Get Wider Shoulders & a Huge Chest with Only 3 Exercises

Summary

The fitness YouTubers Agnes and Jeff demonstrate a challenging chest and shoulder workout. They perform inclined Smith machine presses, JM presses, lateral raises in multiple positions, and bodyweight shoulder exercises. Throughout, they explain proper form, targeted muscles, ideal rep ranges, and reasons for giant sets and drop sets. Despite soreness, they push through with motivation and humor. Their rapport entertains while informative tips aid viewers' own training.

Takeaways

• 😊 They start with incline barbell chest presses to target the chest muscles
• 👌🏻 Focus on controlling the motion slowly to maximize chest activation
• 😎 Switch to JM presses with a flat bench to isolate the triceps
• 🤓 The JM press removes shoulder joint forces for pure elbow extension
• 🧐 Stimulate don't annihilate - quality over quantity for gains
• 🤔 Failure sets help benchmark and gauge appropriate stimuli
• 😮 Wire shoulder raises with different body positions target various ranges
• 🤯 Shortened muscle positions are weakest, lengthened next weakest
• 🙀 Changing angles and positions hits more muscle fibers
• 💪 Finish with bodyweight raises for an extra burn

Q & A

What is the goal of the chest workout?

The goal is to stimulate muscle growth in Agnes' chest, which is one of her favorite body parts to train.

What incline angle does Jeff recommend for the incline press?

Jeff recommends an incline angle between 15-45 degrees for the incline press.

Why does Jeff recommend a slower tempo on the incline press for Agnes?

Since Agnes hasn't trained much in recent months, the slower tempo will help her feel the movement better, position herself properly, and limit the weight used.

How does arching affect the incline press?

Arching affects whether the movement becomes more of an incline press or flat press. Jeff recommends allowing a comfortable arch rather than limiting it.

What is the purpose of the JM press?

The JM press targets the triceps through pure elbow flexion and extension by positioning the bar directly over the shoulders.

What rep range does Jeff recommend for the JM press?

Jeff recommends 4 sets of 10-15 reps for the JM press.

What is the concept of 'stimulate, don't annihilate'?

This concept, stated by 8-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney, means that the goal of training is to stimulate the desired muscle growth response without overtraining.

Why does Jeff recommend training to failure at times?

Training to failure helps benchmark strength levels. Also most people aren't good at gauging when failure actually is, so one failure set helps ensure adequate muscle stimulation.

What is the purpose of the giant set for shoulders?

The giant set targets different points in the shoulder range of motion by manipulating body position from set to set.

Why finish with bodyweight shoulder raises?

The bodyweight raises provide an extra metabolic challenge after the shoulders are already fatigued from weighted sets.

Outlines

00:00

Welcome and Introduction

The hosts welcome a guest and introduce the workout plan focusing on chest exercises.

05:10

Tricep Exercise Explanation

One of the hosts explains and demonstrates a tricep exercise.

10:14

Shoulder Exercise Routine

The hosts wrap up with a detailed shoulder workout giant set using different body positions.

Keywords

💡chest

The chest is one of the main muscle groups trained in weightlifting. In this video, the hosts are focusing specifically on chest exercises to help Agnes train this muscle group that she has been wanting to improve. Exercises like the Smith incline press directly target and stimulate the chest muscles.

💡incline press

An incline press is a chest exercise performed on a bench set at an incline angle, usually between 15-45 degrees. It emphasizes the upper chest muscles. The video advises controlling the motion to get maximum chest muscle activation.

💡JM press

The JM press is a triceps exercise demonstrated in the video. It works the elbow extension motion with the shoulders stabilized, isolating and tiring out the triceps muscles.

💡stimulate

Weightlifting legend Lee Haney is quoted saying the goal is to "stimulate, not annihilate" - meaning provide enough training stimulus for muscle growth without overtraining.

