Tag: chest exercises
Nick Walker Crushes Push Day Workout, Emphasizes The Value of Avoiding Muscle Failure in Workouts
The gap between Nick Walker and Mr. Olympia title is narrowing each passing year. Having made it into the top three at the 2022 Olympia, Walker now trains to snatch it from reigning Mr. Olympia Hadi Choopan and recently went through a chest, shoulder and triceps workout as a part of this effort.
America’s own Nick Walker competes in the Men’s Open division of the IFBB Pro League. In a short span of three years, the 28-year-old has emerged to be a top Olympia contender. His resume includes impressive performances in six Pro bodybuilding shows. He holds dominant wins at the 2021 New York Pro and the 2021 Arnold Classic. The two Olympia appearances saw him secure fifth and third place finishes at the 2021 and the 2022 Olympia, respectively.
Making a quick turnaround after the 2022 Olympia, Nick Walker attempted to bring home the second Arnold Classic title in 2023. Walker was a massive favorite heading into the show. Experts in the bodybuilding community expected challengers like Andrew Jacked, Shaun Clarida and Samson Dauda to present a formidable challenge but rallied behind Walker to secure the win anyway. However, British bodybuilder Samson Dauda emerged as a dark horse and snatched the win from Walker after a neck-and-neck competition.
Nick Walker / Instagram
Although The Mutant had to be content with a runner-up finish, many people contested the result and opined that Walker deserved the judges’ nod. But he moved on from the argument quickly and started focusing his energies on improving the physique further to leave no doubt in judges’ minds the next time around.
As a part of his quest to win the Mr. Olympia title, Walker recently went through an off-season chest and triceps workout. So let’s check out how the 2021 Arnold Classic winner is pushing the limits to be the next Mr. Olympia.
Nick Walker goes through a push day workout
Pec Deck Flye
Nick Walker started the training session with pec deck flyes. Flye, an effective chest isolation movement, helps build adduction strength of the upper body. Additionally, the pec deck flye ranks high in terms of pectoral muscle activation, losing only to the bench press. As a result, it is a great exercise for achieving hypertrophy.
Walker stated that the angle of the machine used in this workout was slightly different, which presumably helped with muscle activation. The Mutant performed a couple of warm-up sets of this exercise and followed them up with two top sets to direct the blood into the chest. He stated that he does not need to push to failure every single time and only pushes to failure once in a while. Walker said:
“I have the size already so training to failure is good once in a while. But I’m also here for longevity. So doing an extra set of something rather than pushing one set to ultimate failure… Sometimes this isn’t a bad thing.”
He added:
“I still believe in training to failure. But I think utilizing reps from the reserve can also be beneficial in terms of growth. Because I feel like sometimes if you push the body too much and train to failure too often, you’re just fatiguing the body more… Not necessarily giving the rest your body truly needs, which is where reps in reserve come to play where instead of doing one or two sets to failure maybe do three sets of 12. But the reps… This is where you have to be really in tune with the muscle.”
Even though this method is less fatiguing, Walker feels it can lead to more growth. Following this, he took the first heavy compound exercise of the day.
Incline Dumbbell Press
Incline movements emphasize the clavicular head of the pectoralis major muscle and help build the upper chest by giving it a more fuller look. Walker took to the incline dumbbell press next and annihilated a few good sets. He started with the 40 lbs dumbbells for the warm-up set and slowly worked his way up, performing eight to ten rep in each set. Walker made sure that he performed the eccentric phase of each movement with really slow and controlled motion to keep the muscles under tension for a longer duration.
Machine Chest Press
After working with the free weights for the previous exercise, the New Jersey native jumped into the machine chest press. Weights on the machine move along a fixed trajectory and hence eliminate the need to control the weights. This results in overall reduced chances of injury.
The machine chest press served as the final chest exercise in Walker’s routine as he got a few sets of the exercise under his belt and shifted the focus on other muscle groups.
Lateral Raise – Machine and Cable
After wrapping up the chest routine, the 2021 Arnold Classic winner took up the shoulder exercises and performed machine lateral raises to work the medial deltoids. He cranked out 2 sets of 15 reps of the exercise on a machine.
