3 Common mistakes that are keeping you from a square-sculpted chest
Today I’m going to talk about 3 common mistakes many new and even advanced lifters make when working on their chest. I hit a plateau for about 6 months where I wasn’t noticing any gains in muscle after working my chest. I watched a few videos on what it could, but I still couldn’t figure it out until one day, it hit me.
Mistake #1: Quick uncontrolled movements – This is a mistake lifters make when they are lifting with their ego and not their body and this goes with all muscle groups not just your chest. When performing a chest press (ideally with dumbbells to save your shoulders which I will discuss in another post) you want to lower the weight down until your elbows get to about 90 degrees then press up and squeeze your chest as your doing so. The mistake would be not spending enough time with your elbows at about 90 degrees. When you lower your weight you should feel a stretch coming from your shoulder and extending to your sternum or the middle of your chest. When your elbows are at about 90 degrees your chest muscles are lengthened and you’re allowing for blood to flow into your chest creating that great “chest pump” feeling everyone loves. So when you are chest pressing you want to hold your weight for about 2-3 seconds at the 90 degree position in order to get the proper stretch in your rep and allow enough blood to flow.
Mistake #2: Lifting too much weight and not enough reps – If you are looking for that sculpted, model-like chest then you don’t want to be lifting 80 pounds for 3 reps. Instead you want to be lifting 50 pounds for 12 reps. Of course the weight will vary by your strength and how much you are able to lift in a controlled manner, but more reps will lead you onto that path for a a sculpted chest. If you are just looking for strength and size by all means grab those 80 pound dumbbells and do 5 sets of 3.
Mistake #3: Not squeezing your chest – When performing a chest-fly, plate press, or variation of those exercises you want to make sure you are squeezing your chest for at least a second when your arms are straight. When you do that you are adding to your exercise and I promise you will feel a nice burn right in the middle of your chest. This key part to your chest exercises will make an impact and you will close up that gap in between your pectorals.
Arm Blaster
Have you ever looked at your arms and noticed that they are the same size as your legs, thin and lengthy. No body trains their legs because what’s the point, but your arms?? You should be training them at least twice a week. You should train your back and shoulders once a week and your chest twice a week that way you have 2 days left over for legs or 2 more days of chest and your upper legs, your arms! Do you want to look like Andrew Garfield with his spaghetti like arms or do you want to look like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Do you want to look like you hit puberty as a senior in high school or do you want to look like you hit puberty in 5th grade. Well I am here to help you with the 5th grade pubescent version of you!
Set 1: Wide Bicep Curls – 3 x 8 each arm
Set 2: Tricep Pulldown – 3 x 8
Set 3 : Overhead Tricep Dumbbell Press – 3 x 12
Set 4: Concentration Curls – 3 x 8 each arm
Superset 1:
Single Arm Tricep Extension – 3 x 12 each arm
Single Arm Bicep Cable Curl – 3 x 12
Superset 2:
Dumbbell Kickbacks – 4 x 8
Double Bicep Hammer Curls – 4 x 12
Lift It Fitness 