---
title: 'How to Get a Chiseled Lower Chest (No Bullsh*t Guide!)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=Aabfoy8HbIc'
video_id: 'Aabfoy8HbIc'
date: 2026-07-21
duration_sec: 1318
channel: 'ATHLEAN-X™'
---

# How to Get a Chiseled Lower Chest (No Bullsh*t Guide!)

> Source: [How to Get a Chiseled Lower Chest (No Bullsh*t Guide!)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Aabfoy8HbIc)

## Summary

This video provides a step-by-step guide to achieving a chiseled lower chest, emphasizing the necessity of both proper nutrition and training. The presenter outlines specific strategies for different body fat levels, from the 40s down to sub-10%, focusing on progressive goals and sustainable habits.

### Key Points

- **The Problem: Saggy Lower Chest** [00:02] — Many men are self-conscious about saggy, droopy lower chests, even more so than having a big belly.
- **Two Required Components** [00:41] — Achieving a defined chest requires both proper nutrition and training; neither alone is sufficient.
- **Disqualifiers: Glandular Tissue** [01:07] — If you feel glandular tissue at the end of your chest, it's hormone-driven (excess estrogen) and requires different handling.
- **Focus on Next Obtainable Goal** [02:15] — Instead of aiming for the final result, focus on the next body fat bracket (e.g., from 40s to 30s) to avoid disappointment.
- **Calorie Equation for 40s-20s Body Fat** [03:10] — Multiply body weight by 12 for a two-week maintenance test. Adjust based on weight change; if stable, cut 10% for a deficit.
- **Protein Intake: 1g per Pound** [04:59] — Consume 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight to maintain satiety and preserve muscle during a deficit.
- **Nutrition for 40s Bracket: Eliminate Junk** [06:08] — Focus on removing sweets, excess alcohol, and snacks. Start reading labels to understand food composition.
- **Training: Walk and Band Exercises** [06:51] — Walk 30-45 minutes 3-5 times a week. Use bands for strength training; they are joint-friendly and allow progressive overload.
- **Timed Eating for 30s Bracket** [08:38] — Eat five times a day at set times (e.g., 8am, 10:30am, 1pm, 3:30pm, 6pm) to control grazing and maintain willpower.
- **Smart Swaps for 30s Bracket** [09:43] — Replace high-calorie meals with healthier alternatives (e.g., Philly cheese steak with leaner options, chicken parm with grilled citrus chicken).
- **Training for 30s Bracket: Machines and Cable Crossovers** [10:12] — Incorporate machines for progressive overload. Use high-to-low cable crossovers to target lower chest fibers. Avoid decline bench and dips initially.
- **Importance of Upper Chest** [11:31] — Building upper chest balances the lower chest, reducing saggy appearance. Include incline pressing exercises.
- **Plate Division Technique for 20s Bracket** [12:37] — Divide plate: 40% protein, 40% fibrous carbs, 20% starchy carbs. Eliminate processed foods; aim for single-ingredient foods.
- **Training for 20s Bracket: Decline Bench and Dips** [14:56] — Decline bench press and dips (assisted or bodyweight) become viable options as body fat decreases.
- **Calorie Equation for High Teens and Below** [15:25] — Multiply body weight by 15 for maintenance. Create a 10% deficit. Increase protein to 1.2g per pound to support lean muscle.
- **Nutrition for High Teens: Cheat Meals, Not Days** [17:04] — Turn cheat days into cheat meals. Aim for 80% accuracy (28 out of 35 meals on plan) to allow flexibility while progressing.
- **Training for High Teens: Weighted Dips and Intensity Techniques** [18:00] — Use weighted dips, drop sets, pause reps, and partial repetitions to increase intensity and stimulate growth.
- **Sub 10% Body Fat: 90% Accuracy and Social Sacrifices** [18:53] — Increase nutrition accuracy to 90%. Expect social sacrifices (e.g., less alcohol). Meal prep is essential. Build meal plan around foods you like.
- **Training for Sub 10%: High Intensity, Shorter Workouts** [20:45] — Focus on high intensity, shorter workouts with eccentric overload and muscle tension to maximize results.

