Chest Annihilation with Brian Cage

The F’ing Machine is back to lead the Body Spartans through an annihilating chest workout

Brian “The F’ing Machine” Cage is back in town to join the rest of the Body Spartan crew – Gabe Tuft, Howard Perry, and Brandon Griffith – in a chest workout that will go down in the Spartan books as “chest annihilation”. With pre-exhaustion, high volume, and insane monster sets, this is one Brian Cage’s toughest workouts yet.

Extended video below!

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If you’ve ever done a Brian Cage workout, then you know the pain you’re about to endure. Cage’s workouts are forged in the deepest, darkest corner of hell and he brings them to the surface just to punish those who question whether or not he is truly a machine. If you want to know how he got the name, “The F-ing Machine”, try this chest workout and see how you size up. We welcome you to the battlefield.

Chest exercise #1: Cable cross

There’s no better way to start this chest workout than pre-exhausting the muscles. The crew started off with one low weight set to warm up before knocking out four working sets. What separated this movement from normal cross-overs done in the past is that the focus was on overlapping the hands versus meeting in the center. This allows you to really get the deep squeeze on the center chest while making sure that you can get as much blood in your chest as possible and maximizing the pump. Note, the team dropped the weight on the last set to fire off more reps. Still, these reps were all controlled and form was solid.

Set	Super set	Reps	Rest
1	No	20	2 minutes
2	No	20	2 minutes
3	No	16	2 minutes
4	No	16	2 minutes
5	No	30	2 minutes

Chest exercise #2: Incline press

Now that your chest is enriched with blood, it’s time to press some weight. Grab an incline bench and pick a weight around 80% of your 1-rep max. During this exercise, make sure that you are controlling the weight and coming down to a 90 degree bend at the elbows. When pressing, remember that you are not locking out at the top. This will ensure constant tension on the chest. Also pay attention to where your elbow placement is. You want to make sure that the elbows are flared so that you focus on upper/outer chest and are not overly recruiting your triceps and lower chest.

Set	Super set	Reps	Rest
1	No	12	2 minutes
2	No	10	2 minutes
3	No	8	2 minutes
4	No	8	2 minutes

Chest exercise #3: Diamond press

For this exercise you will want grab any barbell and any upright seat. You’ll want to place one end of the barbell in a corner or somewhere to hold it in place. The other end will be in front of your seat with enough room for you to sit and be able to press without it hitting your face. For this grip, you will squeeze the bar between your hands, making sure your palms are touching. If this grip is too difficult, you may also use a close grip cable attachment or “d-bar” to scoop under the cuff. This exercise is not about the weight but more about the squeeze and really engaging the upper center chest. Be sure to watch the chest workout video above. Brian Cage goes into detail on how to do this part of the chest workout correctly.

Set	Super set	Reps	Rest
1	No	20	2 minutes
2	No	16	2 minutes
3	No	12	2 minutes
4	No	10	2 minutes

Chest exercise #4: Hammer Press

The Hammer Press is the perfect mixture of barbell and dumbbell press. The weight is a single arm isolation exercise but the movement is set up like a barbell bench press. This movement will require you to really control your tempo so that your arms do not fall out of sync. Unlike dumbbells, the weight is locked in place so that you can focus on the press and not worry about stabilization.

Set	Super set	Reps	Rest
1	No	20	2 minutes
2	No	20	2 minutes
3	No	15	2 minutes
4	No	15	2 minutes

Chest exercise #5: Pec deck

Just when you didn’t think you could pump any more blood into your chest, we gift to you – the pec deck. The movement is locked into place but you still need to be aware of elbow placement. Make sure that your elbows are flared out so that you are not recruiting your arms. As you get to the end of your 50 reps you may notice that you’re leaning forward. That’s because you are recruiting your anterior deltoids to help with the movement. Do your best to resist the deltoid recruitment. “

The only thing harder than doing 50 reps, is having to do 50 reps twice”

–Brian Cage.

Set	Super set	Reps	Rest
1	No	50	2 minutes
2	No	50	2 minutes

Chest exercise #6: Quad set

To completely annihilate your pecs, we’re finishing this chest workout with Brian Cage’s nasty quad set creation. You begin with the incline barbell bench press and do 15 reps. Then, without any rest, go right into incline dumbbell flies for 15 more reps. Again, without any rest, move on to the next exercise which is dumbbell diamond presses with elbows flared. Finally, you’re going to do 15 push-ups. It sounds easy, but we promise you, it’s anything but. If you can’t get all the push-ups, go to your knees. If you still can’t get them, have someone spot you the way Cage spotted Howard in the video. Either way, GET ‘EM ALL!

Set	Super set	Reps	Rest
1	Yes	15/15/15/15	Finished