Pump-Tacular Pecs: 3 Week Workout to Pump Up Your Chest

To this day I am not sure anyone has matched the size, shape, and proportions of Arnold’s pecs.

When he would hit a side chest or most muscular onstage the audience would gasp at the pure density his pecs displayed, as well as those striations – clearly carved crevices from sternum to armpit!

Arnold combined basic movements using heavy weights with pumping supersets (tapping into all mechanisms for growth) to create the thickest chest bodybuilding has ever seen – definitely a man way ahead of his time!

Do you also want pecs that impress?

Below is a 3-week chest-crushing program to help jump-start some serious mass gains.

It utilizes a few of my world renown training systems, each designed to stimulate hypertrophy through unique pathways. So if you are trying to build an Arnold-like chest, this will definitely get you moving in that direction!

Week 1: The SPEC™ (Stretch/ Peak Contraction/ Eccentric/ Concentric Emphasis) Method

This training protocol utilizes four distinct rep tempos (one for each movement), each emphasizing a different “section” of the range of motion. This forces the muscle to withstand a unique form of tension with each exercise, allowing one to tap into several growth pathways.

Week 2: The FTX2™ (Fast Twitch Exponential) Method

This training protocol helps set up maximum fast twitch muscle fiber firing through the use of high reps (to exhaust slow twitch fibers) and heavy explosive lifts (to excite the central nervous system).

Week 3: The PRRS™ (Hybrid) Method

This training protocol utilizes various “intensity techniques” that will shock the muscles and ignite the CNS, both combining to facilitate new muscle growth.

Important Notes:

1. Tempo is the term used to describe how fast you lower, lift and pause with the weight in each phase of a repetition. It is expressed in seconds and begins with the negative (lowering) portion of an exercise, then the midpoint (stretch) portion, then the positive (lifting) portion, and if there is a fourth number used it will be the peak contraction (squeeze) portion.

2. What many people fail to realize is that building a big chest is not as simple as lying on a bench...unracking a bar...and pushing it from point A to point B. No! Each chest movement, whether it be a bench press, incline press, dip, flye, or crossover requires the exercise to begin before any actual movement takes place.

Until proper body positioning is understood and executed properly, you will never reach the genetic potential of your chest…especially the upper chest. Here is what you need to do before beginning any pec exercise:

1. Lay down on the bench and set your feet firmly on the floor.
2. Arch your lower back slightly.
3. Raise your ribcage up high.
4. Squeeze your scapulae together.
5. Pull your shoulders downward and push them into the bench.

*These same principles apply to dips, crossovers, and seated press and fly machines as well, even if a bench is not involved in the movement.

Now you are in a position to achieve maximum pectoral recruitment with far less delt and triceps interference.

The key, however, is to keep your body in this position throughout the set. It is not enough to start this way and then slowly revert back to bad habits as the set progresses. You must learn to “lock” your body in this position and stay there from the first to the last rep!