The Guillotine Press is the perfect exercise to build your chest muscles.
It’s the ultimate exercises to beef up a lagging chest and make it grow wider and more defined.
For this reason, the Guillotine Press has the unique ability to turn blobby man boobies into a strong, masculine chest.
VIDEO DEMONSTRATION
Here’s a video of me performing the Guillotine Press with legs pulled to chest using a Smith Machine.
Hopefully you get the idea.
Any questions? Let me know in the comments!
Here’s a video of the neck press using the Smith Machine:
Old school trainer Vince “Iron Guru” GiRonda made his students perform the Guillotine Press to build impressive chest muscles.
In fact, one of Vince’s star pupils, Larry Scott, an old time strongman, bodybuilder and all-around stud, relied solely on the Guillotine Press to sculpt his exquisite chesticles.
Mr. Scott is the perfect reference to see the effect of the Guillotine press when it’s deployed properly:
What Makes the Guillotine Press Special?
The Guillotine Press is superior to other chest exercises for a number of reasons:
Increased Tension on the Chest Muscles
The Guillotine Press creates focused tension on the chest muscles, particularly the upper chest.
Muscle tension, or rather Time under tension, leads to hypertrophy (a.k.a. muscle growth).
Better Chest Isolation
The shoulders and triceps help the chest too much with normal bench press.
It’s easy to subconsciously shift the weight onto the arms and shoulders when the chest starts to fatigue.
Guillotine Press neutralizes shoulders and triceps and isolates the chest. Especially the upper chest.
Targets the Upper Chest
The upper chest is a common weakness in most men.
The Guillotine Press targets the upper chest in ways other exercises cannot.
Bodybuilding is a game of angles. Your body is a machine and is made of ‘simple levers’ (your arms and legs for example).
Putting the levels at the right angle and relation to one another determines if you have a great workout or a dud.
Superior Chest Muscle Activation
The technique makes all the difference with this exercise.
Form and execution are paramount if you want to reap the muscle building benefits.
The arm position places the weight directly over the chest muscles insertion point of the shoulder and create wide, sweeping pecs with rock-solid muscle definition.
It does this by working every muscle fiber through its full range of motion.
Greater Range of Motion
The Guillotine Press naturally provides greater range of motion than regular bench press.
The chest expansion gives shape and definition to the chest muscles.
How the ‘Neck Press’ Got Its Name: The Guillotine’s Gruesome Origin
The Guillotine Press, also called the ‘Neck Press’, got its name from an old execution device.
The ‘Guillotine’ was a menacing piece of machinery used to behead people.
It worked like this:
The doomed soul was strapped down flat on a wood plank at the bottom of the device.
One the guy or gal was secure, a giant blade raised high above was released.
The clever slid straight down the chute slicing the victim’s head clean off!
When performing the guillotine press, you bring the barbell straight down to your neck, just above the clavicle, like the blade of a Guillotine.
Although you’re lowering a dull bar to your neck instead of a sharp blade, it could still kill you.
Like, really kill you.
Dropping a loaded barbel on your throat could spell disaster.
Even a VERY light weight could crush your windpipe.
Be careful with the Guillotine Press – use a light weight, a spotter, or perform it on a smith machine or in a safety rack to prevent injury.
Guillotine Press Benefits
With high risk come high rewards.
Although the Guillotine press would make most medical professionals cringe, it’s benefits are unmatched when done correctly.
Quick Results
Just like the death-machine it’s named after, the Guillotine Press is ruthlessly efficient.
You can see results in a matter of weeks if you do it right.
Upper Chest Development
The Guillotine Press builds the upper chest muscle better than any other lift.
Most men have trouble developing their upper chest because it’s a hard spot to isolate.
For this reason, it’s widely believed that the upper chest is stubborn and resists growth.
It’s not that the upper chest resists growth, but rather because there are not many exercises that target it directly.
Traditional chest exercises like barbell bench press, dumbbell press are not great upper chest builders.
Even when performed at an incline, these presses are inferior to the Guillotine Press.
Upper chest muscles are are often overpowered by the lower chest.
An underdeveloped upper chest give chest muscles a saggy appearance.
Building the upper chest evens the muscle mass and creates full, smooth chest meat from neck bone to nipples.
Developing upper chest muscles adds depth to your frame making you appear stronger, and your chest more pronounced.
As well as building definition and striations around your collar bone to give an appearance of ripped-ness.
Wider Chest Muscles
The Guillotine Press is great for building an aesthetic upper body, making it perfect for bodybuilding.
It produces wide chest muscles that stretch smoothly across the rib cage.
It builds the muscles that join the chest and front shoulder, so your muscles flow together giving you a ‘complete’ look.
If you want a defined chest like a male model or old school bodybuilder, the Guillotine Press will help you do it.
Build a ‘V-Shape’ Torso
Like I said before, the Guillotine Presses creates wide, sweeping chest muscles and wide shoulders.
A wide upper body makes your waist look slimmer and gives an apparels of fitness.
Bodybuilding, in a way is an illusion. Bodybuilding is about creating a great-looking physique by creating the right proportions.
This is one move to help you build a physique with the coveted Golden Ratio.
The Golden Ratio is the relative size difference between to points in the body.
For example, having a shoulder-to-waiste ratio of 1.61 is aesthetically ‘perfect’.
