Chris Cormier was famous in the early 1990s gym scene in Venice. He was one of the top bodybuilders, he knew how to party, and his training methods were a bit, well, casual. Despite this, Chris was very clear about one aspect of his training protocol which he took very seriously – the middle to upper pectoral set ratios. Cormier always trained his upper-chest with three times as many sets as he employed for the middle and lower chest, combined. Cormier had a chest you could almost literally place a glass of water upon. His pec shelf was legendary in his era, and all others! Let’s examine a training protocol which follows Cormier’s ratio.

Warm-Up

Start your chest day with 3 sets of high-repetition, low-weight warm-up movements on the cable crossovers. These do not count as part of the actual workout, but they do go a long way in ensuring you do not sustain any serious chest injuries. The important part is that you move as much blood into your chest as possible. Don’t go overboard with the stretching at this time, however. Too much stretching can create a heightened sense of elasticity which makes the muscle looser – and less strong.

Once you complete the cable crossovers, move over to the incline bench and prepare for that movement with 2 sets of light incline dumbbell presses. You’re finally ready to get to work!

Upper Chest

Begin with 4 work sets of heavy incline dumbbell presses. You should use the 6 to 10 repetition range for this upper chest movement. You want to train heavy, but sensibly. Following the incline dumbbell presses, move on to incline barbell press. Complete four sets of incline bench press, preferable with a spotter. Train in the 8 to 12 repetition range, which will allow you to recruit more muscle fibers. Finally, move on to incline bench dumbbell flyes. Complete four sets of this movement, flirting with a higher rep scheme. You should be using 10 – 16 repetitions for this exercise. Train for failure on this last set.

Middle Chest

Flat dumbbell bench presses are on the menu for the middle chest. Mix up your repetition ranges. Start by completing a set of 6 to 8 repetitions. Your next set should be 8 to 10 repetitions. A set of 10 to 12 should follow, and you should finish with a set of 12 to 20 repetitions. This is the set to train for failure!

Lower Chest

We’ll toss in 1 to 2 sets of decline bench press to ensure the lower pecs receive adequate stimulation. The hammer strength machine for 1-2 sets is an acceptable substitute.

Cool-Down

We don’t count cool-down sets by sets. Rather, we just keep track of the minutes. Four to eight minutes of extreme stretching should be enough to de-elevate your heart rate and break up the lactic acid that is sitting in the chest area from the tough workout you just completed. Drink some water, take a shower, and have your post-workout shake waiting in the car!

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