It took a while but Brett Wilkin earned a direct qualification to the Olympia through hard work and consistent efforts. The American bodybuilder is now preparing to show his talent at the 2023 Olympia and keeps his fans updated with the progress. Recently, Wilkin shared the training routine and principles that helped him build a massive chest.
Brett Wilkin is a talented bodybuilder that competes in the Men’s Open division of the IFBB Pro League. However, it was not always the case. After earning the IFBB Pro card in the Classic Physique division, the Iowa native made his professional debut in the 212 division. However, he found little success there. Intent on proving his worth, ‘Butcher’ decided to take time off and dedicate himself to adding finesse to his physique. To everyone’s surprise, he returned in the Men’s Open division at the 2021 Chicago Pro and finished second.
Unfortunately, the resurgent bodybuilder could not capitalize on the momentum. In spite of high expectations, his 2022 competitive season started with seventh-place finishes at the 2022 Arnold Classic and the 2022 Boston Pro. His hopes for the 2022 Olympia qualification ended after a runner-up finish at the 2022 Romania Muscle Fest Pro.
However, Brett Wilkin conquered the 2022 Bigman Weekend Pro to become one of the earliest competitors to qualify for the 2023 Olympia. Under ‘Hypertrophy Coach’ Joe Bennett’s guidance, he is working hard to elevate his career to the next level.
After giving the final push to his weight in July, Wilkin has started to drop the weight down to get stage-ready. However, ‘The Butcher’ is being realistic about his chances in his very first Olympia appearance and aiming to achieve a top ten finish in November.
Brett Wilkin goes through a chest and shoulders workout
Brett Wilkin’s chest stands out as the most impressive feature of his physique. As a result, the American bodybuilder sets up the training split in such a way that he doesn’t have to train it more than once every week.
Because he doesn’t train it as frequently, Wilkin decided to make a video of a recent chest and shoulder training session and share it online. So let’s see how he got the massive chest.
Chest Workout
Seated Cable Chest Flyes
Wilkin promptly initiated the workout with seated cable flyes to activate and warm up the pectoral muscles. He did the exercise on the Star Trek machine. It enables to do the flyes at a flat angle [angle between chest and arms is similar to flat bench press].
Wilkin modified this exercise slightly by tying a roller-pad that has a semi-circular cross-section along the length of the machine’s backrest. The pad presses in the center of the back [along the length of the vertebral column] when you sit on the machine to perform cable flyes.
“That allows the chest to open up more. So I’m able to get my arms really far back while keeping my chest lifted and put that stress on the chest and then come back through and squeeze just your pecs. So, it helps take the shoulders out of it. It’s just purely only your chest. It really allows you to really open up, get everything stretched out and make sure you’re doing the movement right,” Brett Wilkin said about this modification.”
Wilkin fondly calls this movement roller flyes. He used thicker handles that slender down towards the little finger to enable a more natural and firm grip. He worked his way up to two top sets to get warmed up and proceeded to do the first heavy compound movement of the day.
Incline Dumbbell Press
Wilkin never fully relies on machine exercises to build his physique. His training sessions are always a mix of machine and free-weight exercises. He took to the bread and butter of building upper pecs – the incline dumbbell press – next. He spoke at length about the importance of free weight exercises and said:
“You don’t just always want to do machines that are on the guide, you know. I mean because then you’re not using your stabilizers. You’re not using your tie-ins to stabilize the muscle while you’re pushing it through from front to back, side to side. With machines, it only goes in one groove. You’re only worried about pushing which is good but you also want to build up those stabilizers.”
The 2022 Bigman Pro winner executed good sets of incline dumbbell press with incrementally heavier weights before proceeding to the next exercise in the line.
Decline Chest Press Machine
Wilkin next took to the decline chest press machine. The decline pressing movements primarily target the sternal head of the pectoralis major muscles, also known as the lower pecs. He pushed through solid sets of the movement with great enthusiasm and took to an incline pressing exercise again.