Measure the shoulders side to side at the widest point. Do the same for your waist. Then compare to see where you are.
How to Perform the Guillotine Press
All you need is a bench, a barbell, and some light weights to perform the Guillotine Press.
Select the Right Weight
The first step is picking the right weight. You want to use light weight here so you don’t rip your arm out of its socket.
Start with the just the bar to get used to the guillotine press.
Add weight slowly once you get the hang of the exercise.
A lot could go wrong if you’re not careful. Namely, a strained pectoral, damaged shoulder, or a crushed windpipe. All of which you want no part of, son. Injuries are costly so go slow and do it right.
Start with a weight you can perform 20 reps in a set with.
Gradually work your way up to a weight that’s challenging for a set of 8-12 reps.
Form and Technique
Once you have the right weight on the bar, setup like you’re about to do a normal bench press.
Place your feet firmly on the ground and pull your shoulder blades back, like you’re pinching a grape between them.
Grab the bar with a wide grip. Wide enough so your forearms are perfectly perpendicular with the ground when the bar touches your neck.
This will keep your shoulder in the safest position.
Inhale a big breath, and while keeping your shoulders pressed against the bench firmly, expand your ribcage up as far as you can.
Try to touch the ceiling with your chest. This activates the chest.
Now, un-rack the bar and extend your arms almost-fully. Don’t lock-out your arms completely, as that takes tension off the chest.
Go as close to lock-out as possible without taking any tension off the chest. (Typically stop around 90% of the way to full lock-out.)
Then pull your legs up until your thighs are perpendicular with the floor. Your knees should be pulled past your belly bottom.
Keep as much of your back (upper and lower) in contact with the bench as possible.
This legs-up position will help you get better range of motion and tension on your chest.
Focus on Perfect Form
Concentrate on maintaining PERFECT form throughout the entire lift.
Slowly lower the bar until it touches just above your clavicle (collar bone).
Then, using your pecs, press the bar back up until you’re an inch or two (90%ish) from total lockout.
Focus on flexing your pectorals (chest muscles) to move the weight.
Imagine bringing your elbows together and making them touch.
Your chest muscle should pull you upper arms (humorous) together in a straight line across your chest. This is where the magic happens.
Your upper arms should be straight out from your sides at 90 degrees.
Wrist, shoulders, and elbows should be on the same vertical plane throughout the entire motion.
If you looked at your self from a bird’s eye view, the barbell would be in perfect alignment with your arm bones.
‘Flaring’ your elbows to the side allows greater range of motion. You should feel a stretch in your chest muscles from shoulder to sternum.
Your front deltoid (shoulder) will also feel the burn. This is normal and will build the chest-shoulder muscle tie in that looks so nice.
Be sure to only go as far down as possible without and pain or discomfort in the joints.
Proceed to do 10-15 slow, smooth and controlled repetitions.
Lifting Tempo
Take two seconds to lower the weight and two seconds to raise it.
Hold the top position for 2-3 seconds while squeezing your chest muscles as hard as you can.
The slow lifting tempo allows for the utmost concentration and enough time under tension.
Guillotine Press Tips
The Guillotine Press is extremely effective chest building exercises, and I believe is one of the best exercises for bodybuilding.
Try Guillotine Press as Your Chest Day Finisher
I incorporate the Guillotine Press into my chest workout as a finisher. It’s great way to fully tax the chest muscles. It typically perform 4 sets of high reps (20) to kick-start the recovery process.
They stretch my chest muscles giving them a good shape and it feels great.
The high reps pump blood into my upper chest to stimulate recovery and growth, and flush out lactic acid build up.
The Guillotine Press is for Experienced Trainers
I want to mention the Guillotine Press is for advanced weight lifters only.
Beginners should not use this exercises until they are able to bench press their bodyweight.
Until then, you do not have enough strength and control to handle the Guillotine Press and you risk serious injury.
To benefit from Guillotine Press you should be of above average strength and have a good amount of weight lifting experience.
Safety First!
Did I mention that the Guillotine Press is dangerous?
If your shoulder gives out you’re in trouble.
It doesn’t take much weight to crush your windpipe and do permanent damage. Perform at your own risk. ALWAYS use a spotter and never compromise form.
This is not an ego lift. It’s about precision, not brute force.
Go very light when first trying neck presses. Start with just the bar, or less – you can use a 10-20 pound curling bar.
Quality Over Quantity
The Guillotine Press doesn’t require much weight to stimulate the chest.
15-20 clean reps of light weight is better than 5 reps at a heavy weight with wobbly arms.
Concentrate on holding perfect form throughout the entire set. That’s #1.
Practice, Practice, Practice
The Guillotine Press feels awkward at first.
Use light weight to increase flexibility until you can bring the bar all the way to your neck and hold it there with perfect form comfortably.
Perform 4 sets of 10-15 reps twice a week and it will begin to feel natural.
You’ll also start seeing improvements very soon.
Try Arching Your Back for a Deeper Stretch
Even though I said to keep your back flat on the bench, you can arch your back for a better stretch.
This may shift tension into the outer and middle chest a bit, but the upper chest still gets stimulated.
I love the exercise. It really fills out my chest also use the 2.0 dorey bar – the bar slides back and forth and gets the chest stimulated even more