Joesthetics Alien Gains Chest Workout

Many of us are finally getting back into the gym after a long absence and chomping at the bit to sling some heavy iron around.

We can think of no better way to help you get back on track with your workouts than this complete pec-pumping, chest-annihilating workout from Primeval Labs athlete Jo Lindner, aka Joesthethics.

Let’s GO!

Joesthetics Chest Workout

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
Bench Press	3 / 2 / 2	* / 6 / 10	120 seconds
Dumbbell Flys	5	20 / 15 / 10 / 8 / 6	90 seconds
Incline Bench Press	1 / 3	* / 12 / 10 / 8	60 seconds
Chest Fly Machine (Pec Dec*	1 / 3	*/ 12-15	60 seconds

*Note: See Chest Training Tips section below for exact instructions on how to perform the correct set and rep schemes.

Chest Training Tips

Bench Press

The barbell bench press is the bread-and-butter muscle and strength builder for many individuals on chest day, and Jo is no exception.

This is your opportunity to move some heavy weight and really tax those high-threshold motor units (a.k.a. Fast-twitch muscle fibers).

The set and rep scheme for this exercise is as follows.

You will begin by performing three warm up sets beginning with just an unloaded barbell on your first warm up set.

From there, pyramid up in weight over the course of your next working sets until you are ready for your first heavy working set that has you struggling to hit 6 reps. 

Rest two minutes and then perform another heavy set of six.

Following your second heavy set, you’ll drop the weight to allow you to increase total training volume.

Your last two working sets on the bench will be for 10 reps each. 

Now, something many lifters wonder about is how wide they should grip the barbell when performing the bench press.

You might not like this answer, but how wide you grip the bar isn’t a one size fits all case. 

It’s highly individualistic and affected by the length of your arms, among other things.

So, it’ll take some experimentation to figure out exactly where your hands should be on the bar. 

Play with a few different grips, even if you’re normally a close-grip bencher, to find out where the best hand placement is for you so that your elbows stay directly underneath the bar while benching.

And, if you find that the barbell bench press irritates your shoulders too much (or if you’re still training at home without access to a barbell and plates), you can always opt for heavy dumbbell presses.

Dumbbell Flys

After hitting the chest hard and heavy with the bench press, you’ll move onto dumbbell flys to really stretch the fibers of the pecs.

You’ll perform five sets of flys, pyramiding up in weight as the number of reps per set you do decreases.

Two key things to keep in mind to get the most from the exercise and keep your shoulders safe are:

First, squeeze your pecs as hard as you can at the top of the movement to promote chest growth, while avoiding the tendency we all have of trying to touch the dumbbells together at the top. When you touch the dumbbells together, you don’t get any extra chest contraction, it may actually reduce the amount of tension imposed on the pecs.

Second, be wary of trying to overstretch the pecs by lowering the dumbbells way below the level of your torso.

Not everyone has the same range of motion, and going too low can place undue stress on the shoulder.

Try to get your upper arms in line with your torso and parallel with the ground.

Lower the dumbbells only until you feel a good stretch across your chest, then squeeze the pecs to raise the dumbbells up.

If you feel stress in the shoulders or biceps, you're over-stretching and placing your shoulders in a very precarious position. 

Incline Bench Press

Now that the pecs are warmed up and filled with blood, it’s time to get in some more heavy pressing work.

Since you’re two exercises into this workout, there’s not much need for an extensive warm up as you’ve already done a fair amount of chest worth thus far.

As such, you’ll do one warm up set to get the feel of the movement as well as an idea for what weight you’ll use on your first working set of 12.

Since rest times are only 60 seconds on this exercise, you may not be able to increase weight due to cumulative fatigue.

That’s OK.

Push for as many quality reps as you can on each working set. If you find that you can handle a bit more weight on your 2nd and 3rd working set, then go for it and push your limits!

One other thing to keep in mind when performing the incline bench press is the bench angle. Most lifters find that they are best able to “target” the upper pecs using an incline somewhere between 30-45 degrees. A

Using a higher incline setting than 45 degrees typically focuses more on the shoulders and less on the chest.

As mentioned above, if you don’t have access to a barbell or if barbell pressing irritates your shoulders, you can perform dumbbell incline presses.

Machine Chest Fly (“Butterflies”)

To finish off the pecs, engorge them with blood, and get one hell of a muscle pump, you’ll perform three sets of machine chest fly, alternatively referred to as butterflies.

Similar to dumbbell flies, the machine chest fly is great for placing a loaded stretch on the muscle fibers of the pecs, which promotes muscle growth.

But, where the machine chest fly really outdoes the dumbbell fly is that it maintains tension on the pecs at the top of the movement.

As we mentioned above, dumbbell flies begin to reduce tension as you raise them overhead, to the point where there is very little tension on the pecs at the top position.

The machine chest fly (and cable fly) provides constant tension on the pecs throughout the entire range of motion and also eliminates the balancing act that you have to do with the dumbbells.

By placing your body in a more stable (and safer) position, you can focus solely on blasting the pecs and finishing them off with a bang!

Boost Performance with Intracell 7

Primeval Labs Intracell 7 is the training fuel of choice of Joesthetics and countless other fitness addicts that love to crush their workouts.

Intracell 7 tastes great, mixes easily and contains a bevy of nutrients that promote greater stamina, endurance, and blood flow during training.. 

Intracell 7 can be used by itself or stacked with any Primeval Labs pre workout, including Mega Pre Black to create the ultimate high energy, high pump pre workout supplement.