[No. 325] Where I Stand with My Chest—Advancing Chest Training While Balancing Frequency and Stimulation 🔥🏋️‍♂️

Leg training once a week.
Recently, I've been scheduling leg day around Tuesday, and in between, I've been fitting in about 1.5 to 2 chest sessions.

I haven't changed the content significantly.
Focusing on the bench press, I'm thinking about how to apply stimulation to the entire pectoralis major.
Right now, that feeling is really clicking for me.

📖 Articles themed around strength training are compiled in my magazine.
Please take a look if you'd like 👇

👉 Cultivating the Body—Renji Enko's Bodybuilding Record

👉 CHEST DRIVE—Piercing Through with the Chest, Impulses of the Heart

Training While Understanding the Pectoralis Major 🔍📚

The pectoralis major is a muscle composed of three fibers: upper, middle, and lower.

Origin, insertion, fiber direction, innervating nerves, and spinal segment levels.
I think being able to consider these details is knowledge unique to a physical therapist.

• Clavicular part (upper)

• Sternocostal part (middle)

• Abdominal part (lower)

Each has differences in fiber direction and function,
and the way stimulation is applied changes depending on the angle and trajectory of the push.

The main actions of the pectoralis major are horizontal adduction, adduction, and internal rotation of the shoulder joint.
It is innervated by the lateral and medial pectoral nerves, involving spinal segment levels around C5 to Th1.

That is precisely why,
rather than just "how many kg I lifted,"
I value in which direction, with what kind of fatigue, and how the stimulation was applied.

Current Frequency and Rotation 🔁📅

In my current phase, my chest training frequency is about 1.5 to 2 times a week.

I'm rotating it every 4 to 5 days,
and I have the feeling that I don't have strong lingering fatigue and can naturally enter the next training session.

With leg training once a week, I consider total body fatigue while
adjusting the volume on the chest training side.

Rather than forcing an increase in frequency,
I prioritize leaving myself in a state where I can move properly next time.
I've been focusing on that quite a bit lately.

Building around the bench press 🔥💪

First, the bench press.

• High weight: 1-3 reps × 2 sets

• Medium weight: 6-8 reps × 2 sets

• Low weight: 10-13 reps × 2 sets

However, these labels of "high, medium, and low"
are neither something to boast about nor something to downplay.

They could be A, B, and C,
or even "I, Ro, Ha" (A, B, C).

Consulting with my body that day,
I check the weight and fatigue levels noted from last time, and adjust while warming up with about 60kg.

"Is today a day to move heavy weight?"
"Is today a day to lean toward higher reps?"

I consider that decision-making process to be part of my training now.

Stimulating the upper chest with incline 📈🏋️‍♂️

Next, I do incline dumbbell presses.

Here, I target the upper pectoralis major.

To avoid the exact same stimulation as the bench press,
I vary the weight, reps, and tempo slightly from last time.

• If the bench press side is weight-focused, this side is rep-focused

• If the bench press side is rep-focused, this side is weight-focused

That is how I add variety.

Even without an abundance of machines,
you can significantly increase the variety of stimulation by changing the reps and set structure.

I have been feeling that sensation strongly lately.

I perform about 3 sets of this.

Using the lower part carefully with dips 🔻🔥

Dips are also an important exercise in my current chest training.

I perform this quite carefully.

I also touched on my previous chest training routine in this article.
👉[No. 205] Rebuilding My Chest Training Form: Changing Routines to Match the Phase 💪🔥

What's interesting is that
on days when I focus more on weight with bench presses or dumbbell presses, muscle fatigue is surprisingly low.

Because the number of repetitions is lower,
dips can feel quite light.

On days like that,
I increase the intensity of the dips.

In this case, intensity means
"repetitions × sets".

Conversely, on days when I do a high number of repetitions, muscle fatigue is high.
At those times, I lower the intensity of the dips and focus on carefully stimulating the lower pectoralis major.

Reinforcing the parts that are lacking 🪶✨

When I feel that the stretch sensation is insufficient,
I add dumbbell flies as reinforcement.

I feel that for the pectoralis major, it is not just about pushing,
but also that the sensation of tension while being stretched is quite important.

If you have various machines, you can do more things.
But even in the environment I have now,

• weight

• repetitions

• sets

• Exercise Order

• Fatigue Level

By adjusting these, the stimulation can be changed sufficiently.

This method feels quite right for me right now.

Facing my current phase 🌱🕰️

For who I am right now,
this volume and this frequency are a good fit.

So, I don't want to force too many changes,
and I want to continue while engaging in a dialogue with my body at each moment.

Training, too,
is not a 'finished product' every time.

My current body.
My current fatigue.
My current life.
While facing all of that, I will keep searching for the form that suits me at that time.

Lately, that is the mindset I have been bringing to my chest training.

⚠️ Note

💪 This article is based on the author's experience and personal thoughts.
🏋️‍♂️ There are individual differences in training effects and methods.
⚠️ Please perform exercises safely according to your physical condition and environment.
✅ Please make your own decisions and take responsibility for your actions.

Underlying Flow × Cultivation
Fields, bodies, and investments—a way of life that keeps on tilling.
Renji Enko