Martin Fitzwater is inching closer to his debut on the 2024 Mr. Olympia stage. In a recent YouTube video published on July 26, 2024, Fitzwater joined Brett Wilkin for a productive workout where he offered queues, tips, and tricks for building a massive chest 16 weeks from the sport’s biggest event of the year.
“I’m going to give you some queues, tips, and tricks on how to grow your chest like I am for the Olympia.”
Fitzwater has continued to improve under the IFBB Pro League banner, showcasing an evolution in his physique thanks to better fullness and conditioning. In 2022, he cemented himself as one to watch in the Men’s Open following a close runner-up showing against Andrew Jacked at the Texas Pro. Traveling overseas, Fitzwater turned in a fourth-place finish at the Arnold Classic UK show before calling an end to his bodybuilding season.
Of late, the thriving Men’s Open competitor returned at the 2024 Detroit Pro and won handily against Ugolnikov Vitalii. Although he earned his Olympia qualification, ‘The Martian’ wanted to see how he stacked up against other top-tier competitors in the class, like Nick Walker.
Fitzwater earned second place at the 2024 New York Pro, shattering the expectations of fans around the world, who thought Walker would have won comfortably. Looking to build his chest up for the Olympia, Fitzwater took fans through his latest workout.
Martin Fitzwater Shares Tips to Grow a Monstrous Chest With Workout 16 Weeks Before 2024 Mr. Olympia
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Find Martin Fitzwater’s exercise selections below:
- Incline cable flyes
- Incline bench press
- Seated chest press machine
- Pec Deck Flye Decline
- Flat press machine
- Lateral raise machine
- Single-arm cable lateral raise
Incline cable flyes
Fitzwater credits incline cable flyes as an effective warm-up before heavier compound movements.
“If you watch any chest session from me, Brett and I are always doing flyes first to warm up. It’s a good way to isolate the pec and it’s a good way to get things warm here. As you saw, a light first couple of sets, a few warm-up sets, and work up to a crazy top set.”
Incline bench press
He makes safety a priority with incline bench presses and reinforces his elbows and wrists with wraps.
“About to do incline bench, this is our heavy compound movement. The main thing here is about safety and about being able to push heavy ass weight. So our main focus is to be pushing heavy weight. To help my elbows with that and my wrists with that, I got wrist wraps here,” said Fitzwater. “And I got some elbow wraps.”
Seated chest press machine
During seated chest press machine reps, Fitzwater slowed down the tempo for an optimal stretch and contraction.
“This one here just to stay safe we’re not going to do anything too crazy. We’ll bring the weight down and slow the tempo down and really get quality controlled reps here.”
“My main focus here is making sure my pec is doing the stretching and the contracting and Brett is watching over my form to make sure that’s what I’m doing.”
Peck deck flye decline
Since Fitzwater uses his front delts to compensate for chest movements, he likes the way the peck deck flye decline fits his body and taxes his chest.
“This one is all pec. I absolutely love this machine by New Tech, it fits the body mechanics perfectly and the squeeze is all in the pec. For me, as you guys now, I’m a cheater butt, I like to use the front delts so to have this machine be able to keep me in the pecs and to be able to run it, is perfect for me,” shares Martin Fitzwater.
Flat press machine
He utilized a neutral grip on the flat press machine, once again emphasizing a stretch and contraction while keeping the elbows flared out.
“Only thing we’re really doing different on this flat press than any of the other presses is we’re running a neutral grip. But I’m going to tell you right now, grip doesn’t matter as much as elbow position does.
So you’re going to see, even though Brett and I are in the neutral grip here, we’re still flaring that elbow out which is giving the pec a stretch and a contraction. If you let that elbow come in by your side, you’re going to work more tricep and front delt than you are pec.”
Lateral raise machine
Next, Fitzwater moved to the lateral raise machine for a few sets.
“This machine lets you lock in and it is absolutely the perfect body mechanics. I’m in love with this thing,” said Martin Fitzwater.
Single-arm cable lateral raise
Using cuffs, Fitzwater explains that you can reap maximum benefits from single-arm cable lateral raises because the forearms aren’t in play to make it easier on the delts.
“We’re using a cuff so the fancy thing about a cuff is you’re not using the forearm muscles, extender muscles, and really, you’re trying to eliminate a lot of the elbow movement out of it. By putting it on the cuff, you can really think of your arm as a straight board and all you have to think about is going out to the side.”
“We’re not going directly out to the side, we’re coming out at a little bit of an angle to really make sure we’re hitting that lateral delt versus getting a shrug on the trap.”
Fitzwater has already laid out what his expectations are for the upcoming Mr. Olympia competition. He aims to reach the first call-out and wants the opportunity to battle with the big boys of the class like Derek Lunsford, Hadi Choopan, and Samson Dauda.
Next time you’re at the gym, try out some of Fitzwater’s queues, tips, and tricks for a bigger chest. Don’t miss his battle at the 2024 Mr. Olympia on October 10-13 later this year.
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