### Conclusion

Achieving a chiseled lower chest requires a step-by-step approach tailored to your current body fat level, combining proper nutrition and progressive training. Consistency and gradual improvements lead to sustainable results.

## Transcript

off his shirt, be it at the beach or behind closed doors because they're self-conscious about the look of their lower chest, particularly that saggy droopiness that we see there. As a
matter of fact, a lot of guys can handle having a big belly way more than they And if it's not bad enough that the women might become a little bit is thank their buddies for all the nice things that they have to say about them
for having the same condition. The good news is though, in this video, guys, I'm start to create something that looks a little bit more like this with that defined, more muscular chiseled chest line if you follow a step-by-step
approach that requires two things. A proper approach to nutrition and training. And before you say, I knew it was going to be those two things. But maybe you don't know exactly what to do. And that's my job is to show you exactly
fat level I showed you there, but from any one of these body fat levels from the 40s to the 30s or 20s or high teens, low teens with a goal of being all the way down here in the sub 10%. I can show
specifically at each one of these stages to get to that next stage. Now, the disqualifiers here. I said both parts are necessary because if you just have your nutrition locked in, you're eating right, but you don't train, you can wind
up with more of this flat, bony chested, lack of chest development. However, on train with weights and you get a bigger chest, but you're not getting quite the because you just can't dial in the nutrition. I'll show you what roadblocks
you can get by to get there. Because even with just a few modifications, you would have by just having a little bit more focus on nutrition. And lastly, we have to do the big disqualification here. If when you grab your chest,
You're actually feeling more glandular tissue at the end of your chest, that is that's a whole different animal that is hormone driven by having excess estrogen
here. And that's handled quite differently than what I'm going to show majority of us who don't fall into this category, I'm going to give you the game And by at the top, I'm talking about at the highest levels of body fat. And in
this example here today, we're talking about in the 40s. Now, there's the 40% here, right? You look in the mirror and you don't like what you see. The good news is you don't have to focus on this quite yet. If you want to actually
achieve success, where you should focus is right here, on the next obtainable goal. Because when you shoot too high too soon, you become disappointed too way before you actually obtain what you could have if you just focused on
whoever is in the next bracket above you. If you're in the 20s right now, you want to get to the high teens. If you're in the 30s, you want to get to the 20s. There's no unavoidable way to go from here to here without first going through
all of these. And that's a good thing because you're going to be able to set to get there. Now, how do we do it nutritionally? We have something interesting that happens here. This group down here can all do one thing in
common, and that is a simple math equation to nutritionally dial in on their maintenance calorie level to assist them in terms of their jump off point. Where do you go? How do you get started? Right here. We group them this
way. 40s, 30s, and 20s. Because conceivably, if you are at these levels of body fat, then you are likely not going to have abs. So, we can say that you're at a point where you do not see your abs, then you take the following
equation. Your body weight times 12 and you do this for your two week maintenance test. What that means is whatever number this comes out to be, you're going to consume for two weeks. Let me explain. This person here, we're
going to estimate is let's say 250 pounds. Maybe this guy's 220 and this pounds. Maybe this guy's 220 and this guy is 280 lb. At 250 lbs, if you multiply that by 12, you get 3,000 calories. That is where I want this
person to be over the course of the next two weeks. A couple things are going to one, they're going to have to count their calories. So maybe they're not doing that right now. And a lot of times when you look like this, you conceivably
going to force you to become a little bit more aware of the foods that you're of in terms of their macronutrient profiles, and again, just give you a rough sense of how many calories you're actually consuming. If you do this for
two weeks, what you'll find is you either will lose weight, you will gain weight, or you'll stay the same. If you stay the same, which a lot of times this rough math equation actually winds up turning out to be the case, then what I
want you to do from here is just cut back your calories by 10%. So, we're going to create a deficit. Not extremely aggressive, but 10% here will be a 300 calorie deficit. So, now this person is going to consume 2700 calories. Now, the
next important part of this equation comes into play. Of this 2,700 calories, I need to get my protein. In other words, you need to get your protein. How much? I want one gram per pound of body weight here, which sounds like a lot
