RELENTLESS PURSUIT by IFBB PRO JOSH WADE
Relentless Pursuit
By IFBB Pro Josh Wade
Presented by Allmax Nutrition
Best Exercises for Building a Big Chest
Workout to Pump Up Your Pecs
You have a great chest. I have a hard time connecting with my chest during workouts; are there any pointers you can give?
Thank you and yes, as a personal trainer, incorrect or inefficient form on chest exercises is probably the one thing I correct more than anything else. The first thing is that most people don’t create enough arch in the lower back. This is even harder for people that work at a desk, because they don’t have the proper curvature of the spine due to leaning forward or rounding shoulders. The tissue is the pecs and delts becomes so tight that they are internally rotated. Make sure you stretch your pecs daily, so your shoulders sit back in the proper position and are not constantly rolled forward.
When setting yourself up on all chest exercises, make sure you roll your head back as hard as you comfortably can, so your back is arched, shoulders are rolled back under you, and your chest is the highest point rather than your anterior delts. When you press, make sure you extend the arms to contract the pecs, but don’t reach. Doing that will pull the back of the shoulder off the pad.
Seated Chest Press
2 x 15 warm-up (30-second rest)
4 x 12-10 (last set is two drop sets)
45 to 60-second rest on working sets
Incline Bench
4 x 12-8 (60 to 90-second rest)†
Incline Dumbbell Press
4 x 12-10
Superset with
Incline Dumbbell Flyes
4 x 12-10 (pronated grip)*
Machine Flyes
3 x 12 (squeeze contraction for one second on every rep)**
†For incline benches, you can push more weight safely as the muscle is already warmed up and pre-exhausted.
*Do your press, then immediately reduce the weight by about 50 percent and go right into pronated flyes, which for me really stretches the pecs and puts a nasty burn and pump in the muscle.
**Once the muscle is pumped here, you can squeeze the life out of it till it’s done!
Staying Motivated and Healthy After a Show
I love training. What excites me is seeing what I can do, how hard I can push myself, and the fact that it makes me better physically than I was the day before! There is a way of training I’ve recently started following immediately after a competition that differs from what I’ve done in the past that I think other people around 40 years old or above should consider. After a competition, you’re depleted, your joints and tendons are dry, and usually your energy is down from all the weeks and months on lower calories, extra cardio and less sleep. Then, as soon as you up the calories again, your strength and energy jump back up crazy fast. This is where you must be very careful! It’s fun to get strong again and watch your lifts keep increasing every week. But as you keep pushing yourself this way, suddenly everything starts hurting! For me, it’s usually around four weeks post competition when the strength of the muscles starts outgrowing the tendons, and boom! Tendinitis starts flaring up all over the place, and it’s no longer fun to train due to the pain, but prep is coming so “I can’t take a break now.” At least, that was the case for me, since I will compete in multiple shows over a period of months.
What I’ve started doing post-show now is minimizing my rest periods to 45-60 seconds between sets on most exercises, and watching the clock. Two things happened for me. Minimizing rest makes the weight feel a whole lot heavier; therefore I don’t need to push crazy amounts of weight to reach temporary muscle failure. This gives me a crazy pump but doesn’t put the same strain on the tendons and joints. Also, it keeps me focused and motivated as I’m watching the second hand on the clock instead of taking long rest periods and letting my mind wander to work or obligations I have outside the gym.
I’m five weeks post competition now, and my body is feeling better than I ever have at this point, post show. Typically, my joints are all killing me now! Another plus is that I’m leaner, as training this way stimulates your central nervous system better and has me breathing heavier and getting more of a “cardio” effect from my weight training. I strongly recommend this style of training after competition, especially if you’re a little older or you have had issues with joint and tendon pain in the past already.
‘Hulk Juice’ Cocktail
My current “Hulk Juice” intra-workout cocktail/recovery agent:
• 2 scoops Pineapple/Mango Carbion
• 1 scoop Pineapple/Mango Aminocore
• 1 scoop Blue Raspberry Impact Pump
• 5g Creatine
• 10g Glutamine
Please send questions for this column to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.teamwadefitness.com
Instagram: @ifbbprojoshwade and @teamallmax
For more information, visit allmaxnutrition.com