The pecs, or pectorals, are one of the most popular muscle groups to train. Creating thick, well-shaped pectoral muscles or increasing the amount of weight lifted on the bench press is a common goal among men. However, regardless of your goal, if your pecs are not adequately stimulated they will not grow, and your strength will not improve. Plateaus may occur from inadequate training, too much training or not training to muscle failure. Train your pecs at least once a week, but no more than twice weekly on nonconsecutive days.
Pectoral Muscles
Your pecs consist of two muscles -- the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor. The pectoralis major consists of muscle heads -- the sternal and clavicular. The sternal head, sometimes called the lower pecs, is the largest portion of the muscle and attaches to the sternum. Exercises such as the flat bench press or decline press stimulates the sternal head. The clavicular head, also referred to as the upper pecs, is the upper part of the muscle and attaches to the clavicle. It is stimulated with incline-pressing exercises. The pectoralis minor lies beneath and assists the pectoralis major in pressing movements.
Prioritization
In most cases, training your pecs once a week is enough to stimulate muscle growth and improve strength. However, if you have been training your pecs consistently for a year or more and have experienced plateaus in either strength or muscle growth, one option might be to train twice a week. Prioritizing your pecs over other muscle groups, such as training them first in your workout and training them twice a week, may help break through a plateau. Allow at least 48 hours before retraining your pecs if you work them twice a week. Avoid retraining your pecs if you are still sore from your previous workout.
Light-Heavy Training Program
One method of stimulating your pecs to grow while preventing overtraining is to incorporate a heavy training day and a light training day. The first day of training would be your heavy day, when you focus on performing chest exercises using a heavy load for lower repetition ranges such as six to eight reps per set at 75 to 85 percent of your one-rep maximum. Several days later, you would train your pecs again, using the same or different exercises, but with a lighter load and for more repetitions, such as 65 to 75 percent of your one-rep maximum for eight to 12 reps per set.
Chest Workouts
Always begin each workout with a five- to 10-minute aerobic warm-up to get the blood flowing. Additionally, the first set of each workout should consist of at least one warm-up set using light-to-moderate resistance to prepare the chest to exercise. Two or three warm-up sets using progressively increasing resistance may be necessary on heavy training days. Your heavy training day might consist of three to five working sets of six to eight reps per set of exercises such as the flat bench press, incline bench press or dumbbell press, decline press and weighted chest dips, resting two to four minutes between sets. Light training days might consist of three sets of eight to 12 repetitions of the incline dumbbell fly, dumbbell pullovers and cable flies, resting 60 seconds between sets. Finish your workout with 50 to 100 pushups, completed in as few sets as possible. Always use a spotter during heavy lifts.
References
- ExRx; Light/Heavy Weight Training
- "Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning"; National Strength and Conditioning Association; 2000
- "Strength Training Anatomy"; Frederic Delavier; 2001
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