If you want to get a bigger chest at home, this EMS/EMA pushup workout will help you to build a big chest in just 21 days.
When you want to build a big chest fast, you have to attack your pecs with a plan. This 3-week workout will progressively overload your chest and introduce EMS/EMA as a booster that will build your chest, but it will also help you get bigger shoulders and triceps as well. The fastest way to build a big chest at home is to increase the volume and intensity of the most classic chest exercise there is The Push-Up!
This home chest workout will get your chest growing quickly. Try it out and be sure to share it with us on Instagram and a friend to see who makes the better chest gains in 21 days.
The key to this home chest workout is that it progresses you through various pushups while demanding that you improve on your rep counts along the way. It consists of three weeks of testing and non-testing days that will quickly build up your chest while increasing the number of pushups you can do in one set by half.
Let’s get started…
The way these pushup workout works is by first establishing your max pushups to failure in a set. From here, you rest two minutes and attempt to complete one and a half times this number in something we call “grinder style”. This means, you are allowed to rest along the way but you cannot put your knees on the ground, stand up, or lift more than one hand off the ground at any one time.
BLOCK 1 of 5
Day 1: Max Test Day, Without the Suit
TEST: Regular Push-Ups to Failure (Max reps with perfect form)
2min Rest
1,5 x the repetitions from the Max-test. You can hold the Push-Up position. Never get close to failure. Never let the knees come to the floor. Grind out all reps.
From here, we start a series of workouts, where the goal is to perform a pushup variation for the same number of reps that you did on your max pushups from the most recent testing day. Here, however, you are allowed to rest/pause when you fatigue, and you are advised to not going until muscle failure because…
…This time the Visionbody EMS/EMA Suit takes over
The low and middle frequencies from the suit will provide the training stimulus to activate more muscle fibers. For both, beginner and pros!
In cases of pro athletes you already have more access to more muscle fibers and the task of getting, even more, is quite harder. But the EMS/EMA stimulus of low and middle frequencies is the key to more muscle recruitment and more performance.
It is not to doubt that EMS/EMA has only beneficial effects. The only question is how and in what form we use it.
- Most of our body is driven by electrical impulses.
- Instructions from the brain can be delivered directly through the skin to the muscle, adipose tissue, and cells.
- If we use only low frequency, like today’s trendy EMS/EMA machines and medical TENS devices do, we are talking only about stimulation. The nerve endings under the skin surface simply respond to the stimulus. This is done locally, under a given connecting head, depending on the manufacture, on 8-12 major muscle groups in the body.
Electrical muscle stimulation results in a stronger and clearer muscle contraction than one can voluntarily. It is especially important to mention that with the help of the device we can train fast or slow muscle fibers in a targeted way, as they are activated at different frequencies. However, it should not be overlooked that this creates an uncoordinated contraction and therefore does not in itself increase athletic performance. Muscle stimulation only achieves the desired effect if it is properly integrated into the training program and if the middle frequency is also used.
Let’s get back to the program…
The next four workouts require that you go back to performing standard pushups, except this time you have to complete your maximum plus 10 percent (on the first non-test day in a block) 20 percent (on the second non-test day in a block), or 30 percent (on the third and final non-test day in a block). Again here, you do not have to perform these pushups unbroken. You simply have to get them done, stopping 2-3 reps shy of failure and using rest/pause if needed to do so.
Day 2, With your Suit
Push Up Variation x Max Reps result of the recent testing day.
2min Rest
Regular Push-ups x Reps from recent Test-Day + 10% more. Never go to failure. Rest/Pause if necessary and complete all the reps.
Day 3, With your Suit
Push Up Variation x Max Reps result of the recent testing day.
2min Rest
Regular Push-ups x Reps from recent Test-Day + 20% more. Never go to failure. Rest/Pause if necessary and complete all the reps.
Day 4, With your Suit
Push Up Variation x Max Reps result of the recent testing day.
2min Rest
Regular Push-ups x Reps from recent Test-Day + 30% more. Never go to failure. Rest/Pause if necessary and complete all the reps.
BLOCK 1 finished.
Repeat this 4 day Block 5 times. That’s 20 days of training.
Day 5 starts again with another test day and days 6-9 are the training days with the suit and the push-up variations.
The blocks continue to progress and advance with each new testing day. Be sure to re-test your maximum number of pushups (without the suit) at the start of each new block since you will likely be increasing your overall pushup and chest strength meaning that your number is going to increase. Each block is based on the number of max pushups that you can achieve on the test day that starts the block.
We continue until we reach our final day of the 20-day workout for a bigger chest. Here, you are to go back to your original max number of pushups from day 1 and attempt to complete one and a half times this number, unbroken. This is not to be performed in a grinder style. These are straight pushups. You will be amazed at how many more pushups you can do now than you could just 20 days ago.
Let’s get Strong. With EMS/EMA!
Johannes, Head of Training & Education