Incline Chest Press Machine
Wilkin next took to the Flex Fitness incline chest press machine. He started with a warm-up set to get used to the movement pattern. He followed up with two straight working sets of the exercise. The exercise concluded after a stretch-pause set. For this set, Wilkin Reduced the weight to half of what he used to for the second working set. He further explained the stretch-pause technique and said:
“I’m gonna do ten reps and I’m gonna let it come all the way down to the bottom. So I’m going to stretch my chest…”
“… While I’m stretching, I’m counting to 10. So, 10 reps, stretch for 10. Failure reps [next]. So do as many as you can. Stretch for 10 [seconds] and then failure reps.”
The number of reps steadily decreases as you proceed through the stretch pause set. However, the short 10-second stretch periods allow the oxygen levels to restore. As a result, you can push well past failure in your exercise. After capping the chest training, Wilkin then advanced over to the shoulder workout.
Wilkin’s shoulder workout typically consists of only anterior and medial deltoid muscles. He clubs the posterior delt work with back training. In this session, he included one front delt and two lateral/medial deltoid exercises.
Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raises
While anterior and posterior deltoid muscles act as primary or secondary movers during push and pull exercises, lateral delts need to be stimulated with specific movements to target them. Dumbbell lateral raises is one of the most basic yet effective exercises to stimulate this muscle.
“I think this is probably the most important side raise variation if you’re building your boulder shoulders, round out those delts,” Wilkin stated.
He prefers the seated variation of lateral raises because it eliminates the stabilizing muscles and lower body from the equation. As a result, one can focus more on the target muscles. Wilkin used incrementally heavier dumbbells and worked his way up to two top sets of 15 reps. He concluded the exercise with a drop set with 20 lbs dumbbells to work on the peak contraction.
“I’m gonna go up and I’m going to hold it at the top. So it’s all about being perfect, all about loading your shoulder head. So these are the things you need to do,” Wilkin elaborated about the drop set.
The American bodybuilder did the drop set to failure and followed on to the next lateral delt movement.
Machine Lateral Raises
The 2022 Bigman Pro winner added the last bit of stimulus to the lateral/medial delts with lateral raises on the Atlantis pin-loaded machine. He did two straight sets of 10 to 15 reps and concluded with a double drop set to push beyond the natural failure.
Standing Decline Cable Flyes and Push-ups
The Men’s Open bodybuilder went back to working the chest again to put the finishing touches to his chest training. Wilkin explained the purpose of this style of training and said:
“This is just doing the s**t that’s hard, that’s tough, that finishes you off. So right now, 15 to 20 push-ups is gonna be extremely hard. But you’re getting all those final nutrients, all that final blood into your chest, into your front delts and that’s what you’re focusing on.”
He then performed standing cable decline flyes and push-ups to work the anterior delts and chest.
Cable Front Raises
Wilkin put in some isolation work for the anterior deltoid muscles. He performed a few sets of cable front raises on the Prime cable machine. The focus was on doing the reps with perfect technique and Wilkin performed three straight sets of 12 to 15 reps of cable front raises.
After flawlessly executing the concluding part of the training session, Wilkin called it a day in the gym. His next few training sessions will be executed under ‘Hypertrophy Coach’ Joe Bennett’s guidance as Wilkin will head over to Tampa and train there. He also intends to attend the 2023 Tampa Pro to support his friend and fellow Open division contender Hunter Labrada.
Overall, the workout consisted of following exercises:
Chest
- Seated Cable Chest Flyes
- Incline Dumbbell Press
- Decline Chest Press Machine
- Incline Chest Press Machine
Shoulders
Chest
Shoulders
Brett Wilkin will guest pose at the 2023 NPC Colorado Cup that will take place in Denver on August 12. It will be his last stage appearance before the 2023 Olympia. Looking at his progress in recent months, it is likely that Brett Wilkin will present an impeccable package and insert himself into the Olympia contender conversation.
You can watch the full workout video below, courtesy of Brett Wilkin’s personal YouTube channel:
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