Build a Bigger Chest

In 15 years of coaching, I realized to be a good coach - you almost need to be an artist more than a scientist. There is no doubt you need a lot of knowledge on training methodologies, anatomy biomechanics, etc., but what differentiates a good coach from a great one is the part of natural instinct - a capacity of being able to adapt quickly and easily.

For example, old Indian medicine used cod liver oil for boosting the immune system. My grandmother gave me this bad tasting stuff when I was young to prevent cold and flu and you know what? Science discovered years later that cod liver oil is full of vitamin D and A and those vitamins are very important to support the immune system. This is proof that often the science often validates what people have trusted for years...

Keeping with this concept, today I will present to you my special chest workout for building a bigger chest! When you look at bodybuilders' physiques attentively, you will notice three types : those with big arms with small chest and back (limbs type) those with big chest and back with less arms (trunk type) and finally the perfect one with a perfect balance body (the champion type!)

It's always surprising when you see a guy with the chest of a 12 year old girl benching over 400 pounds! What is the problem? In fact- if you look at those guys lift carefully, you will observe when they push the bar - they always take a close grip bench pressing grip. Why? Because those guys have built a motor pattern that put more stress on shoulders and triceps. If you look at their physique, you will notice that almost all the time those guys have short clavicular bones. This genetic predisposition is predominant in this "limbs" type physique. In summary, when your shoulders are closer apart - the chance of you developing this type of physique is much more probable.

Now, if you have or one of your athletes has this problem, and you want to correct it and build a full round and impressive chest like Arnold - you will need to step out of the conventional chest building methodology, in other words - you will need to innovate!

First, you need to put more emphasis or target the pectoral muscle, not isolate it, like a lot a books and so-called "experts" say, because it's nearly impossible to isolate a muscle group. Why target pec exercises before basic mass building exercises like bench press and dumbbell press? The reason is that you want to pre-fatigue your pecs to then be able to put more work volume on this part of the pressing muscle chain to completely destroy pec muscle fibres.

Now a lot of training experts disagree with me, and you know what - it doesn't matter to me. What really matters are results... Period!

Just go ahead and give this a try and the next day you will feel like a guy who had breast augmentation surgery!

The program:

A1 - Flat Bench Dumbbell Flies 4 x 10 tempo 3-1-1 rest 0 sec (tempo: go down in three seconds... stay 1 sec at the end and go up as fast as you can or in 1 second)

A2 - Neutral Pec Deck Double Contraction 4 X 6 tempo stop and go rest 45sec (on a pec deck machine - you do one half contraction from the starting position and one full contraction for each rep)

B1 - Incline Dumbbell Flies 4 x 10 tempo 3-1-1 rest 0sec

B2 - Low Pulley Supinated Flies 4 x 10 tempo 3-2-1 rest 60sec (on a low position cable cross over machine, you take two handles in supinated form (palms facing up ) and you do exactly the opposite of a standard cable crossover movement. You go up and at the end - you squeeze your pecs together and hold it for two seconds.

Ok, that's the end the pre-exhausting part, now for the big moves!

C - Flat Bench Dumbbell Press 3 set of 10 3-1-1 rest 120sec

D - Beyond Failure Bench Press 2 x 10 tempos 3-1-1 rest 120sec

And the mad part!!! 6-8 rest 10 sec max 10sec max 10sec max -20% max ...

For the last set, yes, it's all in the same set! You do some kind of cluster form set. You put the maximum weight on the bar you can do for 6 to 8 reps after you rack back the bar; you take a 10 sec break; you re-take the same weight and you do your max; after you put the bar back in the rack take 10 sec rest ... and for the last set you drop the weight by 20% and you take it to the ultimate max with the help of a partner you do two forced reps at the end.

Don't overdo it! 4 weeks of this crazy thing is more than necessary to accomplish what you want. If you do it for too long, it will be very stressful for your joints and your nervous system.

Ha Ha!!! Now you think I'm crazy!! You're right... only crazy people want to be the biggest bodybuilder in the world!

Stay tuned folks!!! Next month, we will try the Legs from Hell program, only one person I know has been able to do it without throwing up!

Quick nutrition advice to help you fight infections in this cold season...

