Flex Magazine

Features in this issue include...

Pak-Man Pummels Pecs

BY GREG MERRITT // PHOTOGRAPHY PAVEL YTHJALL

The nickname was inevitable. After all, he was born the year after Pac-Man's 1980 launch, and the colourful creatures from that game dominated arcades during his infancy. If you consider how clever the beady-eyed dot gobblers can be in dodging ghosts and how relentless they can be in pursuit of ever-escalating goals, they're an apt analogy for the combination of intelligence and intensity Ben Pakulski brings to his training. Armed with a degree in kinesiology, he is the thinking man's warrior, and as evidenced by the following chest workout, it's game on every time he grabs a handle. Executing his precise strategy, Pak-Man attacks each set as if he had downed a power pellet.

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You can teach an old dawg new tricks

BY SEAN ANDROS // PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAVEL YTHJALL

You're never too old or too experienced to stop learning. Just ask Dexter Jackson. After 21 years onstage (13 of those in the IFBB Pro League) Jackson, along with his trainer Charles Glass, is putting new spins on old exercises to keep improving.

You can be sure that the former Mr. Olympia and three-time Arnold Classic winner knows his way around the gym. And Glass is well known for his creativity new angles, grips, positions, and some moves that just look plain crazy. But every trick is a means to an end and that end is always the same: new and detailed muscle. The Blade has been improving for every one of his 21 years in the sport and now we know why: he's not afraid to experiment and learn.

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Best chests of all time

BY GREG MERRITT // PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF WEIDER HEALTH AND FITNESS AND CHRIS LUND

Then: vinyl albums. Now: digital downloads.

Then: mainframe computers. Now: iPads.

Then: a barbell set at the YMCA, maybe. Now: ubiquitous gym franchises.

A lot has changed in the past four decades, and that includes bodybuilding standards, as 2011's best legs and backs far outpace those of 1971. But during that same period, chests have remained the great constant. Their standards have fluctuated through the years but never eclipsed the '70s. To find out why that is, what has changed and what has stayed the same, we look back at the best pecs of the last four decades, ranking a top five for each era, and we examine how they were built, then and now.

Don't miss this month's issue for the full story.

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