You only need four exercises to give your chest all the stimulus it needs to grow. It's as simple as that. The problem is almost never the effort or the number of sets. It’s that the chest has an internal architecture that most programs completely ignore. I’ve spent over 9 years training and planning chest routines. And when I understood how pectoral anatomy actually works, I completely changed the exercises in my programs and went back to basics. Today I’m going to explain that structure in a way anyone can understand and show you the four exercises that cover it all completely. So when you finish this video, you’ll understand why your chest has areas that aren’t growing like you want, and you’ll have the exact exercises you need to change that. As always, guys, we’re moving into the five blocks. Block number one, to train the chest you first have to understand it, okay? Imagine a fan, the kind your mother or grandmother might have had, one of those with slats that go in one direction, while the ones in the middle go in another, okay? And the ones at the bottom also go in the opposite direction. Well, that’s the pectoral, it’s that simple. And I think you already know this, but I’m going to say it anyway. It has three parts: we have the upper or clavicular chest, we have the middle chest, and the lower. Okay? So you understand me. Each one has its fibers oriented in a different way. And there is something that changes everything once you understand it: the central or middle part is the largest part of the pectoral and also the one that practically any chest exercise works automatically. It doesn’t matter what press you do, it doesn’t matter the angle, it doesn’t matter anything. The central part of the pectoral is always there, and it’s impossible to train the chest without stimulating that part. The problem lies with the other two, the upper and the lower. Those need exercises that are more aligned with the specific direction of their fibers. And that is exactly where most programs tend to fail. And as I have told you in many videos, if they sell you on the idea that you can isolate a specific part of a muscle, they are lying to you , okay? But what we can do is place more stimulus on specific areas of that muscle and thus create a combination of exercises that brings the stimulus together more completely, right? There are guys who have spent years in the gym doing the same old press, adding one more machine or variation, and of course, their chest still looks empty or underdeveloped; and not because they don't try hard, but because they are always stimulating the same part of the fan, especially if it's used to it. And that is something I see constantly, okay? Guys who show up to every session , who don't skip a single workout and push hard in every set—they train well—but of course, their chest has been stalled for months or years, not because they don't try, but because nobody explained this to them that we just covered, and even more so if it's their weak point. The BIS method is what we will solve first, always, okay? We analyze where you are, your weak muscle groups, what you lack in development and why, and we will build your training and nutrition program from there, okay? And it's not a generic program that works for anyone, it's yours for you, for what you really need. And I'm not going to sell you a pipe dream promising impossible results , but I can assure you that we will be 100%committed to helping you reach your goals, and our guys 'results speak for themselves. If you want us to do it with you, well, it's easy. You have the link in the description, fill it out and we will get in touch with you so you can be the next one. See you inside . So, let's see, we said the problem isn't that you're missing sets, it's that you're missing exercises that go in the right direction. And that is where the two presses come in. Let's move on to block number two. Two presses that combine perfectly, okay? Back to the fan. The upper fibers run from top to bottom. To give them the optimal stimulus, the movement must be aligned with that direction. The arm starts from below and goes up. The incline press with a slight tilt does exactly that, aligned with the direction of those fibers. The lower fibers run in the opposite direction, from bottom to top. To stimulate them well, the movement must go downward, aligned with the direction of those lower fibers. They are the same type of exercise, a press, but in opposite directions. And that difference is not minor; they are not interchangeable either, okay? Each one works a part of the chest or the fan, as I am saying. Swapping them would be like thinking it doesn't matter if you open the fan from the top or the bottom. And always with this in mind, of course, okay? Both work the chest completely. The central or medial head is very active in both, but of course, the incline puts more emphasis where the upper fibers need it and the decline vice versa. Both presses cover those fiber directions, but there is something more the chest needs to fully develop. And for that, we need two exercises that do something different than a press. And I have to say, guys, that if I have to name my favorite primary press, if I had to do just one press, I would stick with the seated, converging decline press, okay? On a machine. Why? Because it is the exercise where you stimulate the shoulder the least and the chest the most, which I would say makes it the most complete one there is. If you have a double frequency chest session and you do a quick example, what comes to mind is four exercises, so I would definitely put a decline press with a fly in one, and in the other, you can put an incline press and so on with a crossover, whatever. But the decline press, I'm the number one fan, and it's an exercise people don't do much because maybe there weren't as many machines before, and lying down with a bar with your head down, all the blood goes to your head and you look like a tomato. It's logical that it's not done , but really, if you have a converging decline machine at your gym, I recommend it 100%. I'm going to leave a photo or a video around here so you can see which one it is, because the sensation will be incredible. And right now we are moving on to block number three, okay? Two rotational movements, but they have different goals, okay? Presses are the base, so you understand me: they are the exercises where you can apply the most progressive overload and where the chest works more as a whole. But dumbbell flyes and cable crossovers bring something specific, since dumbbell flyes are a single-joint movement; only the shoulder moves, okay ? The elbow stays semi-fixed. That means the triceps and front delt, which share part of the load in presses, will act here, yes, but much less. Most of the work will fall on the pectoral, and also that movement takes the arm to a deep stretch position that in some presses is much harder to prioritize, and then the cable crossover or the pec