A lot of people ask me "what can I do to protect myself against cold and flu?" And with the A h1n1 virus around - I think these tips will be very useful to help you build a strong immune system to fight X,Y,Z virus or bacteria's.

I know some of you will want to know if I'm for or against the vaccine. In fact, I'm not against vaccines in general and I believe in some cases - it's a very good thing. My father-in-law is the owner of a number of farms and some vaccines prevent infections that can potentially devastate his cattle... so this is a very delicate subject depending who you are speaking with. It can be sometimes questionable but for now - vaccine or not - the best way to fight against virus, bacteria and even cancer is to build a healthy and strong immune system.

First, Vitamin D: A lot of recent published studies on PubMed mention that Vitamin D3 is very useful to build a strong immune system and generate specific defense against flu virus, bacteria and various cancers, like breast cancer! A friend of mine who is a doctor in functional medicine - Pierre Cloutier MD - told me that if a woman ingests Vitamin D in the optimal level, she has 75% less chance to develop breast cancer!!! The amount needed of vitamin D will vary from one person to another. The best way the determine your need is to have your blood tested for it. The test is called 25 hydroxy-Vitamin D. You're supposed to be in the higher levels to be optimal. You should be between 125 and 150 nmol/L. However, without supplementation in this cold part of the world it is nearly impossible to reach that standard. This is why I recommend you to take 2000iu to 5000iu of vitamin D3 a day in the cold season and 1000iu to 2000iu in the summer. Obviously, I think you already know that the best way to get Vitamin D is by safe exposure to the sun. If you become red – you've had too much! Just 15 minutes a day is enough to have your vitamin D supply for the day. Don't put sunscreen on when you want to optimize your Vitamin D levels because the sunscreen will block the action of the UVB rays and they are essential to synthesize the Vitamin D. Fifteen minutes a day in the winter is always easy to get! Some of you may think sun beds will do the job, while you may be getting your vitamin D but a lot of things are different between sun beds and the real sun. Remember what mother nature does: She always does it better than what humans do. This is why I think vitamin D3 is a better, safer choice in the winter.

Secondly, Glutamine: Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in your body and it's very important to nourish your immune system cells. A friend of mine who is a strength and conditionning coach in the NHL told me that it is the trick to prevent and to support the immune system of his players against cold and flu. When one of his player has cold or flu symptoms, he gives him 10 g of glutamine every few hours for two or three days and it's very useful to diminish flu and cold symptoms and prevents the player from contracting a more severe infection like bronchitis or pneumonia. For prevention, 10 g a day seems to be good.

Third , Omega-3 oil: Like glutamine, Omega-3 will nourish your immune system cells and diminish the chance of being more sick . In fact, the omega-3's have very strong anti-inflammatory properties. It's also very useful to prevent inflammation of the lungs and all the respiratory system. Take 3-6 g a day of good quality fish oil from small fish and with a good concentration of EPA. This is what is very anti-inflammatory in your omega-3 oil.

Finally don't eat too much sugar! If your blood sugar goes too high, you strengthen bacteria and viruses. They love sugar!!! If you know somebody who is a diabetic, you should already know these people have a harder time fighting infections... keep your blood sugar down and those bad bacteria will be easier to kill!

Ok - I hope these tips will help you to build a strong immune system and you will pass the coming winter without getting too sick!

Vincent Comtois, Coach of Champions

More and about me:
I'm a strength and conditioning coach for 15 years I made a formation of 4 years in naturopathic medicine and made over 20 formations in training with coach export, A,N,I,E ... and now I'm a professor for coach export since 2002. My speciality is sport specific preparation. In the past i helped a lot of athletes in a lot of different sports like car driver Andrew Ranger, MMA pro Dimitri Waardenburg, strong man Christain Savoie , Dominic Filiou, bodybuilders by dozens like Dave Mitchell mr Quebec over all 2008, Antoine Vaillant 2007 and 2008 mr Canada junior, Maggie Dumoulin FAME World over all fitness figure... now I'm very proud to joint this young and dynamic team of REVOLUTION nutrition. My mission is to helping you to build the body of your dream. Each month i will entertain you on diverse task on nutrition and training ...stay tune!

Disclaimer: Always consult your physician before starting a training program or restrictive diet.