does your chest refuse to grow no matter how many exercises you try trust me I've been there I tried every big chested fitness influencers workout yet my chest stayed flat and underdeveloped and it was embarrassing I've hated taking my shirt off because I didn't want anyone to notice it but over the last year that changed my chest has grown faster than ever I've even got new stretch marks from the growth and all it took was focusing on two key exercises that actually fit my genetic structure do these properly and I guarantee you you'll start experiencing
the same chest growth I did in no time so what were it well it wasn't the barbell bench press and here's why multiple studies show a strong correlation between bench press strength and chest growth so on average a bigger bench does in fact lead to a bigger chest but even after increasing my bench press from 25 PBS on each side to two plates aside other muscles grew but my chest stay flat why well studies report averages while they provide insight into what works for most people there's always outliers and I soon realized I was one
of them my genetic structure just meant the bench press wasn't the best option for growing my chest as for why part of this has to do with the fact that the barbell locks your arms into a fixed position so no matter what I tried with my form I can never really get my chest to properly activate based on how my balls are structured so what did they do instead two things first I switched from a barbell to dumbbells this gave me the freedom to adjust my arm position as I pressed which allowed me to better
activate my chest and second I changed the bench angle in a study done back in 2020 researchers split participants into three groups one group only did incline bench press another did only flat bench and the last group split their volume into both flat and incline after 8 weeks the incline group saw the same mid chest growth as the other groups but with significantly more upper chest development but here's the catch incline doesn't mean the same thing for everyone and this is where understanding your genetic structure becomes really important if you have what's known as a
steep sternum angle then a flat bench isn't really a flat press it acts more like a decline press because your chest fibers are angled downwards in this case you'd have to use a relatively High incline of about 30 to 45° to actually start hitting the upper chest but if you've got a flat sternum angle like me that a flat bench is flat and it only takes a very slight incline to unlock the upper chest anything higher and you'll feel it mostly in your shoulders which is exactly what happened to me so for my body type
setting the incline just one or two notches up from the bottom was a sweet spot to maximize in my chest activation and to find out when your sternum angle is lay down on a flat bench and place your phone between your pecs right on top of your sternum if your phone angles down you have a steeper sternum angle whereas if your phone sits more horizontally you have a flatter sternum angle like me I want to know what sternum angle you have though so do this test and then comment down below which one you've been blessed
with unfortunately though even after I figured out my stum mangle and I applied this exercise Swap and I worked my way up to pressing 95 lb dumbbells my chest still wasn't growing as much as I hoped and it was frustrating at this point I honestly thought my Filipino genetics curse me with a flat chest forever until I realized there was one more key factor I was neglecting take a look at Ronnie Coleman's pressing form watch his upper arms notice how they go well below 90° at the bottom of each rep and how he doesn't fully
lock out his arms at the top what's fascinating is that bodybuilders like Ronnie learned just through trial and error that this form grew their chest the best but now there's research to back it up while studies on the chest are still needed every single study done on the biceps quads and calves have shown that performing half reps in the Deep stretch position results in significantly more growth compared to half reps at the top so even though I was lifting heavy I was doing the complete opposite of what's actually best for growth and as much as
I hurt my ego I decided to let go of the big 95s and grab the smaller 65s instead and yes it stung a little but remember it's not the size that matters it's how you use it and that couldn't be more true here focusing on that deep stretch and Conant tension with the 605s did way more for my my chest than Eagle lifting those 95s ever did but to continue forcing growth once I nailed down my form and could really feel my chest working I slowly started progressing the weight again but here's the thing it's
taken me a full year to work my way back up to the 80s with this new form so focus on getting stronger but don't rush it and sacrifice your form in the process now as for how to implement this exercise into weekly routine I've tried to make this as easy as possible for you by creating a free six we chest workout plan that implements the two chest exercises into a full workout plan you can start using right away I'll explain how you can access that later but for now since the first exercise focused primarily on
the mid and upper chest I now needed a second exercise to really Target the mid and lower chest especially the outer Porche and for years I relied on the pack deck machine but while it's great for isolating the chest here's the issue it's hardest at the end of the movement during the squeeze but the latest research suggests that exercis is challenging your muscles in the stretch position heads to deliver more growth especially in the distal parts of the muscle which in this case would be the outer chest however unlike other muscle groups like The biceps
this hasn't been directly tested on the chest which is why I recently launched a study using custom machines and MRI technology to see if this approach truly works for the chest shoulders and glutes I'll update you guys on the results but for now let's talk about what worked for me instead of the p deck I grabbed an incline bench set it one notch below the very highest incline and put it smack in the middle of a cable machine to create my own seated cable fat the beauty about this exercise is that if you execute it
properly it not only challenges your chest in the Deep stretch but it also maintains tension throughout the full range even at the end during the squeeze something that pressing exercises don't fully provide but remember just swapping the exercise isn't enough there's three tweaks I made to get the most growth up of bit first I placed a half foam roller behind my back this helps open up the chest to unlock that deep stretch we've been talking about it might feel a bit weird at first but believe me it's game changing once to get it right now
if you don't have a half foam roller a regular one will work perfectly fine too just slide it in and let it open you right up trust me it feels even better than it sounds second tweak I justed the cable setup so I set the cables at shoulder height and Scoot my butt forward on the bench this aligned the tension directly with my mid and lower chest but to actually keep that tension on my chest throughout the movement I avoided letting my forearms drift out of line with a cable and instead focused on keeping them
directly in line lastly I had to stop my shoulders from taking over since my chest was so weak I had the tendency to Ru my stronger shoulders forward and let my chest cave in especially as the Reps got really hard but the way I prevented this was actually quite simple I imagined a string attached to my sternum pulling my chest up during the entire movement as I simply focused on squeezing my biceps into the sides of my chest then once the Reps got really tough as soon as I felt my shoulders creeping forward I knew
my chest hit failure and I was just cheating my way to more reps so I'd end the set there now speaking of failure what if your Gym's packed and the pec deck is the only chest fly available no problem there's actually a way to make it more effective here's how first do as many full reps as you can to focus on the squeeze but after your hit failure shift your attention to the stretch by cranking out as many half preps as possible in that stretch position this way you still get the benefit of the squeeze
without sacrificing that crucial stretch but some of you might be wondering can you really build your entire chest with just these two exercises well I've recently decided to push my chest train into the next level by experimenting with a much higher volume approach based on some new research my goal is to turn my chest into a strong point by next year and I'm tracking in every step to find what works best and I'll be sharing these updates on my channel so if you want to stay ahead with the latest strategies just keep an eye out
but the short answer is yes if you're executing these two exercises with the r form but also doing enough volume and properly progressing them you can definitely see incredible chess grow which is why I built two resources to help you out first I've created a free 6we chess workout plan focused on getting the most out of these two exercises and you can download it over at Bill twist size.com /wor workout and I'll also leave a link in the description box down below and second for more personalized approach that provides all the detailed guidance you need
for all your workouts like how to set up the right angles make form adjustments based on your body structure and ensure that you're actually progressing every single week you can head to buildwi science.com and take our quick quiz to find which of my online programs is best suited for you in your body now the best thing to pair with a big chest are wide shoulders to match so give this video watch next from my go-to shoulder workout that blew my shoulders up thanks for watching don't forget to like And subscribe and I'll see you next
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