Extended Sets for Chest
When it comes to building a powerful, sculpted chest, it’s crucial to challenge your muscles in a variety of ways to ensure growth. One highly effective method that I was introduced to years ago by my mentor, Charles Poliquin, and later refined with the guidance of a Brookhaven athletic trainer, is Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets. This technique, similar to drop sets, allows you to extend the time under tension for a given muscle group, making each set more intense and rewarding. Let’s dive into what makes this approach so effective and how you can apply it to your chest training routine.
What Are Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets?
Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets are a form of intensity technique designed to push your muscles beyond their normal fatigue point. Similar to drop sets, this method increases time under tension (TUT) but uses mechanical advantage to extend the set. In simple terms, the goal is to change the angle of your body or the movement to recruit different muscle fibers as fatigue sets in, allowing you to perform more reps than you normally could with a fixed position.
Understanding Mechanical Advantage
Before we dive into how this works for chest training, let’s first take a moment to understand the concept of mechanical advantage. Mechanical advantage refers to the leverage a muscle group has based on the angle at which it’s being worked. In pressing exercises, such as bench presses, the angle of your body and the position of the barbell affect which portion of your chest gets the most engagement.
The pectoralis major, or the chest muscle, is made up of two main sections:
- The sternal portion (lower part of the chest).
- The clavicular portion (upper part of the chest).
The angle of the press will dictate which part of the chest gets the most work. For example, flat presses target the lower portion of the chest (sternal fibers), while incline presses target the upper portion (clavicular fibers). The steeper the incline, the more the clavicular portion of the chest is activated.
The Impact of Angle on Chest Training
To fully appreciate how to apply Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets to your chest workout, let’s consider the different angles you can use during pressing exercises:
- Flat Bench Press: This exercise predominantly targets the sternal (lower) portion of the chest. While effective, it doesn’t engage the upper chest as much.
- Incline Bench Press: As the angle increases, you start to recruit more of the clavicular (upper) chest fibers. The steeper the incline, the more the upper chest is involved.
- Decline Bench Press: This targets the lower chest, even more, emphasizing the sternal fibers.
Now that we understand how angle affects chest activation, let’s look at how to apply Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets to maximize your chest workout.
How to Perform Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets for Chest
To implement Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets in your chest training, you’ll start with a challenging weight and progressively decrease the angle of your bench throughout the set. This method helps you extend the set and recruit different fibers in your chest. Here’s how you can put this method into practice:
- Start with a Challenging Weight: Choose a weight that allows you to complete 6-8 reps with perfect form at a 3010 tempo (3 seconds down, 1-second pause at the bottom, no rest at the top). Set the bench at a 45-degree incline to begin.
- Perform the Set to Failure: Complete your reps until you can no longer maintain proper technique or complete a full rep.
- Rest and Adjust the Angle: Take a 10-15 second rest, just enough to adjust the bench angle by one notch. Lower the incline slightly to recruit more of the sternal portion of your chest, and then perform as many reps as you can at this new angle. It’s important to rest after reps to ensure proper recovery and maintain your form throughout the set.
- Rest and Adjust Again: Once you fail at the new angle, rest for another 10-15 seconds, then lower the bench further, eventually bringing it to the flat position. Perform as many reps as you can with perfect form.
By progressively lowering the bench angle, you’ll find that you’re able to push out 5-6 additional reps as you transition from the incline to the flat press position. This method allows you to extend your set, recruit different parts of the chest, and increase your overall training volume.
Why Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets Work
This technique works because it allows you to use a heavier weight than you would be able to with just a single-angle press. Since you’re stronger at flatter angles, you’ll be able to push through additional reps that you wouldn’t have been able to at the steeper incline.
Additionally, by incorporating different angles, you’re engaging all parts of the chest in a more comprehensive way. It’s not just about isolating muscle groups; it’s about maximizing your muscle recruitment across all parts of the chest, which promotes balanced growth and strength development.
Best Rep Ranges for Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets
Although this method can work across various rep ranges, experience has shown that the 6-8 and 8-10 rep ranges tend to yield the best results. This is because these rep ranges are optimal for hypertrophy (muscle growth) and allow you to push your muscles to failure while still maintaining form.
Benefits of Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets
- Increased Time Under Tension (TUT): By extending your set with multiple angles, you’re increasing the total time your muscles are under tension, which is crucial for muscle growth.
- More Volume: The ability to push out extra reps in the middle of your set helps you achieve greater training volume, which is a key driver of muscle hypertrophy.
- Enhanced Chest Development: By targeting both the upper and lower portions of the chest in one set, you’re ensuring well-rounded chest growth.
- Improved Strength and Endurance: Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets can help increase both your strength and muscular endurance by pushing you to complete reps beyond failure.
Mechanical Advantage Extended Sets are a powerful and effective technique to add to your chest training routine. By understanding the role of angle and leverage in pressing exercises, and using this method to extend your sets, you can push your chest muscles to new levels of growth and development. Try it the next time you’re in the gym and watch how your chest gains strength, size, and definition.
RobERT JACOBS
-USAW, PICP, BioSignature, Metabolic Analytics, NKT, Nike-SPARQ, NASM-PES, CES & CPT