Gain In The Chest Necessitate Weight Lifting Pre-exhaustion?

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One of the most common muscle groups to focus upon is the chest, with many bodybuilders seeking substantial muscle growth in the pecs through performing numerous sets of intense bench pressing. Despite most weight lifting routines centering upon the bench press as the primary upper body muscle building exercise, there are numerous bodybuilders who produce frustrating results in the chest region, and are searching for an alternative to the bench press for significant muscle growth.

Many bodybuilders may still be unaware as to the real reasons why the chest in many cases does not develop as quickly as other smaller muscle groups, and substituting the bench press is not a viable resolution, since this particular exercise is very potent in adding chest muscle, that is, assuming that the triceps and shoulders do not fail prior to the pecs, which occurs far too often. This is the factor that many neglect when analyzing how to produce an effective chest building routine, as there are numerous smaller muscle groups that participate in compound exercises such as the bench press, and if they are weaker than the target muscle that a bodybuilder wishes to train (such as the triceps or shoulders experiencing fatigue prior to the pecs during bench press), the supporting muscle groups (triceps or shoulders in this example) will fail initially, and this will cause frustrating results in the primary muscle group (chest).

How this applies to building larger chest muscles in particular 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 transform this scenario, a bodybuilder must institute pre-exhaustion, a technique that targets the pecs in a more direct way, which tires the pectorals sufficiently to allow them a substantially greater chance for failure prior to the triceps and shoulders during the bench press, and this will lead to far faster and more elaborate chest muscle gain.

The most potent pre-exhaustion weight lifting movement for the chest is pec deck, where both hands or elbows are brought together from an outstretched position either placing the forearm behind padding or holding a pair of handles, and this greatly overloads the pecs, causing them significant fatigue. When implementing this particular weight lifting movement prior to bench press, the triceps and shoulders will in most cases outlast the pecs due to performance of this pre-exhaustion exercise (pec deck), and this allows the pecs to receive greater overload during all bench press movements.

Some decide 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 forces less weight to be used, in addition to requiring the bodybuilder to balance the two dumbbells above his or her chest as if performing the bench press, which introduces unwanted shoulder fatigue (and the goal is to target the pecs 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 performed immediately prior to the bench press for any bodybuilder who experiences lagging chest muscle gain.

For weight lifters who cannot access a pec deck machine, the cable crossover is a somewhat less effective, but acceptable alternative, yet those who are unable to use a pec deck likely also do not own a cable crossover unit, therefore, in such a scenario, dumbbell flies are suitable 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 implementing the pec deck as a pre-exhaustion technique, as your pecs will have experienced fatigue from pec deck prior to performing the bench press exercise, but this should not be problematic, 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 most weight while targeting the intended muscle group, and for many, when performing bench press as the initial exercise of a workout, without pre-exhaustion, the pecs never receive sufficient overload to work towards their genetic muscle building potential.

About the Author:
Francesco Castano authors MuscleNOW.com, a diet and weight lifting program teaching the exact techniques for muscle gain without supplements or drugs. He also owns IncrediBody.com, an online fitness superstore selling weight lifting equipment at guaranteed lowest prices.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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