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try this mass-building chest workout
Ricky Goodrich
June 02, 2025
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Welcome to The BarBend Newsletter. Here’s what’s happening in today’s edition:
Use Dorian Yates’ chest routine for massive growth
5 effective workouts you can knock out in 15 minutes
8 alternatives to traditional pre-workout formulas
Training
Straight Outta Warwickshire
Credit: @TheDorianYates / Instagram
Dorian Yates didn’t build his Olympia-winning physique by accident. He did so by employing his infamous “Blood & Guts” training style, which emphasizes supremely heavy weights, low volume, and a whole lot of shouting. If you’re looking to emulate one of the best, we’ve detailed Yates’ famed chest workout in the article below.
This is a straight mass-creation system — not some fancy plan to get on the cover of GQ. The workout itself consists of only four moves and one working set for each, but the idea is to absolutely punish yourself with heavy weights and a full range of motion. The main event revolves around the Hammer Strength chest press machine and incline bench press on the Smith machine.
Your goal is to hit one working set of eight to 10 reps. But the key is to load them up with so many plates that the thought of another rep should make you queasy. If you can lift your arms at the end, chances are you didn’t go heavy enough. And that sort of nonsense really cheeses off Mr. Yates. So, if you’re going to do it, do it right and follow the directions below.
Did You Know? You’d think that Yates spent hours upon hours in the gym six or seven days a week to build all that mass. Turns out, he usually settled on four 45-minute workouts per week. He credits his rest days with helping his muscles recover and grow.
A Message From Huel
You’re doing breakfast wrong
Let’s face it—most breakfast options just don’t cut it.
Toast? Too light. Cereal? Mostly sugar. Skipping it altogether? Not ideal.
If you want real fuel to power your day, it’s time to upgrade to Huel Black Edition. This ready-in-seconds shake is packed with 40g of plant-based protein, 27 essential vitamins & minerals, and 0 artificial sweeteners—just science-backed nutrition to support your muscles, digestion, and more.
Oh, and did we mention? It’s delicious.
Right now, first-time customers get 15% off, plus a free t-shirt and shaker with code HUELSPRING, for orders over $75.
Workouts
Quarter-Hour Gains
Credit: Giphy
It might seem like a daunting task to schedule time for a serious workout in the bustling world we live in, but this doesn’t necessarily need to be the case.
Less time doesn’t always equate to fewer results, a maxim which these five impactful 15-minute workouts can attest to. By sticking to a pretty serious inter-workout schedule and ramping up the intensity of your movements, you can craft a training session that kicks you in the face and still gets you home before the streetlights turn on.
Don’t think these workouts are just for cardio rabbits looking for some HIIT, either. We’ve created 15-minute workouts tailored to a number of goals, including muscle growth, strength, endurance, and more.
See what 15 can help turn you into with one simple click below.
Supplements
Fight the Powder
Credit: Dmitrijs Dmitrijevs / Shutterstock
It’s not difficult to understand why pre-workout formulas are so popular. Not only do they put your body in a biologically optimized place to take maximal advantage of your hard work, they can, to quote Jesse Ventura from Predator, make you feel like “a god-damn sexual tyrannosaurus.”
Such eloquence aside, not everyone wants the added stuff in pre-workout formulas that creates such prehistoric proclivities. These natural alternatives to pre-workout formulas are great for anyone looking to maximize their training without the need for a tiny plastic scoop.
At their heart, many pre-workouts are a simple mixture of caffeine and carbs. You can arrive at the same result yourself by stocking up on coffee, green tea, and your favorite healthy carbs. Combine fast carbs like fruits with slow rollers like rice to get the full spectrum of glycemic responses. Want something else to help your workouts? Find out how all manner of natural foods can do the work better than a shaker bottle ever could.
Sound Off!
How Do You Power Up?
Credit: @Garfield
What is your pre-workout of choice? |
Looking for pre-workout recommendations from our team of expert reviewers and nutritionists? Check these out:
Quick Hits
🏀 Move This: Medicine balls are both a historic gym item and a convenient and comfortable way to load your body up. Less pointy than dumbbells and softer than plates, medicine balls have a plethora of uses for each day of the lifting week.
💵 Invest Here: Popular snack food RXBar’s Peter Rahal has made significant inroads with his new company. Devoted to producing an ultra-high protein bar, called David, Rahal has managed to raise $75M in seed money to get his operation on track.
🐐 Retirement Plan? CrossFit legend Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr won the 2025 Torian Pro over the weekend. But what about those retirement rumors? Did the G.O.A.T. talk about her future? Read our full recap of the event.
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