A well-developed chest can change your whole look – with or without clothes. It redefines your entire appearance from the front and the side. But how do you make your pecs so big that you can’t see your legs?

Well, there is no shortage of exercises to choose from, and you already know a few of them. For example, the bench press, which is probably the most popular exercise in Hillcrest next to the 12-oz. curl. What I’ll teach you in this article is how the pecs work, and I’ll show you a fun routine to carve them out of your chest.

OK, let’s see how well you can follow directions. Raise your arms straight out to your sides so that your upper body forms a T. Now, keeping your elbows straight, clap your hands together at chest level. That motion was performed primarily by the middle portion of your pecs. If you clap your hands together at the level of your head, you’ll recruit mostly upper pec muscles. Clap your hands at belly level and you’ll be using mostly lower pec muscles.

The pecs are a large muscle group. That’s why you need to work them from two to three different angles to get complete development.

This is one of the best exercises for isolating the pecs. Your starting point should be with your hands in front of you at chest level (sound familiar?), elbows slightly bent. Slowly extend your arms backward, squeezing your shoulder blades together as you do (very important!), and stop when you feel a light stretch across the chest and shoulders. Avoid going into a heavy stretch because you run a high risk of injuring your shoulder joint, pecs and/or rotator cuff. Then bring your arms forward until your hands touch.

On your face! Very few people get this Stone-Age exercise right. Don’t let your lower back sag! That is called hyperextension and can lead to serious back injuries. Keeping your body perfectly straight, lower yourself, squeezing your shoulder blades together as you go, and stop when you feel that light stretch across the chest and shoulders. If you can’t do more than eight in good form, drop to your knees. Your forearms should be vertical, and your hands should line up with your mid to low chest.

The incline dumbbell press is a classic exercise that is nearly impossible to beat in terms of effectiveness. Follow the same form guidelines as with the push-up, only this time you’re on your back. Make sure your forearms stay vertical the entire time. At the bottom position, your hands should line up with your mid to upper chest. Don’t arch your back or raise your hips out of the seat.

Similar to the incline press, but in the bottom position, the hands should line up with the bottom of your sternum, an inch or two below the pecs. Be careful going down too low on this exercise. It’s very easy to injure your shoulders. Dropping the weights from this position is a good way to injure your shoulders as well. Either sit up with the dumbbells or have a spotter take the weights.

Do 10 reps of the cable crossover very slowly, taking two whole seconds to move your arms forward and four seconds to go back. Follow that immediately with the push-up, doing as many reps as you can at a controlled pace (about one second up and one second down). Rest only 30 seconds between these sets. Very intense.

Then do 3 sets of 10 reps of the incline press, resting one minute between each set. Lower the weights in two seconds, and then drive them upward as fast as you can – but in control! Finish with the decline press, also 3 sets of 10 reps, one minute rest. Take two seconds for both the down and up portions of the rep.

This is an intense, high-volume chest workout. Know your limits! Advanced lifters should be able to do this workout every four or five days. Hit it hard and soon your pecs will be so big you’ll need a bra.