Try these 4 unique exercises

1) Decline Step-up

Just like doing a normal step-up but on a decline bench. Make sure your toe is a couple of inches below your heel. The foot should be on the low end of the bench. You can add a barbell or dumbbell to increase the load. Great exercise to burn the quads and butt.

2) Fly-away

Think of this as a combination of a dumbbell bench press and fly. To perform, do a regular chest press and then pause at the top and lower the weight like you would when doing a fly. Do this for each rep. Press the weight up like a bench press, fly the weight down.

3) BOSU ball pushup

Not a huge fan of the bosu ball for many things but it works great for this exercise. Turn the ball over so you can grip the bottom handles. Perform pushups and see how lit up your core gets. Try elevating your feet for an even better workout.

4) X row

This exercise can be an alternative to the seated row or pulldown. Use a cable crossover setup and grab the left handle with your right hand and right cable with left hand. Knee or sit a couple of feet in front of the cable setup making sure the cables are at its highest point. Pull and cross the handles in front of your hands until your hands end up in the middle of the pecs. Make sure to pause and contract the muscle of the mid back on each rep. Great exercise for the middle of the back.

3 Exercises to add muscle

Here are 3 exercises that people need to do more often to help with your muscle gains.

1) INCLINE DUMBBELL BENCH PRESS- Ok, so I know a ton of people bench and work their pecs, but not many people do incline often and with enough volume. Dumbbells are great because they allow for a greater range of motion more so than the traditional barbell does. Also, incline press will help your anterior delt ( front of the shoulder ) and upper pec to develop at greater speeds which will result in a fuller looking chest. Every 3 weeks or so try to change the angle of the incline slightly to keep yourself progressing in the workouts.

2) STIFF LEG DEADLIFT WITH BARBELL-Nothing beats these in terms of really torching your hamstrings. Focus on a controlled lowering of the bar to get that negative and then explode on the way up. Mix up your rep schemes by going heavier with low reps ( 3-5 ) on some weeks and then going moderate weight with medium reps ( 8-10 ) on others. Make sure you always keep great form and never spare the back by trying to do too much weight1

3) WALL BARBELL BICEP CURLS-I love these things because they help you avoid cheating. Normally you do a standing bicep curl and by the end your rocking, your back and shoulders are working and it becomes a mess. Now that you wont cheat as much you can get greater recruitment of the bicep than before. Get yourself against a wall and keep your butt, and whole back against it the whole lift. I stand with my feet about 1-2 feet away from the wall.

Random thoughts..........

• Sugars are ok to consume after your workout. Your insulin sensitivity is high and your body's ability to uptake glucose is high. This means you can have carbs and not worry about it being stored as fat.

• Control your stress levels. Everyone has stress these days and it can bring you down quickly if not dealt with correctly. Exercise is the perfect prescription to ease your stress levels.

• I love Chef Jay's Tri-O-Plex bars. They are low in sugar and high in protein. Not only do they taste great but they are made with whole food ingredients. I personally like the Banana Peanut Butter bars the best. Side note-They are high in calories so keep that in mind. http://chefjays.com/

• Close grip pushups with your feet on a physio ball is a great tricep exercise!

• Try doing one arm chest presses, shoulder presses and chest flys with the cables as a unique way to blast your core.
  

Get bigger pecs for the beach with this routine...

This routine incorporates the incline press which is great to build a fuller looking chest. If you have shoulder issues you should stay away from this workout since it will be demanding on the shoulder joint. You can use either the incline barbell press or the Hammer strength incline press machine. Start the first set with the most weight possible for 6 reps. The 6th rep should be really difficult if the weight is correct.
1)
Incline barbell press/or Hammer incline strength press machine-1 set at 6 reps
SUPER SET WITH
Flat dumbbell twist press -1 set at 12 reps
*( flat twist press starts off like a traditional press but as you start to press up you want to twist the weight so your palms end up facing your face at the top of the movement. If done right the movement should look like a combo of chest press and chest fly. Make sure to bring the dumbbells together at the top. You will need to use less weight then you would for a regular chest press.
**Rest 90 seconds before doing 1 more set.


2)NOW DROP THE WEIGHT BY ABOUT 2.5-5LBS PER SIDE
Incline barbell press/or Hammer incline strength press machine-1 set at 8 reps
SUPER SET WITH
Flat dumbbell twist press -1 set at 10 reps
**Rest 90 seconds before doing 1 more set.


3) NOW DROP ANOTHER 5 LBS PER SIDE. YOU CAN DROP MORE IF NEED BE.
Incline barbell press/or Hammer incline strength press machine-1 set at 10 reps
SUPER SET WITH
Flat dumbbell twist press -1 set at 8 reps
**Rest 90 seconds before doing 1 more set.


Done. You should have done a total of 6 super set combinations.

Pack on muscle with this chest routine

This workout is best done with a partner. You would do one set, then your partner would do their set before moving right into the next exercise. If you are training alone then take about 30 seconds between exercises. This routine is intense

Flat barbell bench press ( 1/2 method )-6 reps with heavy weight
***This is when you rack the weight and drop the bar to the chest, then press it halfway up, then let it drop to the chest before finishing by pressing all the way up. This would be one rep.

SUPERSET WITH

Flat dumbbell chest press-10 reps

SUPERSET WITH

Explosive pushups-12 reps
** If you cannot finish these then move onto a bench to do the pushups or if you must drop to your knees.

Rest 2 minutes and repeat this 2 more rounds.