Specifically, I’ll be giving you three quality exercises including rep and set parameters as well as warm-up and a special finisher tip. After reading this brief post, you should be able to head to the gym and do a upper chest workout that really slams your pecs.

• First of all let’s talk warm-ups. There’s no reason to get fancy here. After a brief whole body warm-up, say five minutes on the Stairmaster, simply grab a barbell and pump out three sets of 10 reps on the incline bench. Try using about half the weight you would normally use for work sets.

• Then move on to your work set. Our first exercise will be no surprise here, incline bench presses. 10 reps in good form and perform three sets. Tempo, well that should be fast enough that it requires significant effort to keep the bar moving at speed, but not so fast that you lose control.

• Next exercise is going to be incline dumbbell flies. You want to use about 70% of the weight that you would use for normal flat bench dumbbell fly. Again three sets of 10 reps and you’re done.

• Your finisher here may be a little bit of a surprise. I’m going to recommend that you do close grip bench presses within E_Z Curl bar. You’ll find that not only do these give your pecs a tremendous pump, especially after the preceding sets, but that they will work your triceps better than just about any other movement.

For this set, because it is your finisher I’m going to recommend something a little different.

• Instead of using the amount of weight that you would normally use for three sets of 10 reps, go down about 20%. Do two sets of 10 reps, and then take your last set to failure. Now we get into the reason that I recommended an E_Z Curl bar. You’ll find an E_Z Curl bar is a lot easier to slip back into the rack behind your head when you’re exhausted. If you’re simply on a bench at home and you don’t have a rack to set the bar in at the end of your set you be glad that I recommended that you use less weight, because you’re going to have this set with the bar in your lap.

What I’ve done the preceding, I like to finish up with some light stretching. I think that as long as the muscles are warm and all the connective tissues have blood on them you may as well get some stretching it. Try this routine at least once. I think you’ll agree that it does the job and then some.

They give you a great pump. And no one can deny that they isolate the chest perfectly. It’s not too much to say that you will not put together your best chest workout without them.

I have a bit of a thing about how they should be done. I hate to see someone wasting their time in the gym with a fly machine, for example. What an incredible waste of time, compared to standard flys, not to mention that any machine is going to limit your range of movement, and lock you into a pattern. Why is this so bad? Do a Google search on repetitive movement injury and see…..

Here is how you should be doing your flys:

• Lay on a flat or incline bench while holding your dumbbells up close to your chest
• Extend your arms out and upward, keeping a bit of an arc in them. Your elbows should not be straight. If they are, you will be putting too much stress on them at the bottom of the movement.
• Lower the weights out to your side, at a deliberate pace. Exactly how fast depends on which school of thought you subscribe to vis a vis lifting speed, but most people find that a 2 count is good.
• Pause briefly at the bottom of the arc, then smoothly bring your arms together in front of (or above) your chest.
• If you like, you can pause here and “squeeze” the pecs in an attempt to create an inner chest workout but I have found that this gets me nothing except a sore chest the next day, if taken too far.

Remember that the fly is an assistance exercise. It is not going to replace presses, and it should probably not be the first exercise in your chest routine.

One variation that I have used in the past is the combination fly and press. This makes for a great finisher, and if you have been feeling like you’ve lost that “mind – muscle connection” with your chest exercises, this will bring it back big time.

• Set up to do your flys as above.
• At the end of your first rep, bring the dumbbells down to your side, to the beginning position of a dumbbell press.
• Do one. At the top, do another fly
• Repeat until you cry