Like all seasoned lifters, MuscleTech-sponsored athlete and Team Bodybuilding.com athlete Abel Albonetti knows that what goes on in the gym is only part of getting your gains.
"You go to the gym, you tear down muscle, and then you take care of your nutrition," he says. "That's how you rebuild muscle to make your pecs bigger."
Having said that, Albonetti does everything he can to make his workout feel twice as hard as it should. Must be all those inclines, dropsets, and supersets. He starts this killer workout with some bitchin' benches, and he doesn't let up.
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Technique Tips
Barbell incline bench press
Albonetti starts this workout heavy—very heavy. He uses a medium-width grip. Aim for a weight you can use to do 2-4 clean reps. Give your body a minute to recover after each set, then go back and hit it heavy again.
Incline dumbbell press
Lighten up the weight for these presses because your reps increase to 10-12. Get your first 4 sets in, then make the fifth set your double dropset. Here's how: Do as many reps as you can with the weight you've been using. Once you hit failure, drop the weight about 25 percent, go to failure, then drop it another 25 percent and go to failure.
You're now 25 percent through the workout, but it probably feels like you're finished.
Leverage incline chest press
Do this press one arm at a time. Keep one arm extended as you do 10 reps with the other arm, then switch sides. As you lower the weight, focus on giving that arm a good stretch before pushing again. Meanwhile, keep tension on the pec on the opposite side of your chest—the pec that's holding your extended arm in place. Keep tension in that arm for all 10 reps as you let that other arm go down, stretch, then press up.
Superset: barbell incline bench press and incline dumbbell fly
Albonetti does his incline bench presses using a back-row machine, which lets him get his hands very close together to work his pecs a little harder. If you have access to this machine, squeeze that bar as hard as you can and lift straight up. If you don't, do incline bench presses or, if it's available, use a landmine. If you use a barbell, place your hands shoulder-width apart. If you use a landmine, squeeze hard to work those pecs.
When you finish each set of bench presses, proceed immediately to the incline flyes.
Giant set: cable cross-over, standing cable chest press, and push-up with feet elevated
This giant set is all about failure—in a good way. Take cable cross-overs to failure, then immediately switch to standing chest presses and do them to failure as well. Again, without hesitation, elevate your feet up on a bench and do push-ups to failure. That's one giant set.
After your last push-up, rest 45 seconds. Then, do another giant set. Continue alternating giants sets and 45 seconds of rest until you have completed a total of 7 giant sets.
If you can get your body up off the floor for that seventh set of push-ups, you're a badass.
Do this workout once a week to build that thick, broad chest that'll have you visiting the specialty shirt shop before you know it. To do the same thing for the rest of your upper body, check out Albonetti's "Super-Pump Arm Workout," his "Shoulder Workout That Overcomes Any Training Plateau," and his "Ultimate Back Workout" on Bodybuilding.com.