Employing his kinesiology degree and the
basics of gravity, the 2008 Canadian overall champ explains his form on flyes: “The logic there is the dumbbell can only resist force in one direction and that’s straight down. So any time you’re doing a dumbbell chest movement and you come inside your shoulder joint with your wrist or with the dumbbell, the force is only being exerted straight through the joint. So you have to stay outside your joint to keep tension on the chest. Keeping the dumbbells out and stopping well short of bringing them together is all about the force that the dumbbells are exer ting on the body. I want to maintain it from start to finish. When I start to lose it, the positive half of the rep is over.”
For his fourth exercise, Pak-Man returns to an incline press, this time with a Smith machine and a steeper angle than most trainers use for chest: approximately 60 degrees. After an initial 12 with 165 (estimating the bar at 15), he increases the metal to 215. With a thumbless grip, Pakulski nearly locks out at the tops of his rapid reps, maintaining continuous tension on his pecs. After a set of eight, he fails on the eighth rep of his third set,
bailing out and racking in a lower pin. Then he strips the quarters and pumps out another 10 with 165 for the final leg of a drop set. After the workout, I ask Pak-Man about doubling
up on incline presses and using a high angle the second time. “I find that a Smith machine works really well for me,” he answers. “I go a little lighter, which allows me to get a full contraction at the top, really trying to get a full extension. Most times, I do that Smith machine or incline barbell. Today, I did both, because the incline barbell didn’t feel great to me, so I just went back and did the Smith, too.” Staying in tune with his muscles and knowing when they need more or less work is a crucial component of Pakulski’s workouts.
“You can’t always get a full
PAK-MAN’S BONUS POINT
extension when you go heavy on
chest presses. Rotational things happen to your shoulders the farther you extend from the body, so if you go real heavy and extend all the way, you’re getting external rotation happening, which can lead to shoulder problems. If you stay a little lighter, you can extend farther.”
FLEX 99
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