💡Muscle fatigue

Muscle fatigue refers to muscles tiring with training. The video talks about manipulating body positions during shoulder raises to change where the shoulders muslces are weakest/fatigued.

💡range of motion

The complete range of motion of a joint during an exercise. The video advises changing positions during shoulder training to focus on different parts of the shoulder's range of motion.

💡drop set

A drop set involves reducing the weight and continuing with reps to failure, demonstrated at the end of the shoulder giant set. It intensifies fatigue.

💡giant set

A giant set is a circuit or sequence of exercises with minimal rest. It saves time and accumulates muscle fatigue.

💡bodyweight training

After exhausting the shoulders with weights, the hosts finish with bodyweight shoulder raises leveraging only bodyweight for resistance to fully fatigue the shoulders.

💡muscle pump

A muscle pump refers to swelling of muscle from increased blood flow during training. The video mentions "change the angle for the pump" - adjusting positions to maximize shoulder muscle pumps.

Highlights

Incline press is one of my favorite exercises to build the chest

Control the rep down over 5 seconds to really feel the chest contraction before pressing up

Find what incline angle feels best for you rather than forcing a specific degree

The JM press isolates the triceps by removing shoulder joint forces

Stimulate don't annihilate - goal is to stimulate growth not get extremely tired

Quality sets are more efficient than quantity for muscle growth

One set to failure can benchmark ability to progress load over time

Joint safety - body adapts and gets stronger even in mechanically weak positions

Giant set hits all shoulder joint ranges with different body positions

Muscles are weakest shortened, less weak lengthened, strongest mid-range

Some muscle fibers span partial regions not whole origin to insertion

Change angles not just weight for mechanical and metabolic pump

Drop set goes from heavy load to bodyweight burnout

Transition from high weight to bodyweight deceivingly challenging

Varied angles and intensities stimulate growth better than fixed routine

Transcripts

Welcome Back YouTube we joined today by

the Magnificent Agnes and we're going to

train her absolute favorite body part

chest something she's been requesting

for a very very very long time

apparently you actually have been though

um so we're going to start over on the

Smith today I believe okay Smith incline

press so this is one of my favorite

exercise to build up the chest slide

incliner at about 30 degrees there

taking a grip just outside our shoulders

here focusing the really really mon ly

deep stretch through the chest and as

you come up squeezing in together even

though you're obvious not going to move

your hands in together that's the intent

to get that complete contraction there

doing four sets here between six to 10

reps okay so what I want you to focus on

when you're doing this Focus I'm really

controlling it down over about maybe to

give you a number aim for like 5 seconds

on the way down I wouldn't normally

recommend such slowness but for you even

train much in a few months you're always

going bit of going out a little bit

slower just so we can limit the weight a

bit but it will help you really feel out

your positioning and make sure your

chest feels good before you press

up okay control it

down slight pause push perfect good good

good pull your shuttle blades back and

open it that's it open that chest up and

press good is that feeling pretty

challenging yeah what the heck okay push

finish

it good all right rck that oh my gosh

couple of things to note here is the

angle will be anywhere between around 15

to 45° and one thing you might notice

the difference between us is how much of

an arch we get a lot of people wind up

taking an incline press and arching out

of it so much that becomes a flat press

so in that case take a higher incline

and just keep arching I'd rather let

your body go into a more aggressive Arch

if it's more comfortable for you than

telling you to stop arching long story

short just find what feels good for you

sorry you just got to pause a little bit

longer 5 4 oh wait what that that was

not 5 Seconds was it sorry just

um this could be why I haven't visited

in a year yeah you're not coming

back does it depend like the incline on

where you hit um it makes marginal

differences like if we're talking like

an extreme decline versus an extrem

incline there's going to be changes

there but once you push your body to

like close to failure whether you're at

45° or you're at flat or you're at a

decline your chest is going to use 100%

of everything to move your arm from A to

B and it will even at an incline it's

going to use some of those cotile

decline fibers to pull your arm across

your body way even though it's not a

decline press your body be like [ __ ]

