Dorian Yates, the 6-time Mr. Olympia, used the seated hammer strength chest press to build massive lower and middle pecs. In a recent Instagram clip, he explained the correct way to do this.

On May 28, Yates posted a video of himself performing the Seated Hammer Strength Iso Chest Press and outlined the proper techniques in the caption.

He wrote, “To failure and beyond. Second exercise for pecs, Seated Hammer Strength Iso Chest Press. I got this in the dungeon around 1994/95; it was a very, very good machine!

Since each side moves independently, you're ensuring both sides are working to their max and that one side isn't doing more work than the other."

"Firing it up through a full range of motion, notice how far back my elbows go to work the pec through its entire range, and at the peak contraction, I squeeze my pecs. Going all the way to positive muscular failure, plus static and extra negatives, too. You can't really do this with free weights safely, so it's best to go beyond failure on machines.”

Yates once admitted that Hammer strength machines can better serve one’s chest-building needs than barbell flat bench presses.

This was one of the chest exercises that Yates followed as part of his high-intensity training approach. In stark contrast to many of Yates's contemporaries, he always followed HIIT and believed in the process by which one can build a lot of strength and muscle from a low amount of volume.

So, he trained his chest on the Hammer Strength machines in the following format:

• 1 to 2 warm-up sets
• Then 1 set of 8 – 10 reps.

As Yates mentioned in his Instagram post, Hammer strength was his second chest workout. Now let's see what other exercises Yates followed to build a massive chest.

Dorian Yates chest workouts

Yates once said, “My chest routine comprises four exercises, which together hit the pecs from every angle required to ensure total development.”

So, the other 3 exercises were:

• Incline Smith Machine Bench Press: 2 to 3 warm-up sets, then 1 set of 8 – 10 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Flye: 1 warm-up set, then 1 set of 8 – 10 reps
• Cable Crossover: 1 set of 10 – 12 reps.

Talking about the exercises, Yates said, “My first exercise is incline barbell presses. I feel that pressing on an incline as well as on a decline allows a better range of movement than flat bench presses. The angle of the bench should be low — about 30 degrees.

Some people don’t have the range of motion in their shoulders to come all of the way down to the upper chest when performing these, whether it’s due to a structural limitation or an injury. If this is your case, don’t force the issue.

Come down as far as you can without doing damage to your shoulder joints. Keep the bar under control at all times, making sure to forcefully squeeze your pecs at the top of the movement.”

For incline dumbbell flyes, he said he used to do them to target his outer and middle pecs. For this as well, Yates suggested keeping a 30-degree bench incline and focusing on strict form.

In the end, Yates does a single set of cable crossovers, which is not necessary for beginners, but this can help impart an extra burn to the pecs.

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Written by

Supradeep Dutta

Edited by

Ashvinkumar Patil