Developing the Muscle Groups 203
pounds for his sets. He was doing ten sets of 10 repetitions. I
realized then what it takes to get big calves. I trained with Reg
and worked my way up to 500 pounds on the calf machine. My
calves grew half an inch in one month. Since then I've been in
the habit of training with heavy weights for my calves.
To get a perfect stretching of your calves, you should start with
your toes on a high block, go all the way down to touch the floor
with your heels, and then come all the way up on your toes. Only
through a perfect, full movement can you develop perfect calves.
A straight-on, parallel foot position is good for the all-around calf.
If you want to develop the outside, point your toes in; if you
want to develop the inside, point your toes out.
The calf is different from any other muscle. It is stubborn and
slow to respond. You should be just as stubborn. Don't do only 8
or 10 repetitions—do at least five sets of 15 repetitions.
Chest
The muscles of the chest are the pectoralis major, pectoralis
minor, subclavius and serratus anterior (serratus magnus). The
pectoralis muscles, consisting of the clavicular (upper) portion,
and the sternal (lower) portion, is attached to the clavicle (collar-
bone), the whole length of the sternum (breastbone) and the car-
tilage of several ribs. The largest mass of the pectorals starts at
the upper arm bone (humerus) where it fastens at a point under
and just above where the deltoids attach to the humerus. The
serratus fans out to cover the rib cage like armor plates.
The pectoralis muscles pull the arm across the front of the
body and let you perform such actions as pitching a ball under-
handed, doing a wide-grip bench press, swimming the crawl
stroke, and executing parallel-bar dips. Because of their attach-
ment to the humerus, the pectorals play an important secondary
role in back exercises such as chinning. There is in fact a definite
interdependence between chest and back exercises. The chest
will not reach its full potential size unless the latissimus dorsi
muscles are fully developed.
1.
BENCH
PRESS—We
have discussed this exercise in a pre-
vious chapter. Concentrate on letting the weight slowly down to