Hitting the peak contracted position of the pecs means bringing your arm towards and potentially across the midline of your body.
The contracted position of the chest is most often done using a pec deck or cable crossover machine.
This setup allows you to use your bodyweight for resistance and a decline bench to push against for an excellent range of motion and real maximum contraction.
First, set a decline bench with the feet braced up against something solid...could be a rack, could be a wall...the key is we don't want the bench to slide (if you have good flooring, you may not need to brace it at all).
Lie on your side beside the bench. If you're on your right side, set your LEFT hand on the bench about 6 inches from the bottom with your right arm tucked around your midsection.
Now you're going to push your torso up with your left hand/pec. Your pivot point will be your hip. This means you're pushing across your body, which is what is going to give you the strong pec contraction.
The leverage on this exercise is not great (the fibers don't have a lot of strength capacity in this position since they get so bunched up with the maximum contraction), so you don't need much more than the weight of your upper body.
The angle of the decline bench is perfect for the push.
If you don't have a decline bench, you could use a long Step riser with one side elevated. The key is getting that 30 degree angle (approximately) so you get a direct line of push.
How to Use The Side Peak Contraction Push-Up
This one is all about FEEL. It's not a mass builder but it will give you a maximum peak contraction on the chest. What that means is reps don't really matter...just go for that contraction.
You can use it as an "activation" exercise if you have a hard time feeling your pecs working when you press, or you can use it as a finisher, to be done AFTER you're pressing and/or flyes.
I like this one as the last phase of a Positions of Flexion workout, where you hit a flye, press, then a peak contraction movement like this.
If you feel you need extra resistance, you can hold a dumbbell in your non-working hand to increase the weight of the torso. If you feel like you can side plank this one and pivot from the foot instead of the hip, you've got incredibly strong pecs!
The key here is to tuck the dumbbell in tightly so that it doesn't contact the bench while you're doing the exercise.
Overall, this is an excellent one for finishing off the chest with peak contraction tension.
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