Nick Walker’s shoulder routine typically consists of only medial and anterior deltoid exercises. For him, posterior deltoids deserve a place in the back workout. Walker explained:
“I normally always do two side delt exercises but I might start incorporating like maybe one press, one side or one side and one front. And I just think about side delts – they can never be too big in my opinion. I like to keep rear delts with back now. To me, I just feel like rear delts could be part of shoulders so if you train with shoulders, completely fine in my opinion. But for me it’s part of back.”
The Mutant then moved on to the cable machine variation of the same. Cable machines keep the muscles under tension throughout the range of motion and help bring about hypertrophy more effectively. While doing the lateral raises, Walker raises his hands higher than usual. Explaining the logic behind this, he said:
“I don’t really train the traps directly because I do feel like doing the side laterals really high, even though it really targets the side laterals really well, I do think no matter what, you’re going to engage a little bit of traps in there. So I really don’t think I need to directly hit traps.”
After pushing through a few sets of cable lateral raises next, Walker took to the final exercise of the day.
Smith Machine Skull Crushers
With chest and shoulder exercises in the books, it was time for the New Jersey native to target the next important muscle group for pushing – triceps. Walker first performed the skull crushers on a Smith machine to emphasize on the xx head of the triceps and then jumped into the final exercise of the day.
Machine Overhead Triceps Extensions
Walker wrapped up the training session with this exercise. Overhead triceps extensions work the muscles from a stretched position as well as a different angle. Hence they help emphasize the long head of triceps.
Walker did a few sets of the exercise with furious intensity to add the final bit of stimulus to the muscles and called it a day in the gym.
Overall, the workout consisted of:
Nick Walker has made tremendous progress in his career so far. When the 2023 Olympia weekend kicks off, Derek Lunsford and reigning champion Hadi Choopan will probably be the only competitors Standing in Walker’s way if he continues to train with similar intensity in the months to come. Whether he can get past them or not depends solely on his drive to push the limits of his body.
You can watch the full workout video here, courtesy of Nick Walker’s personal YouTube channel:
More on Push Day:
Published: 16 June, 2023 | 10:57 AM EDT
Dexter Jackson Maintains Herculean Chest With This Training Routine
Veteran bodybuilder Dexter Jackson has transformed his physique into a lean and athletic one from the heavily muscled Mr. Olympia body in recent years. He is now sharing the training regimen that helps him stay in shape at 54. Recently, Blade posted a video of his chest training session on YouTube.
Jackson is a retired IFBB Pro bodybuilder from the USA that competed in the Men’s Open division of the IFBB Pro League. In a career spanning over two and a half decades, he has won several Pro shows including the prestigious Mr. Olympia competition. Jackson hovered around the top three space for a long stretch of his bodybuilding career and gave dominant Mr. Olympia champions like Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler a run for their money.
Dexter’s sole Mr. Olympia win came in 2008 when he dethroned 4-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler. Apart from that, he has secured the Arnold Classic title a whopping five times in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2013, and 2015.
Since retiring from the sport after a ninth place finish at the 2020 Olympia, Blade has been prioritizing health and shed a significant amount of muscle mass in favor of long term health. Arthritis of the back was keeping him from going hard in the gym for a while. However, the Jacksonville native is now able to lift heavy after receiving stem cell therapy in Columbia a few weeks ago.
The former Mr. Olympia is active on social media and gives insights into his training routine through workout videos. Recently, he familiarized the followers with his chest training routine. So let’s check out which exercises help Dexter Jackson look lean and mean at 54.
Dexter Jackson’s Chest Training Circuit
Jackson is slowly increasing the amount of weight in his exercises after the stem cell therapy. Additionally, he has inclined more towards machine exercises off late to take the stress off the joints. The 54-year-old’s chest workout is an efficient combination of pressing and flying movements for complete development. He likes to keep the rep range between eight to twelve but ends up doing ten reps on most of the exercises.
