The Old-School Secret to a Massive Chest

Gene Mozee’s Classic Secret for Building a Large, Magnificent Chest

     I’m not sure when I first decided that I wanted to look like a bodybuilder.  Probably in the mid to late ‘80s, when I was 15 or 16 years old and just couldn’t stop reading all the bodybuilding magazines that hit the newsstand each month.  But the seed had been planted earlier, I suppose.  When I was 7, my dad took me to the drive-in movie theater to see Conan the Barbarian. I was enamored by the physical specimen that was Arnold.  (I think it was also the first time I witnessed my parents argue.  My mother was aghast that my father had taken me to a violent, nudity-filled movie.)  And then there was Bruce Lee.  I started taking Karate when I was 9, and soon I wanted to have the physique of the star of my favorite kung-fu flick, Enter the Dragon.  But eventually, and before too long, it was Schwarzenegger's body that I aspired to attain rather than Lee’s.  (I must add that it likely had something to do, as well, with my love of superheroes.  My favorite comic book heroes all had the physiques of bodybuilders.  And I read a lot of comic books in the ‘70s and ‘80s, not to mention the fact that I watched mild-mannered Bill Bixby turn into a green Lou Ferrigno every Friday night on The Incredible Hulk.)

     I’m also unsure which bodypart I was most enthusiastic about growing strong, large, and shapely.  I probably wanted big, bulging, baseball-shaped biceps the most.  What kid doesn’t want big arms?  But I dunno.  It might have been the chest.  There was just something about a large, muscular chest that screamed manly.  I wanted to be manly.

     Once I started taking bodybuilding seriously when I was 18 or so, I studied all I could from the bodybuilders of the past.  I wanted to know how the greats like Arnold, Franco, Sergio, and the aforementioned Ferrigno, along with the current champions of that time such as Lee Haney and Rich Gaspari built such large, broad, massive, curved chests.  I scoured the magazines from page-to-page each and every month for all of the information I could acquire on the subject.  And I think it was the bodybuilding writer Gene Mozee who had the largest effect on me.

     Mozee preached old-school, high-volume, high-frequency programs that could build the ultimate combination of strength, size, and shape.  By the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, many of the bodybuilders were moving towards less frequent training coupled with workouts that were made to solely produce size and shape without necessarily building strength simultaneously.  But Mozee still preached the classic way—frequent training, lots of sets, and heavy weights.

     Mozee was also a fan of the current bodybuilding champions, even if he disagreed with some of their methods.  However, there was one aspect to modern bodybuilding that he said couldn’t compare to the champs of the past.  The current bodybuilders all lacked expanded rib cages.

     He wrote, “Regardless of how massive the pecs may be, an underdeveloped rib cage creates a flat-chested, less powerful appearance.  It’s the real flaw in an otherwise complete physique.  Bodybuilding stars of the past like Millard Williamson, John Farbotnik, Dave Dupree, Clancy Ross, Chuck Collras, and Jack Dellinger had magnificent chests that greatly enhanced their physiques.  Perhaps the most perfectly formed rib cage I ever photographed was that of Bill McArdle.  He had a 52-inch chest and a 29-inch waist with great pecs that were high, wide, and thick from all angles.  Freddy Ortiz would rate a close 2nd on my list of great chests.  Believe me, nobody competing these days is even close to those greats of yesteryear when it comes to total chest development.”

Bill McArdle striking a side chest pose

     So, what exactly was the secret that the classic bodybuilders used for not just a massive chest but an expansive rib cage?  Pullovers.  Lots of pullovers.  “A former training partner of mine named Richard Kee was somewhat flat-chested compared to his 26-biacromial shoulder width,” Mozee wrote.  “Kee started doing 5 sets of 10 to 15 reps in the straight-arm dumbbell pullover before every workout—6 days a week—and eventually he not only corrected the problem, but his massive chest taped 58 inches cold and he bench pressed 580 pounds back in 1960 without steroids.  Incidentally, several guys at our Pasadena Gym made terrific chest improvements by doing pullovers before every workout.” (emphasis Mozee’s)

