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Giant Set Chest Workouts | The Ultimate Guide!

giant set chest workout

Are you curious about giant set chest workouts?

Do you want to know how to use giant sets to build a bigger, stronger chest?

Then you’ve come to the right place.

In this comprehensive guide, I will teach you exactly how to use giant set chest workouts to take your training to the next level!

Introduction

  • Part 1: John Meadows’ Chest Routine
  • Part 2: Ben Pakulski’s Chest Routine
  • Part 3: Milos Sarcev’s Chest Routine

Giant sets are one of the most effective training methods in the world.

Many of the world’s top bodybuilding coaches like John Meadows, Ben Pakulski, and Milos Sarcev have used giant sets to build the chest and other major muscle groups.

But what are giant sets, and why are they so effective for building muscle?

Giant sets are a series of 4 or more exercises performed in a row for a single muscle group. For example, a chest giant set would include 4 different chest exercises performed in a row with a max of 10 seconds rest between sets. Check it out:

Chest Giant Set

  • Step #1: Perform exercise “A”, rest 10 seconds
  • Step #2: Perform exercise “B”, rest 10 seconds
  • Step #3: Perform exercise “C”, rest 10 seconds
  • Step #4: Perform exercise “D”, rest 2-4 minutes, then repeat!

Talk about an intense training method!

Giant sets are so effective for building the chest, because they extend the time under tension of the set.

In other words, giant sets force your chest to work at least 4 times as long as they would during a regular set. This extra time under tension creates a powerful stimulus for muscular hypertrophy!

In my experience, the key to designing a great giant set chest workout is to use a variety of exercises that overload your chest in different ways.

For example, using a giant set with bench presses, incline bench presses, and decline bench presses would be a bad idea.

However, performing a giant set with incline bench presses, machine flys, incline dumbbell presses, and cable crossovers would be a much better choice.

These exercises overload different parts of the chest, which is exactly what you want during a giant set chest workout!

Here is an awesome giant set chest workout designed by John Meadows that you can try. Check it out:

John Meadows Giant Set Chest Routine

  • Exercise #1: 30 degree incline dumbbell press, 4 sets of 8 reps, no rest
  • Exercise #2: Cable crossover (high pulley), 4 sets of 8 reps, no rest
  • Exercise #3: Floor press, 4 sets of 8 reps, no rest
  • Exercise #4: Stretch push ups, 4 sets of 8 reps, 2 minutes rest

Here is the training video:

Talk about an intense chest workout! For this giant set routine, John Meadows performs 4 different exercises:

  • Incline dumbbell presses
  • Cable crossovers
  • Floor presses
  • Stretch push ups

John performs each exercise for about 8 reps.

One of the things I really like about this giant set is he uses 4 different exercises that overload the chest in completely different ways.

The 30 degree incline dumbbell press is a great starting exercise, as it lets you train with a heavy weight and a full range of motion.

After that, he moves onto more “stretching” exercises like cable crossovers and stretch push ups.

John Meadows says he performs giant sets in 1 out of every 6 workouts. In other words, he uses them to give his body a break from his usual heavy Mountain Dog chest workouts!

Of course, Ben Pakulski is also a big fan of giant set workouts.

He used them extensively during his professional bodybuilding career! Here is one of Ben’s favorite giant set chest routines that you can try. Check it out:

Ben Pakulski Giant Set Chest Routine

  • Exercise A1: 30 degree incline bench press, 3 sets of 5 reps
  • Exercise B1: Cable crossover (low pulley), 3 sets of 8-12 reps, no rest
  • Exercise B2: Flat bench press, 3 sets of 8-12 reps, no rest
  • Exercise B3: 30 degree incline dumbbell fly, 3 sets of 8-12 reps, no rest
  • Exercise B4: Decline bench press, 3 sets of 8-12 reps, no rest
  • Exercise B5: Supine machine press, 3 sets of 8-12 reps, no rest
  • Exercise B6: Lying dumbbell pullover, 3 sets of 8-12 reps, no rest
  • Exercise B7: 60 degree incline smith machine press, 3 sets of 8-12 reps, 2 minutes rest

Here is the training video:

Talk about an intense chest workout!

Ben Pakulski performs a total of 8 exercises in this chest workout, including one heavy “loading” exercise at the start of the workout, plus a 7-exercise chest giant set at the end.

This is a very smart way to train!

First, Ben performs a few heavy sets on the incline bench press. This exercise helps him overload his fast-twitch muscle fibers, plus maintain a good level of strength while dieting.

Next he performs a 7-exercise giant set for chest.

Ben Pakulski doesn’t care about how much weight he is using on each exercise in the giant set. Instead, his goal is to “feel” his chest working as hard as possible on every rep!

Of course, it’s impossible to talk about giant sets training without mentioning Milos Sarcev!

Milos Sarcev is famous for using giant sets almost exclusively in his training programs. Milos is also known for performing extremely long giant sets with up to 15 exercises performed in a row!

Here is one of Milos Sarcev’s moderate-volume giant set chest routines that you can try. Check it out:

Milos Sarcev Giant Set Chest Workout

  • Exercise A1: Supine machine press, 3 sets of 10 reps, no rest
  • Exercise A2: 45 degree incline bench press, 3 sets of 10 reps, no rest
  • Exercise A3: 60 degree incline dumbbell fly, 3 sets of 10 reps, no rest
  • Exercise A4: 30 degree incline smith machine press, 3 sets of 10 reps, no rest
  • Exercise A5: 15 degree incline dumbbell fly, 3 sets of 10 reps, no rest
  • Exercise A6: 15 degree incline smith machine press, 3 sets of 10 reps, 2 minutes rest

Here is the training video:

Talk about a brutal chest workout!

Milos Sarcev likes to perform about 10 reps on all of his giant set exercises.

Even if the weight is too heavy, he will help his client perform extra forced reps to get the required number of reps.

One interesting thing about this giant set is Milos uses a large number of isolation exercises.

This can be a good idea with higher-volume giant set routines, as performing several compound exercises in a row could be too much for you to recover from.

Conclusion | Giant Set Chest Workouts!

Giant sets are one of the most effective training methods in the world – especially if you are trying to build a big, strong chest!

This isn’t just my opinion though – many of the world’s top bodybuilding coaches like John Meadows, Ben Pakulski, and Milos Sarcev use giant sets in their bodybuilding chest workouts.

If you are looking for a new routine to shock your chest into growth, then let it be one of these 3 giant set chest workouts.

They may be just what you need to take your training to the next level!

“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.”

Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of luck on your strength training journey!