this move yeah I'm glad you asked that

now do your [ __ ] set

push

good yes lock it you got it you got

it give me one more give me one more

take your time there reset

yourself pull back pull back chest highe

up [ __ ] you fail in such an interesting

way I don't know if you guys see B of

that set there the second last rep was

like a grind was the longest rep of my

life and the one after that was so easy

yeah is is it a mental thing cuz you

knew there was one more to go or were

you just like I don't know why but that

one just felt really hard like that bit

right that range was really hard to get

up I don't know

why he saying what we did for Agnes I

let her rest at the top of of her reps

to just recuperate a little bit energy

to help her get a few more reps out

whereas for my set I barely paus on any

of the Reps in that lockout position it

was a very quick transition just to keep

that tension on the muscle making is a

little bit harder a little bit faster

whereas if I took the extra millisecond

or so at the top I would have recovered

maybe got an extra rep out or so but for

me I'm trying to shoot for as much

focused fatigue in the Target muscle as

quickly as possible to one thing limit

weight but to increase the tension

demands on on the chest okay next up we

are moving into the JM press which is

very conveniently located in the exact

same position just dropping the bench

down to a flat which is part of why I

programmed it in this way this is a very

very good tricep exercise what I'm

focusing on here the setup having the

bar directly over the shoulder to remove

any forces going through the shoulder

joint to make it pure elbow flexion

extension to just completely tax the

triceps traditionally it's done on a bar

with free free barbell bench we're using

the smith just for the extra stability

today we are doing four sets of between

10 to 15

reps

great lock it out good

Flawless when you bend the elbow it's

all the triceps but if you bend the

elbow at the same time as you move the

upper arm that may take tension away

from the long head which goes all the

way back into your shoulder blade area

so for the JM press the upper arm here

it does move a little bit but compare it

to a close GP bench where it comes all

the way back all the way up JM press you

get to maybe here and then it's all

elbow it's all just [ __ ] meaty tricep

tricep here we

come I think just Guillotine

yourself nice that's it perfect awesome

up yes you got it you've got

it nice fight for it and again

stretch up yes I got you good give me

one more up let get that super deep

stretch control it back control it back

nice one up

yes awesome great

work for muscle building eight time

through Olympia Lee Haney said stimulate

don't annihilate the goal is not to get

tired the goal is not to get a gigantic

pump or to get beat up and S

the goal is to stimulate the muscle

building response and then get out so

your body can recover how much you need

to stimulate is a very variable thing

that could mean for some people a lot

more work but for most people it's a lot

less than you think when the quality is

high problem is most people need to do

10 exercises to get the same quality you

can get from one exercise in just a few

sets so that's usually going to be a

more efficient use of your time to try

to focus in on that before adding in

more work when in doubt I also it were

just a go of failure I think that's a

very simple way to look at training but

they will keep working up until a

certain point as you add in more sets

less of them have to be to failure but I

always standardizing we're saying the

first set you should do of a training

cycle or whatever you should try to get

close to fail you know the Benchmark of

what to hit but most of the research now

points towards anything between one to

about four reps in the tank can be just

as productive as going to failure people

love to point around saying oh the

research shows three reps of failure is

the same as going to failure so I'll

just go three reps in reserve all the

time like you technically can but most

people suck at gauging where failure is

including me so that's why I think it's

always good to have at least one set on

average for most exercises that's done

to a failure point if not more and then

I'll just pull back on that based on

fatigue levels do you think there'll be

people that would say like it's bad for

your joints if you go like you know what

I mean like where we like fold it up

it's it's an honest thing to observe

like it looks kind of scary things are

bending in a funny way it's definitely

100% you are so much weaker here than

you are say here weak doesn't mean bad

because the body's Not Fragile the body

is anti fragile it's very robust and it