     I believe Mozee to be correct in his assessment.  Not only of the fact that bodybuilders after the ‘80s lacked expansive rib cages, but that you can expand them by using pullovers.  Should you go the Kee route and try doing pullovers before every workout?  It wouldn’t hurt.  I can tell you that much.  It’d be worth a try.  Unfortunately, when modern-day bodybuilders read about such frequent training, they may not dismiss the old-school movement, but they often do dismiss the training frequency.  Modern bodybuilders might take a look at a chest workout from the past and use it, but they only do so once per week on their “chest day.”  Pullovers, however, are one of those movements that can be trained frequently.  Squats can, of course, be trained daily, as well, so it makes sense to train them together.  If you are interested in experimentation—attempting new things is always part of the joy of hypertrophy training, in my book—then try this: No matter what workout you follow, before every session, do 1 to 2 sets of high-rep, breathing squats supersetted with 1 to 2 sets of high-rep, cross-bench dumbbell pullovers.  You don’t necessarily have to train heavy, either.  Use a weight that allows you to train daily.  You can add this to the start of your workout no matter your training style.  Train each bodypart once per week?  Fine, just do these 1 (or 2) supersets at the start of each session.  Train on an “easy strength” routine?  Great.  Before you start your low-rep work, do your 1-2 supersets of high-rep squats and pullovers.  I often recommend 1 or 2 high-rep sets of kettlebell swings at the end of an easy strength session, but you could just replace those with this squat/pullover combo instead.

     Mozee, in his many articles, often recommended 3 different forms of pullovers.  His 1st 2 recommendations are still fairly well-known to this day.  I doubt I ever witnessed a bodybuilder do his 3rd movement.  That’s definitely what I’d call a forgotten exercise!  Here are Mozee’s favorite pullover movements, along with some of his own words on how to utilize them:

     Stiff-arm dumbbell pullovers.  You can do these either “cross-bench” or, if it’s more comfortable for you, flat on a bench in the fashion as you would for a flat bench press movement.  “Hold a light dumbbell at arm’s length above your chest, one end up, with your hands flat against the inside of the top plate.  Inhale very deeply as you lower the weight behind your head to about the level of the bench.  Exhale as you return to the starting position.  Don’t go any lower than the level of the bench or you may overstretch your deltoids and injure yourself.  Keep the weight light enough to do 12-15 reps.  If the weight is too heavy, your lats rather than your rib cage get most of the work, preventing you from lifting your chest high in expansion.”  Ah, interesting words from our old-school sage.  I have a feeling that one reason the modern bodybuilder may not get the chest-expanding benefits of the pullover is because they are simply training too heavy, making it more of a “stretch position” lat movement rather than a rib-expander.

     Bent-arm barbell pullovers.  I think, even when modern bodybuilders do pullovers, they largely stick with our first exercise.  About the only other pullover you see in gyms—though my sons just informed me that they don’t even have one of these at the gym they frequent when they’re not training in my garage gym—is the Nautilus pullover or a similar machine.  These were a favorite of Mike Mentzer and Yates after him, though many bodybuilders who didn’t ascribe to “HIT” methodology used them in the ‘70s, as well.  However, I have always been a fan of this exercise, the bent-arm pullover performed with a barbell.

     “Using a fairly close grip—hands about 14 inches apart—keep your elbows in close to your body as you lower the barbell while inhaling,” Mozee wrote.  “Keep the weight as close to your face as you can without scraping your nose when you lower the weight to the floor.  Your head should be just off the bench and pointing toward the floor.  Lower the bar as far as is comfortable for your shoulder, then exhale as you pull the weight back to your chest along the same path.”

     Mozee recommended training heavier on this movement than the dumbbell version.  He was fond of sets in the 8-10 rep range.

     This movement, along with other pullover versions, will work your triceps much harder than most lifters utilize.  Bill Starr, for instance, considered the pullover the best triceps exercise one could do.  If you train on a full-body routine, this won’t really impact the rest of your training and will, in fact, aid it. However, if you train with a split routine, you may want to train your chest along with your triceps and your lats in the same session.  An upper/lower split might be good while using a pullover-heavy regimen.  Another split I like is chest, lats, triceps, and quads at one workout and shoulders, biceps, hamstrings, and calves at the 2nd.

     Now, let’s look at Mozee’s other favorite, our truly forgotten exercise…

     Decline bent-arm dumbbell pullover-press-flyes.  I’ll let Mozee explain this one: “Lie on your back on a decline bench with your head as close to the end of the bench as possible.  With a dumbbell in each hand, place the weights at the side of your chest, even with your nipples.  Keeping your elbows in during the start of the exercise, take a deep breath and lower the weights in a pullover until they touch the floor behind you or go as low as possible without causing discomfort in your shoulders.  Then pull the dumbbells back to the starting position along the same path.  From there, press the weights to arm’s length above your chest with your palms facing each other.  At that point, lower the dumbbells in a semi-circle to where they’re approximately even with your chest, about 10 inches from your sides.  Be sure that your elbows are drawn down and back so they’re in line with your ears… Bring the dumbbells back to arm’s length along the same path that you lowered them.  Now lower them back to the sides of your chest with your elbows in close and exhale.  Then start your 2nd repetition with the pullover, then the press, and finally the flye.”  Remember: pullover, then press, then flye, and repeat.  Keep it as simple as that and you’ll do the exercise with fine form.

