History tells us Spartans were bat-
tle-hardened warriors with abs and
chests that appeared to be chiseled
out of granite. They were fit combat-
ants with the kind of grit and de-
termination that has ensured their
unique place in history. To this day,
men aspire to be like them. But, to
accomplish that, you need to accept
that when it comes to your training,
no day is more sacred than chest
day. After all, there’s no muscle that
distinguishes masculinity more than
a prominent, bold and defined chest.
If you want your chest to stand out, you need to do more
than just the bench press on Mondays. You need a well-
rounded workout that takes advantage of the anatomy and
mechanics of your chest. Not sure how to accomplish that?
This chest workout checks all of those boxes and takes it a
step further. How? By implementing an array of techniques
and rep ranges to ensure maximal hypertrophy. Build yourself
a Spartan chest with this workout for the ages!
Training Based On Chest Anatomy
The exercises in this workout were carefully selected based
on how the pectoral or chest muscles function. The pecs
have two main functions: Arm extension and adduction.
Basically, your chest can extend your arms away from your
body like a bench press and bring your arms together like a
hug or flye motion.
The pecs are a fan-shaped muscle, meaning that the muscle
fibers are not all pointed in the same direction, so move-
ments that vary the angles of force work best. That’s why
you’ll primarily use dumbbell presses instead of barbell or
machine presses. Not only do the dumbbells allow for a
greater range of motion, but, by coming together at the top,
you’ll be getting the arm adduction motion that machines
and barbells lack.
Using Rep Ranges And Rest
This workout will be kicked off with incline dumbbell presses
in the six to eight rep range. These reps will help improve
your strength, enabling you to lift more and more as the
weeks pass. It’s important when performing lower reps to rest
sufficiently. Aim for two minutes between sets to give your
muscles time to regenerate ATP or stored energy to move
as much weight as possible. Even better than the fact that
you’ll be building strength, low reps are proven to increase
testosterone levels.
The rest of the workout will use moderate to high reps
ranging fr om 10 to 15 reps and more. Higher reps first and
46 SEPTEMBER 2017 | ironmanmagazine.com
foremost increase time under tension – a key component
to stimulating hypertrophy. To ensure maximal time under
tension, these exercises should be done with a moderate
and controlled pace. Keep the focus on the tension, not the
amount of weight. Maintaining a consistent tempo is espe-
cially important when supersetting the cable press crossover
and cable flye. If done correctly, this superset will last almost
two minutes. Rest should be kept to a minimal amount of
time (45 to 60 seconds), just enough to move a respect-
able weight. You’ll need to start these sets before you feel
completely rested, even if you’re not able to lift as much as
possible. These reps are about hypertrophy not strength, so
you’ll need to check your ego. The reward you get in return for
checking your ego is a boost in growth hormone brought on
by the shortened rest periods.
Bringing The Intensity: Post-Exhaust Superset
Typically, high reps and short rest are enough for most
people. However, doing what most people do will only gener-
ate what most people achieve: Average results. Don’t settle
for average! To break beyond average, you need to do what
most people are not willing to do and that’s where the post-
exhaust superset comes in. You’re most likely familiar with
part of that name: Supersets (performing two exercises back
to back with no rest). The other portion, the post-exhaust
technique, was made famous as a result of its ability to iso-
late and train a specific muscle to failure.
The post-exhaust technique works by first using a com-
pound exercise like the cable press crossover then moving to
an isolation exercise like cable flyes to finish off the muscle
group. It works so well because the compound exercise al-
lows you to lift more weight yet still target a specific muscle.
Then the isolation exercise ensures that the specific muscle
reaches failure as opposed to the accessory muscles.
In this workout, the cable press targets your chest, but also
uses your triceps and shoulders. Failure on the press could
be caused by your triceps and shoulders, as opposed to your