because you're looking at 250 grams of protein. And you might be saying to yourself, how the hell am I going to get 250 grams of protein in my diet? Well, that's where things like protein powders actually come into play. My Pro 30G
quality protein powder that allows you to get 30 grams plus, let's say, the skim milk that goes in it, another 15 grams. That's 45 grams. For me, twice a haven't even started with my chicken and other foods yet. You can do it. If you
get this in, you're going to find that because you're keeping your protein levels high, you're going to maintain satiety a little bit easier. And you're also going to be able to reach your deficit without losing muscle mass. And
we're going to be trying to build muscle as you go into this caloric deficit and lose some of the body fat. Your goal is to do both. Keep your muscle or build some muscle and lose body fat at the same time. What specifically could this
person do nutritionally? This person right here wants to focus on getting rid of the obvious crap. This is where you get rid of the sweets, the excess alcohol, the snacks, right? Cakes, cookies. You know what they are. You got
much as you possibly can because when you do, you will start to see the weight mentioned before, you have to start reading the labels. Not just to learn also to become a little bit more educated about what the food is actually
made out of. What is the contribution of fiber or carbohydrates or starchy carbohydrates and sugar or protein? You need to start getting a better idea from a training perspective here. The first thing you need to do is get rid of the
word exercise and substitute in the word training because that's how I describe this. Training rather than exercise is planned, progressive, and purposeful. plan behind it. It's going to have a purpose behind it. Which means you're
going to start walking 30 to 45 minutes 3 to five times a week just to kind of move your body around to increase your caloric expenditure, which is going to help in driving down those losses of
body fat. But at the same time, it's easy on the joints. It's not going to be super easy to start training here, but you can start training with bands. So, I recommend doing exercises with bands like the ones you're seeing here that
allow you to actually start moving and feeling comfortable at the same time that you're getting stronger. The bands are great for this because they allow capacity. And as you're able to push harder, they're able to absorb more
impact environment that's not going to be stressful for you and your joints. that they're not available to you. Like for instance, I would never tell somebody here to start doing dips cuz they're not likely going to be able to
certainly not going to be able to do them safely. But you can do something like this, which is an incline push-up. And what's nice about this is it helps to work more of that lower chest because of the high to low arm angle that you're
performing the exercise from. But you also can moderate the difficulty of the exercise by standing either closer or further away with your feet. The closer you are, the less of the body weight that you're lifting and the further away
you're lifting more body weight and the exercise gets more difficult. You where you start if you're at this body fat level and you want to get going. it to the next bracket or maybe this is where you're starting from. But you have
as well. Here's where I want to introduce something called timed eating. So, not only are you becoming more aware of the foods that you're putting in your more planned in terms of when you're eating what you're eating, because when
you start to eat around the clock at specific times, you start to control that grazing that could happen that often times derails people, right? They around it rather than being restricted
around specific times of the day. So, what I recommend is that you eat first thing in the morning, let's say 8:00, once again at around 10:30 or so. Then at lunchtime, let's say 1. Then in midafter afternoon, let's say around
3:30 or 4, and then having your dinner around 6 o'clock. Now, the idea around eating these five times during the day is that you don't have to go a very long period of time in between meals. So, it's not like when you're not eating
snacks that you have to go from 8 to 1:00 and be really disciplined when you're lacking discipline as it is. here because you know you have the opportunity to have a snack. It's a lot easier to maintain that willpower and it
discomfort that comes from not having those opportunities. The next thing you smart swaps at this point. So maybe you were eating a Philly cheese steak and protein that you asked me to get. And I'm like, okay, maybe you can have a
here too. Again, chicken parm for grilled citrus chicken. you start to make those obvious swaps to improve what you're already eating. And that will actually start to quickly get you from this bracket down into the bracket of
there's a few things specifically that you want to do here. Number one, start incorporating machines into your workouts because if you want to start to figure out ways that you're going to progressively load those exercises. And
this is where bands become a little bit limited, whereas weights can give us the to give you a little bit more comfort. They require less stability. Some of the don't have an overall basis or foundation of training. You're going to
