Why is Monday “International” Chest Day? (Here’s 5 Reasons Why)

I can pretty much guarantee that if you enter a gym anywhere in the world on a Monday you’ll see people training chest. Basically, Monday is “International Chest Day”.

Go on, admit it, if you’re training a bro-split, you also train chest every Monday without fail.

In fact, I’m sure that many of us subconsciously always train this way, and probably have no real idea why.

So, in this article I’d like to reveal the 5 main reasons that I believe why we all flock to the bench press rack at the beginning of the week.

The Main Reasons Monday is Chest Day

• You want to start off your week by training your favourite body part.
• A huge chest and a huge bench is the sign of an alpha-male, so it makes sense to kick off the week by proving you’re a proper “Bro”.
• Everyone else is training chest on Monday, so why shouldn’t you?
• There are a total of 2.5 “push” days to perform during the week, so you don’t want fatigued shoulders or triceps to impact your bench press.
• You don’t wish to start the week off too big by training the largest muscle groups, e.g. legs or back.

Start Your Training Week With Your Favourite Body Part

I would hazard a guess that anyone who specifically trains chest on Monday is probably following a bro-split.

In other words they train 5 days a week in order to hit each muscle group for one specific day a week, i.e. Chest, Legs, Back, Shoulders, and Arms.

And whether you wish to admit it or not, the chest is typically the favourite day of the week for many regular gym-goers.

Basically, you love training chest, it gives you a real buzz, you can always “feel” your chest working, which isn’t always the case for other body parts.

So, what better way to start off your week, as well as providing motivation for the remainder of the week, by training your favourite body part on a Monday?

If you think about it, this is the exact same principle in action that many of us use in other everyday tasks.

You know that if you begin your week by doing something you enjoy, it gives you that wonderful feeling inside, and spurs you on for everything else you have to face during the week.

So, training chest on Monday allows you to kick-start your week with a massive smile on your face, as you’ve had the opportunity to bench press and perform other exercises that you love.

This is basic human nature, when faced with more than one possible task to complete, we typically opt for the easiest or most enjoyable first.

And this is why many of us want to get our bench on at the start of the week.

A Muscular Chest is a Sign of a “Alpha-Bro”

If you look at a topless and muscular guy what’s the first thing you notice?

I’m going to say that 99 times out of 100 it’s going to be his chest.

Granted, he may have a great set of bulging biceps, or huge and rounded cannonball shoulders, but you will still be automatically drawn to his chest.

I guess that this comes down to the fact that the chest is the largest muscle group in the FRONT of the upper body.

Basically, it’s the first thing that we all notice.

Furthermore, having a huge and muscular chest portrays an image of strength, an alpha male, and real “gym-bro”.

You are in effect a guy that all guys want to be like and that all women fantasise about.

Okay, perhaps I exaggerate slightly, but hopefully you get my meaning.

Having a strong, chiselled, and muscular chest simply exudes confidence, not only in the individual themself, but also in others who interact with this Man-God.

So, spurred on by the fact that you, other guys and gals are all extremely impressed by a set of rippling pecs, it makes sense to get that chest workout done at the very start of the week.

You’re a Monday Chest-Training Sheep

I’ve already spoken of training chest on Monday as it’s your favourite body part to train, and how it’s “human nature” to do the things we like doing first.

Well, there’s no two ways about it, another concept of human nature is that we tend to follow the crowd.

In other words, if we see other people doing something then we tend to follow suit.

Let’s face facts, none of us like to be viewed as being different, as this can lead to rejection and feeling alienated.

So, what better way to feel part of the group than by performing your chest workout on Monday, the same time that everyone else is doing it.

In fact, it doesn’t even matter to you that half your workout is probably spent standing around and chatting, while you wait for a bench or power rack to become available.

It stands to reason, right?

If everyone else in the gym is training chest on a Monday, then clearly you should be doing it too?

Then again, I wonder what would happen if just a few people in the gym started regularly training legs or back on a Monday.

Could this potentially catch on too?

Who knows.

World’s Biggest Bouncing Pecs Compilation

There Are 2.5 Push-Training Days a Week

Okay admittedly, much of what I’ve mentioned so far is fairly tongue-in-cheek.

That being said, you also know that there is some truth to what I’ve said.

However, let’s look at this from a more training-focused perspective.

Let’s say you are performing a bro-split, and therefore you’re training individual muscle groups for 5 days of the week.

Now, when we actually look at the bro-split body part training, you happen to be training your push muscles more often during the week than any other muscles in the body.

Realistically, you have one full day to train chest, one full day to train shoulders, and I guess, half a day to train triceps (the other half of that training day is focused on biceps).

Now, something that you don’t want is for your push-focused days to impact on each other.

Therefore, you’ll want to keep them separate, and potentially have at least 48 hours between those specific training days.

And it just so happens that the chest is the largest muscle group of push-based muscles.

So, you should typically be able to lift more weight when training chest.

Therefore, you wouldn’t want your shoulder or arm training to affect your chest day.

If you think about it, when you perform the bench press, even though it is primarily a chest exercise, you’ll also feel your shoulders and arms being trained too.

In fact, the limiting factor when you bench press is often your arms, especially your triceps.

So, it doesn’t make a great deal of sense to train either your shoulders or your arms the day before you’re going to train chest.

A great way to train these muscle groups would be to start with the biggest muscle group, i.e. chest on Monday.

And then have a day in-between training your shoulders and arms, i.e. Shoulders on Wednesday and Arms on Friday.

Essentially, the largest “push muscle group” gets trained at the beginning of the week and there’s enough “rest” for your push muscles to effectively hit them again on Wednesday and Friday.

In effect, if you didn’t train chest at the beginning of the week, there are going to be two days in a row when you’re going to have to train your push muscles.

So, imagine having to train your arms the day after shoulders.

You probably won’t be able to perform your triceps exercises as effectively, as they’re still slightly fatigued from your shoulder day, or vice-versa.

The Science-Based Bro-Split

Don’t Go Too “Big” After the Weekend

The final thing to consider ties in quite well with the first point here.

Basically, I mentioned that many of us make a beeline for the benches on a Monday as it’s an “easier” and more favoured way to start your training week.

More often than not, if you’re training a bro-split, you’ll aim to workout Monday to Friday.

This obviously means that you get your weekends to yourself, no training, and simply enjoying your life.

So, when it comes to getting serious again on a Monday morning you probably can’t stand the thought of training the biggest muscle groups, i.e. glutes, quads, and lats.

I mean who really wants to wipe themselves out at the beginning of the week by training legs?

That being said, I’m sure there are still some people who prefer to get leg training out of the way.

But still, it’s a massive mountain to climb on a Monday morning.

Then again, training your back may not seem as daunting as training your legs, but still, it’s a pretty large muscle group to start your week off with.

Once more, it could be a way to ease yourself into the week more gently and then tackling these more difficult to train muscle groups later in the week.

And this could well explain why Monday is typically viewed as “International Chest Day”.

Final Thoughts

So, let’s quickly go over the main reasons that Monday always seems to be chest day:

• An easy way to start the week is by training a muscle group that you favour and enjoy training.
• Having a massive chest to go along with your massive bench press is the ultimate sign of “bro-ness” and being an Alpha Male.
• If everyone else is training chest then perhaps you should be too.
• You are using your push muscles more often when training a bro-split, so it makes sense to start the week off with a push-based workout. And what better than the largest push muscle group in the body, namely the chest.
• Who really wants to start their week off, after a weekend break, by hitting the largest muscle groups in the body? Perhaps, it’s better to save legs and back for later in the week.