deck can contribute something no free weight exercise will be able to do. Continuous tension throughout the entire range of motion, including the final contraction, okay? With dumbbells , when your hands come together in front of your chest—which isn't what you should do—the resistance drops to zero because gravity no longer acts in that direction. What you need to do here is go deep and emphasize the maximum stretch when working with dumbbells, okay? But be careful, guys. That exercise is to work the maximum stretch of the chest. We already know that stretch work is where the most hypertrophy or stimulus can be generated, so this is an exercise to focus on that, where the weight isn't very high and we simply have to pause for a second at the maximum stretch and come up, just trying to bring the elbows together, okay? Not the wrists. And once you feel there is no more tension here, you don't need to continue, okay? Because honestly, this is useless. And then with cable crossovers, well, we have—well, crossovers or what I mentioned, pec deck—we have tension until the end, okay? The pectoral receives a stimulus in the contraction that presses don't provide in the same way at all. And this is important because none of the four exercises have the same function. They all work the chest completely. Yes , what changes is the emphasis. Flyes emphasize the stretch more. Cable crossovers also emphasize the stretch, but with continuous tension and contraction. And that makes them essential in the system. As you can see , four exercises, each with its own function, and when you put them together, something happens that's worth understanding. There isn't a single unnecessary piece. Okay, but stop for a second before continuing with the video; you need to hear this because it interests you. All the clothing you see in my workouts is from Jimsas. The quality, I tell you, is amazing, and when you put it on, you really notice it's made with people who train in mind. And you know you'll always get the maximum discount by applying the code José Madrid, okay? So I'll leave the QR code on the screen for you to place your order, and by the way, you know that with this code you also support the channel and help my team and me continue bringing you very high-quality content. Let's continue, moving to block number four, since these four are a system. The incline press focuses on the upper fibers, okay ? And the decline press focuses more on the lower fibers, although we've already mentioned that presses work the entire chest, they just emphasize those fibers more. Then with flyes, we focus more on the stretch and isolation of the pectorals, and with cable crossovers, on constant tension and achieving a good contraction as well. And the central part of the chest receives work from all four of them, okay? All of them together, those four exercises, cover the full range and both ends of the movement. And as you can see, it's not a list of exercises you add just because they sound good, but four pieces, four exercises where each has its purpose with no filler. And this has a very specific practical consequence. Adding a fifth exercise that same day, in most cases, won't add a new stimulus, it will duplicate something already covered; a flat press on top of the incline and decline you already have doesn't provide a new angle, okay? The efficiency of this system doesn't come from how many exercises it has, it comes from the fact that each exercise earns its place for what it specifically contributes. If it doesn't meet that condition, it has no place. What I would do is, you can train with a frequency of one, doing those four exercises at once, that’s fine. Then if your chest is truly lagging, we would have to look at recovery and progress. If that's the case, you can add a couple more exercises, four more sets at the end of the week. You can do, if you have a good chest, a push day where you do two exercises, and another push day where you do two, and you can add one from the previous session, and that would be more than enough. In fact, I was talking to Joe Bennett and he told me that more than two exercises per session is excessive in his view. I think what he said is excessive, I do four exercises, but that's six sets, okay? So, I personally wouldn't do more than 8 to 10 sets in a single session. And if you're thinking right now, "Okay , but I already have my selection of exercises, how do I know if a new exercise is worth including in my program?" The answer lies in the principle behind all of this. Let's move on to the final block, block number five, the principle you can apply to any exercise. Everything we've seen today can be summarized in a single idea, okay? The chest needs exercises to be aligned with the direction of its fibers and the different points of the range of motion . This will give you a criterion to evaluate any chest exercise you come across. You don't need to know if it's good or bad without a reason behind it. You just need to ask yourself, okay? Does it cover something that the four I already have don't cover? The upper fibers are already covered by incline press, the lower by decline, for the stretch we have flyes, and for that contraction with constant tension, we have crossovers. If that new exercise doesn't add anything new that day, well , then there's no place for it, okay? In my opinion, and that applies to any variation that's proposed to you. The filter is always the same. What am I covering with this? That I don't already cover. When you have that criterion, you stop making decisions based on trends or on what the biggest guy in the gym is doing, okay? You make decisions based on the structure of your own muscle, and honestly, that's what differentiates someone who understands what they're doing from someone who just follows a list. So, the next time someone recommends a chest exercise to you, apply that little filter before adding it to your routine, okay? What does it cover that you don't already have? And if there's no answer, it doesn't get in. Also, as I mentioned before, you can do one day with these four exercises, and then on the fourth or fifth day, depending on your recovery, you can add two exercises, but in a different variation , right? If one day you added crossovers, another day you do pec deck , for example. And if one day you worked with incline dumbbell press or incline machine press—I don't recommend decline barbell—you can do an incline machine press, convergent or seated, whatever makes sense. I mean, you're not going to do an incline machine press and dumbbells on the same day, and then the other day just do pec deck, cable crossovers, and flyes, right? So, make a selection that makes sense. And if all this has made you want to train smarter and with more criteria, well, the next video follows that exact line. Because now that you know the chest only needs four well-chosen exercises, the logical question is, what about the back? Well, I'll leave that for the next video, guys.