Schwarzenegger's Four Rules for Chest Training
Introduce a practical and efficient chest training method to help you make the biggest progress in chest training:Arnold's 5 Rules for Chest Training.
1First do high-weight presses
Barbell presses target the largest part of the chest muscles, and using a barbell allows you to press with the highest weight, with the lowest risk of injury.
If you start with barbell presses, you should know how to get more from this exercise. After 3-4 warm-up sets (before your muscles reach failure), choose a weight that you can do most 6 times in each set. At this time, the pressing weight should be very large because your strength is at its maximum and you can recover after 2-3 sets. If you use a high weight in the middle or end of chest training, you won't be able to accumulate 100% of your power.
2Change angles
Flat presses are very effective for training the middle of the chest, but to develop a balanced chest, you must focus on training the upper and lower parts of the chest equally.
Therefore, the next workout (for more advanced fitness enthusiasts) should be incline or decline presses on adjustable benches to train the upper and lower parts of the chest.
When doing incline presses, the angle of the bench should be quite low, because the higher you raise it, the greater the effect of the weaker anterior deltoid head.
If you feel a burning sensation in your anterior deltoid head after one incline press, it means that they have already become fatigued before the upper chest muscles. In this case, you should lower the angle of the bench to focus on training the upper chest muscles.
3Finally do machine presses
I have seen some trainers arrange machines at the beginning and end of training. Don't misunderstand my meaning – machines are very effective, but you should do free weight training at the beginning of the workout, because these workouts can have the greatest impact on the muscles. When you start to feel tired (for intermediate and advanced fitness enthusiasts, it might be the third or fourth exercise), that's when you should do machine training.
Simply put, using machines just press as long as you press, without worrying about balance like with a barbell or dumbbell. Since your muscles are exhausted and reach absolute limits, you can freely press the weight without worrying about it getting stuck or pressing on yourself.
4Put isolation training last
By now, you should feel good chest development, and it's time to complete your workout. At this time, you should add single-joint exercises to the training plan. Although you can't load too much weight during isolation exercises, the focus should be almost entirely on the muscles you are training, meaning the anterior deltoid and triceps should be minimized.
