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Does Disappointing Muscle Gain In The Chest Necessitate Weight Lifting Pre-Exhaustion?

One of the most common muscle groups to target is the chest, with many bodybuilders seeking significant muscle mass in the pecs through performing numerous sets of heavy bench pressing. Despite most weight training plans centering upon the bench press as the primary upper body muscle building movement, there are many 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 are likely still 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 solution, since this particular exercise is very potent in adding chest muscle, that is, assuming that the shoulders and triceps do not fail prior to the pecs, which occurs far too often. This is the factor that many forget when analyzing how to produce a powerful chest building plan, as there are numerous smaller muscle groups that assist with compound exercises such as the bench press, and if they offer less stamina than the target muscle that a bodybuilder wishes to train (such as the shoulders or triceps experiencing fatigue prior to the pecs during bench press), the supporting muscle groups (shoulders or triceps in this example) will fail first, and this will cause frustrating results in the primary muscle group (chest).

How this applies to building larger chest muscles specifically is that the shoulders and triceps are frequently insufficiently powerful to allow the pecs to fail first during the bench press exercise, which leads to lackluster 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 far larger chance for failure prior to the shoulders and triceps during the bench press, and this will lead to far faster and more impressive chest muscle growth.

The most potent pre-exhaustion weight training 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 increased fatigue. When implementing this exercise prior to bench press, the shoulders and triceps 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 choose to use dumbbells as opposed to 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 allows less weight to be used, in addition to requiring the bodybuilder to hold the two dumbbells above the chest as if executing the bench press, which introduces unnecessary shoulder fatigue (and the goal is to target the pecs and prevent as much shoulder or triceps overload as possible). The pec deck focuses upon the chest in a very direct 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 lackluster chest muscle growth.

For bodybuilders who cannot access a pec deck machine, the cable crossover is a somewhat less effective, but acceptable alternative, yet the chances are that 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 prior to bench pressing. Keep in mind that the weight used during bench press will decline as compared with what you were able to utilize prior to implementing the pec deck as a pre-exhaustion technique, as your pecs will have experienced fatigue from pec deck prior to executing the bench press exercise, but this should not be concerning, as the total amount of overload will still increase due to a combination of the extra pec deck exercise and the heightened focus upon chest fatigue during bench press that occurs as a result of pre-exhausting the pecs. The goal is to use the heaviest weight while targeting the intended muscle group, and for numerous bodybuilders, when performing bench press as the first exercise of a workout, without pre-exhaustion, the pecs never receive sufficient overload to work towards their impressive muscle building potential.

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