can rebuild so as long as we're smart

about how we load and progress things

and push things so you can adapt and get

better the joints will get really strong

in that weak position but just be smart

about how you load it okay finishing off

with shoulders we're going to be doing

wire risers with a bench support with a

little bit of an extra twist we're going

to be doing a giant set where we're

going to be changing the position of the

body to manipulate how strong and weak

you are and manipulates where in the

range of motion we are challenging the

shoulders we're going to be doing two or

three sets depending how fatigue goes of

around 10 to 30ish reps Big Range

because it depends on how fatigue sets

in through the drop set did you just say

30 sorry yes 3 so first off you'll be

face down and then just doing the wire

raise motion hold that there good then

come down slow roughly like a 2 second

hold at the top maybe second position

will be we will pop this up so raising

to about there that'll be raise number

two and again anytime you're doing any

rise think about reaching out away from

you as you come up perfect and then to

finish with you'll face down now we're

still in that 45 high angle and you'll

be faced down

here perfect we'll see how we go rep rep

range wise 10 is just an arbitrary

number we've chosen um it could be fives

it could be

probably above five all right up with

control pause and down slow control it

down perfect straight up

again up and reach out awesome okay come

on

up what go for it

up control it down give me three

more yes one

more awesome all right flip around last

one

perfect excellent out oh my

go that's brutal are you going to do a

set no I'm done what do you mean you're

done of course I'm going to do a set so

the reason why we're doing these three

different positions apart from giving

you just a gigantic pump is the first

position is challenging you the most

when your adults are in a fully the

shortened position you get really strong

squeezing contraction the next one we're

facing out with our backs on the bench

that's heaviest and hardest towards the

bottom half of the range of motion and

the final one when we're face down on

the more upright bench that's hardest

around this middle kind of range of

motion so we're hitting between all

three the shortened lengthened and mid

range of the delt so that end of itself

is just a really nice way to uh perform

a drop set the same way you would go

from say 5 kilos down to 4 kilos down to

3 kilos or whatever it may be we're

changing the position of where your body

is weakest versus strongest out of those

three positions from a very very nerdy

muscle physiology perspective your

muscles are weakest in the shortened

position then they're next weakest in

the lengthened position and then their

next weakest or their strongest in the

mid-range oh

[ __ ] you wanted

to but the other thing and I learned

this really very recently from Dr Brad

Sean when he was here recently is I

always thought that a muscle say my

shoulders spanned from origin to

insertion so say your adults you got

this one long piece of spaghetti for

your shoulders that starts back here in

shoulder blade and it comes all the way

forward to this adtoy tuberosity that's

what I thought but Brad said no no I

mean a lot of fibers do that but some

fibers don't start back here and go all

the way to the other end they might

start here and go to here or they might

start back here and go to here or here

and go to here there's a lot of like

within the whole belly these smaller

fibers and the best way to hit some of

those fibers is to change positions and

angles so very long- winded very nerdy

way of saying just change the angle for

the pump bro and that's kind of what

we're doing change the angle for the

pump bro yeah you got to turn the

exposure down that's the secret go like

-10 final set for all the glory in all

the land holy [ __ ] my shoulders are on

Fire Control it perfect go one more just

for funsies all right I'm going to have

like two reps in this one

yeah and again yeah come on come

on all right flip

around and up

good

up up good now drop the weights and's go

with your hands what go with your hands

go again all the way up all the way up

all the up all the way up good come down

just halfway there and up

again keep

going keep going

no toasted toasted

ow they never expect the body weight

ones to

hurt

the first rep feels like nothing and

it's just like oh hang on you like swing

your arms back and then you're like oh

crap what's better

[Music]

[Laughter]

no how you feeling

yeah yeah

no lost for words thanks for tuning in

guys hope you enjoyed the workout we

will catch you in the next one when our

shoulders eventually recover stay

tuned oh [ __ ] my Del yeah that hurts