machines, but still get that overload. And in this condition here, you can do things like a cable crossover and specifically a high to low cable crossover because once again, it follows those abdominal fibers of the chest, the
lower pec fibers. That gives us a better opportunity to target them. We could also do an assisted dip knowing that we can unweight a significant portion of our body and start to include this foundational chest or lower chest
exercise without having to incur too much joint stress too early. We also would want to avoid things like let's say the decline bench because a lot of times in my experience even offensive linemen big guys tend to have some
issues when they put their head in that decline position with head rush and to do that exercise. So, I wouldn't recommend that at this point. And again, regular dips themselves would be off limits. But one thing people overlook a
to is this upper chest right here. Because if you can build the upper on the lower chest, look what can happen. Even just with a little bit of extra growth here on the upper chest, it
looks completely different even though this is the same lower chest because it balances it out. As you start to build up the upper chest, that saggginess or it's not as steep. You get more of an evenness to it. So, what are we gonna do
here? Start doing incline pressing. And again, if you want to do this on a comfortable enough to start using dumbbells, then that's even better. But for now, make sure you're doing some form of incline pressing to help you to
start differentiating and looking better at this level of body fat. So, into the 20% bracket. And if you're like you're probably right here wondering what to do. Well, you're going to
again, it takes away some of the You're eating on a clock, which makes it a lot easier and less susceptible to the nutrition plan. Again, as we're getting to these levels, we should be
to do. But now, what you're going to do is incorporate something that I call plate division. The plate division technique essentially looks at your plate like a clock. And I want you to focus mostly on two numbers, the five
and the seven, more or less. And what we do is we basically divide our plate towards those two numbers. And what that does is it gives you your answers as to how you want to start to divide up the plate nutritionally. This 40% is going
to be devoted to your protein. This 40% is going to be devoted to your fibrous carbohydrates. And then here you have 20% left over for your starchy carbohydrates, your rice, your potatoes, your pasta. I'm not saying to eliminate
those. I don't believe that any long-term fix is going to be depriving you of this important 20%. However, you're going to eat double that amount to be allocated here. Once you do that, everything's going to become a lot
thing nutritionally. I want you to give through those foods again and make one more sweep and try to eliminate as many of the processed foods that are remaining here. If you can get this down
to your single ingredient foods, then something really interesting is going to foods. Okay? When you can get single ingredients that have to be put together into meals, you're going to have almost always a healthier meal option that's
calorically a lot more responsible. But this becomes an important decision for you. fast, cheap, and good. Because if you want to start to take all those them in a more cheap or inexpensive way, you're gonna have to shop for them and
can get them cheap, you can get them to be good, but it's not going to be fast. You're going to have to start to devote some extra time to meal preparation. If instead though you want to make sure it's good, you don't care if it's cheap,
that case, you can start to do some of the things that I do where I go to the Leonards or your local grocery store, and they can prepare the food for me in fast because I don't have to put it all together, but it's not going to be as
cheap. You get to make your own decision here. But if you do, you're well on your way to fine-tuning your nutrition enough to get you out of that 20% bracket you get you now into those high teens. In
except for the fact that I would think that a decline bench press can become more of an option for people who want to use it. And also those dips can now start to become either assisted dips or possibly even body weight dips if you
weight now that you're at a leaner level of body fat. Which brings us now into the high teens and work our way to the low teens and ultimately sub 10%. And if actually, well, congratulations because you've probably been watching this
good thing. However, if we want to specifically talk about this grouping up here, well then it brings us to this specific graphic once again, which is here? Well, again, I mentioned sort of the ab test. Do you have abs? Can you
see them in a mirror or do you not? Well, obviously at these levels we can see abs. What we do here is multiply your body weight this time by 15 rather than by 12 and we come up with that caloric total here. You don't need to
focus on this over here because you're already at the goal. That would just be to continue doing what you're doing. But if you're in these two brackets here and you would do this test, see where you're at, and do the same thing. Create that
10% caloric deficit and then monitor how you're progressing. Again though, your protein levels have to stay high. If you're going to do this, I want to actually see you increase your protein levels from 1 to 1.2 g of protein per