Hammer Strength Iso Flat Bench Press
Jackson’s chest training circuit starts with this compound exercise on the plate-loaded machine. The exercise primarily targets the pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, and triceps muscles. Both arms and weight stacks of an iso-lateral machine move independently, which helps eliminate strength imbalances.
Machine chest press activates only about 79 percent of muscles compared to the bench press, which is ranks at the absolute top. However, chest press machines provide a much more stable environment. Also, they reduce overall workout time as the setup does not require elaborate preparation.
Additionally, studies have found that machine and free-weight exercises are equally effective in increasing muscle thickness and strength over long periods of time.
Jackson performs 4 sets of iso flat bench press with incrementally heavier weights and takes up the second and final pressing exercise of the day.
Machine Incline Chest Press
Incline chest press targets the clavicular head of the pectoralis major muscles, commonly known as the upper pecs. As per popular belief, an incline in the bench angle helps emphasize the upper pecs more than the other parts of the pectoralis major muscles. However, there is conclusive evidence which shows that the upper pecs experience higher muscle activity when the bench is inclined at an angle of 30 degrees. Additionally, incline press also increases anterior deltoid engagement.
Dexter Jackson performs four sets of incline chest press maintaining a ten rep range. After finishing with the exercise for filming the video, he spoke about the effects of competitive bodybuilding training on his joint health and what he did to prevent further deterioration. Jackson said:
“All the free weight stuff with heavy weights that I used to do, really really tore my joints up. So if you guys got joint pain and you’re looking to ease the pain, make sure you try and do some more Machine work. That’ll take a lot of stress off the joints versus free weight.”
Following this, he took to flyes and performed two variations of machine flyes.
Arsenal Strength Incline Flyes
While chest press improves the pushing strength of the upper body muscles, flyes contribute significantly towards developing the adduction ability of the upper body. Although flyes come nowhere close to the chest press in terms of pectoral, triceps, and anterior deltoid muscle activation, they stimulate biceps brachii to a far greater degree. Jackson performs the arsenal strength incline flyes maintaining a similar rep range of ten for four reps and moves on to the final exercise of the day.
Decline Cable Flyes
The 54-year-old performs four more sets of standing decline cable flyes. This exercise adds the final bit of stimulus to the chest muscles. It is an isolation movement that distributes the load evenly throughout the range of motion. Decline cable flyes serve as the fisher to Dexter Jackson’s training routine. He wraps up the training session after pushing through this exercise.
The chest training circuit follows this exercises sequence and rep range:
Hammer strength Iso Flat Bench Press (4 sets of 10 reps)
Machine Incline Chest Press (4 sets of 10 reps)
Arsenal Strength Incline Flyes (4 sets of 10 reps)
Decline Cable Flyes (4 sets of 10 reps)
Dexter Jackson has set a positive example for the young bodybuilders to follow when they eventually walk away from the sport. His admission about transitioning to machines to preserve joints, downsizing to a more normal human size and revelations about PED use will certainly help others realize the need to make changes in time.
You can watch the full workout video here, courtesy of Dexter Jackson’s personal YouTube channel:
References
Rodríguez-Ridao D, Antequera-Vique JA, Martín-Fuentes I, Muyor JM. Effect of Five Bench Inclinations on the Electromyographic Activity of the Pectoralis Major, Anterior Deltoid, and Triceps Brachii during the Bench Press Exercise. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Oct 8;17(19):7339. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17197339. PMID: 33049982; PMCID: PMC7579505.
Schwanbeck, Shane R.1; Cornish, Stephen M.2; Barss, Trevor3,4,5; Chilibeck, Philip D.1. Effects of Training With Free Weights Versus Machines on Muscle Mass, Strength, Free Testosterone, and Free Cortisol Levels. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 34(7):p 1851-1859, July 2020. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003349
Top 3 Most Effective Chest Exercises (Solely funded by a grant from American Council of Exercise) (Authors – Whitnee Schankee, John P. Porcari, Emmanuel Felix, Charles Hendrix and Carl Foster)
Published: 17 May, 2023 | 10:48 AM EDT