In today’s sport, it is very common to see people with considerable size and strength but who nevertheless have some part of their body underdeveloped compared to the rest, giving them (sometimes) an inconspicuous or even deceptive body shape. In this article we will try to find the key for those who resist the construction of more voluminous pectoral muscles .
Before considering a specialization, we must try to answer several questions, the first is, how do I know the muscles that I have behind? For this you do not need to have thousands of studies or be the one who knows the most about weights and muscle development. It is as simple as looking in the mirror and seeing what part of your body you see unbalanced, which is very different from seeing it underdeveloped without even making a comparison with everything else.
If your answer is the pecs, this is your article, but there are still more questions to be solved. What has led me to leave my pecs so far behind in comparison to the rest of the body? For this question there are many answers; It may be due to not having trained it with sufficient intensity or the appropriate exercises, which is very different from having it worked with little volume, since sometimes, precisely, excess volume in the work of a muscle is what makes us make it difficult for him to grow, at least not if the volume is not well distributed, since there things can change, although for this there is no exact rule, since each body can assimilate the same volume of work differently, therefore We could discard this answer, and if you hurry me, even the one that has been able to work with little intensity in the past.
Another answer may lead to the mere fact of genetics. Unless you are perfect, genetically almost all of us have some less developed muscle, or what is different, that costs us more to develop, since usually these differences do not begin to be appreciated until a person begins a regular work of weights and fitness.
If you refuse to accept this last answer and you can’t find one, do one thing; welcomes all possible answers.
Suppose it is a cluster of everything, lack of intensity, excess volume, not doing the right exercises and complicated genetics. Let’s try to solve this problem as completely as possible. Genetics should no longer be a problem, working the chest correctly our genetics will undoubtedly go into the background.
It is very common to see people in gyms with routines that are a real beast. Some do five, some up to six different exercises to work the pectorals with still the greatest of fatalities: many, without touching exercises as important as presses or dips or minimizing them.
To work our pectorals correctly we must include a couple of basic exercises a week with a range of repetitions never above eight (primary exercises) which will be the ones we perform as the first exercise and in which we will put the highest intensity of job. This will allow us to recruit as many fibers as possible per series. In addition to these two basic exercises, we will include two others with a repetition range above eight (secondary exercises) . For this we will try to find exercises with dumbbells with which we manage to work each pectoral equally and give a greater hypertrophy work to our pectorals. And finally, we will add another two weekly isolation exercises above twelve repetitions, although never above fifteen (tertiary exercises) . This will give us a final congestion, the one that you like so much at the end of your training, but beyond sensations, to also provide a more aesthetic shape to our pectorals.
Primary exercises to choose (4-6 repetitions)
- Barbell flat bench press
- Incline bench press with barbell
- Decline bench press with bar
Secondary exercises to choose (8-12 repetitions)
- Parallel funds
- Incline Dumbbell Bench Press (close up)
- Decline bench press with dumbbells (close up)
Tertiary exercises to choose (12-15 repetitions)
- Pulley crossing
- Pec dec
- Dumbbell fly
- Pulley openings
Surely now you are thinking; Six exercises weren’t too many? Indeed they are, although it is not so if we divide them into two days of work that will involve three or four exercises per day. This translates into a very complete work of our pectorals with an appropriate volume, although greater than recommended, but divided in a way that favors the total and complete recovery of our pectorals. It is necessary to leave a minimum of two or three days between the two pectoral works a week.
These types of specializations are valid for both torso-leg and weiders or split routines. For fullbody it would be much more complicated as there is no time for the other exercises.
If we talk about a Torso-Leg, the pectoral exercises will of course be performed on torso days before any other muscle, we will finish our specialization work for pectorals and then perform the other muscles. For the back we will work at least four series in a repetition range of between 6 and 8. For shoulders we will include lateral raises (3 x 12-10 repetitions) on the day of greater volume of work and a military press with dumbbells on the day of less volume (3 x 8 repetitions).
As we explained before, we will include two basic, two secondary and two tertiary a week (one of each per day of work in pectorals).
Example of pectoral specialization in Torso-Leg.
Day 1 (day of highest volume). Torso.
- Flat barbell bench press 4 x 6-4 reps
- Decline Barbell Press 4 x 12-8 reps
- Pec Dec 2 x 15-12 reps
- Pull-ups 3 x 8-6 reps
- Pull to chest 2 x 8 reps
- Lateral raises 3 x 12-10 reps
- Z-bar bicep curl 2 x 12 reps
Day 2. Legs and abs.
Rest
Day 3. Torso (day of less volume).
- Incline bench press with barbell 3 x 6-4 reps
- Parallel Dips 3 x 12-8 reps
- Pulley crossover 1 x 15 reps
- Dumbbell Military Press 3 x 10-8 reps
- Pulley Triceps Extension 2 x 12 reps
Day 4. Legs and abs.
Adapting to the weider is quite different. The chest must rest as much as possible, the first and last day of weider a week, and both days we must include one of the muscles involved in our specialization to work alongside the chest (in this case it will be triceps and shoulders).
The work of shoulders and triceps will be reduced (with the chest specialization they receive a lot of work).
Example of specialization for pectorals in weider.
Day 1. Chest (largest day), triceps and abs.
- Flat barbell bench press 4 x 6-4 reps
- Decline Barbell Press 4 x 10-8 reps
- Pec Dec on machine 2 x 15-12 reps
- French press 2 x 10 reps
- Kicks 2 x 12 reps
- ABS
Day 2. Back and biceps
Rest
Day 3. Legs and abs
Day 4. Chest (day of lower volume).
- Incline bench press with barbell 3 x 6-4 reps
- Parallel Dips 3 x 12-8 reps
- Pulley crossover 1 x 15 reps
- Dumbbell Military Press 3 x 8 reps
- Lateral raises 2 x 12 reps
- Barbell Squats 2 x 12 reps
Our specialization should not last more than five weeks. At the end of the five weeks we will reduce the volume of work on our pectorals for two weeks.