training harder, because you've added more lean muscle, and because we know we need to support that lean muscle as we're going into a deficit to try to the same time. We want to preserve the muscle that you have and also build more
Interestingly, when you talk about this guy, let's say he here is at 200 lb. If he's at 200 lb, then once again, calorically, when you multiply by 15, you're at 3,000 calories. Again, the same that the guy in the 30% bracket was
doing at 250 lbs. But you've got a lot more lean muscle. Like we said, a lot less body fat, a lot more lean muscle. That has to be supported. And more active and carry more muscle, you can tolerate more calories. When we do
to aim for those higher levels of you find fit. Again, using a protein powder or a supplement is a great way to here? Specifically, when you're in this bracket here, nutritionally, I find that
this is where you turn cheat days into cheat meals, right? To get to that next to say, "I'm going to have a cheat day today, and every meal I eat is going to about it more in terms of cheat meals. In other words, I want to see you have
an overall accuracy applied to your week. If you're eating five times a day, seven times a week, that's 35 meals. Can you target 80% accuracy, which comes you target 80% accuracy, which comes down to 28 meals out of your 35 being
seven other meals, which gives you sort of one a day, can be a little bit more loose, where that grilled chicken breast turns into that chicken parm, one of those seven meals. Because if you can, I promise you, you'll be able to get from
the higher teens into the lower teens just by having that much flexibility Again, 80% is what you're shooting for. dips should now become weighted dips if
opportunity, progressively overloading the exercises that you're continuing to do. And I'd also recommend breaking out the intensity techniques. So, whatever exercises you're doing, you're not just taking your sets to failure, but you're
doing drop sets after reaching failure, you're doing pause reps at the end of increase the intensity, and you're also looking into partial repetitions as a way to drive to and through failure for higher intensity, higher stimulus, for
you can get out of this bracket. It just do what I'm saying here, I promise you, you will. And lo and behold, get down to this bracket or you're just genetically gifted to actually just sort
of reside here naturally, well, how would you get to that next bracket? Because that is sort of the the holy grail where a lot of people want to get to, but not everybody's willing to make the sacrifices. And there are certain
down there. Number one, that nutrition accuracy that I talked about is going to have to go up another notch up to about 90%. So only 10% of the time can you be loose on your meals. That means 31 out of 35 theoretical meals in the week have
But what you'll find is when you get eating well most of the time. So it shouldn't be as much of a challenge as it would have been if we had those aspirations back up in the 40% bracket.
be some social sacrifices that have to be made to get to that sub 10% body fat. drink with your friends as much as you would like to. Or you're going to have to pass up on that extra beer or extra glass of wine when your friends who
have to. That's a fact of life because some of the extra calories there that are far too easy to consume start to pile up and they prevent you from ever that's the ones that we have to be careful of. Meal prep is a fact of life
going to be prepping your own meals. And it's not just making it, but also you're going to eat. So having a plan for the day. If you're going to be out with you or you know where you can get a reliable meal that fits your approach to
eating that you're on right now. Finally, your meal plan has to be built that you're going to either be able to get to the 10% bracket or sub 10%, let alone stay there if you do not like what you eat. You have to have this built
around the foods that you like. And I believe that if you did this too aggressively from way back there, you never would have made it to this point. the foods that you like and enjoy. And that's what's formed the foundation. So
would think. In terms of the workouts themselves, guys, your training should be high intensity, shorter workouts. And those intensity techniques should be focused on overload, eccentric overload, driving muscle tension through being
very focused on the muscle you're trying to build and try to make it as uncomfortable as possible when you're training it in order to drive up the intensity of the exercise. Drive up the focus on the chest itself and make every
exercise you do more effective because when you do, this type of chest is obtainable. It's chiseled. It has everything that you were looking for. never abandoned that in the entire time.
is there and the leanness. And guess what? It didn't just stop at that chest that midsection that you were kind of okay with, well, that looks a hell of a You could do it through the right training plans, the right nutrition, the
available over at athletext.com. If you're looking for another video where I exercises and rank them from best to worst, you can find that video over turn your notifications so you never miss a video when we put one out. All
right, guys. Good luck. You're going to be able to make it step by step, one be able to make it step by step, one step at a time.