     If this is the first time even reading about this movement, take your time to learn the form.  Use a light enough weight that you can perfect your form before moving on to heavier sets.

     Now, I’m going to give you Mozee’s advice for using a beginner, an intermediate, and an advanced program.  I’ll present his program first, then offer some of my own thoughts on each workout.

Beginning Routine

Pushups: 2x10-15

Bent-arm flyes: 2x8-10

Dumbbell pullovers: 2x10-12

Barbell bench presses: 2x8-10

     This workout should be performed 3 days per week on non-consecutive days, such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Keep in mind that it should be part of a full-body program.  This also means that you don’t have to do the exercises back-to-back.  Rather, you can do them in between other lifts for different bodyparts.  A complete workout might look like this:

Bodyweight squats (warm-up)

Pushups

Heavy squats

Bent-arm flyes

Wide-grip chins

Dumbbell pullovers

Behind-the-neck presses

Barbell bench presses

Barbell curls supersetted w/ skull crushers

Ab and calf work as needed

     Do no more than 2 work sets on all of your other movements.  Use a weight on each set where you can get your prescribed reps about 2 reps shy of complete muscular failure.  Heavy but not too heavy.  When training on a 3 days a week, full-body program, always ask yourself this: Will I be able to repeat the workout on my next training day?  If you answer “no,” then you are using weights that are too heavy.

     If you do like training hard, and simply find it too hard to not do so, then another option is to train on a heavy-light-medium rotation.  Do the same number of sets and reps at each session, and the same movements, but on the 1st training day of the week, use weights where you can go “all-out” or close to it.  On the light day, the 2nd workout of the week, use weights between 50-75% of what was utilized on the heavy day.  The percentages will depend on your personal work capacity.  On the 3rd training day of the week, the medium day, use weights that are between 80-90% of the heavy day.  Cycling workloads is the key to “hard” training when utilizing full-body, 3 days per week programs.

Intermediate Workout

Incline dumbbell presses: 3x8-10

Bent-arm barbell pullovers: 3x8-10

Parallel bar dips: 3x8-10

Straight-arm flyes: 3x10

     Mozee wrote that you need to train on the 1st program for at least 6 months before moving on to this program.  It, too, is meant to be part of a 3 days a week, full-body program.  Use a similar total body workout as what I wrote above for the 1st routine, but go to 3 sets on each movement.  The other advice—to use either an “everything moderate” approach or to cycle workloads—applies here, as well.

Advanced Program

Bench presses: 4x10,8,6,15.  Add weight on each of the 1st 3 sets.  On the 4th set, drop down to a weight lighter than your 1st set, and get 15 “pump” reps.

Cross-bench dumbbell pullovers: 3x10-12

Incline flyes: 3x8-10

Decline dumbbell pullover-press-flyes: 3x10

     Mozee would have recommended that you do this 3 days per week, as well, but use a 2-way split program, so that you train half of your body on, say, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and your other half on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  You can also use the kind of routine that I recommended in my last article on 6x6 training.  In it, I suggested using a 2-way split, but train on a 3-on, 1-off, 2-on, 1-off rotation.  For exactly how to do that, read my last post.  Another option is to simply train on a 2-on, 1-off schedule.  I think this is a really good split, not to mention it’s simple, and simple is usually best.  The only issue that some lifters might have is that they end up training on different days from week-to-week, and some bodybuilders, for whatever reason, like to train on the same days each week.

     No matter the split you decide to use, the same advice applies here as the other programs.  Either cycle your workloads from workout to workout, or take each set a couple reps shy of muscular failure and always leave a little something “in the tank” at the end of each set.

     If you get nothing else out of this article other than the fact that I have introduced you to a cool, almost completely forgotten exercise, I’ll consider my job complete.  But don’t discount the effectiveness of various pullovers for expanding your rib cage and obtaining a monstrous and, in the words of Mozee, “magnificent” chest.

     As we close this thing out, I’ll let Mozee have the final words: “The better the foundation, the larger and more shapely your chest will become.  Don’t let an underdeveloped rib cage be the flaw that prevents you from achieving physical perfection.  Never neglect the chest expanders.”

     If you enjoyed this article, then you will love my forthcoming book on old-school, classical bodybuilders and their methods.  I am in the process of editing it, and hopefully will have it finished in a week or so.  In the meantime, you can purchase one of my other books HERE.  They are all packed full of workouts and advice just like this article.  Purchasing a book also helps support my writing, so thank you for the support!

     As always, if there are any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments section below or shoot me an email if you want a more personal, detailed reply, or you just prefer a more private communication.

Sources

All quotes here are from the article “The Secret to Building a Magnificent Chest: It Takes More Than Benches” by Gene Mozee, from the February 1998 issue of Ironman magazine.