how is this possible?

NerdFlexd

NerdFlexd

Member
Awards
0
Ok so im at the gym right, Its monday so im doing my chest workout. Its been a while so im gunna bump up the weight. So i start with two 40lbs dumbells(five pounds heavier then b4) but i did my 8 reps without breaking a sweat, so i bumped it up another five. Perfect weight, hit eight the first time, only got to seven the next, then failed at six.
Sounds pretty normal right? but heres the thing, i have no pecs, or triceps. Im the guy version of flat chested, nothing at all. Im trying to work on it, but i have no chest mass at all. Somehow im still lifting the same weight as guys in my gym with 2-3 times the chest muscle.
Just this last time at the gym, i watched a pretty beefy guy do the same reps with the same weight, but he had at least twice the chest muscle as me.
Don't get me wrong, im not complaining. i love watching their faces when me, this skinny stick asks to get in with their dumbells and then do more reps then the can, then hand it back to them like its just normal. Its hilarious. But this cant be normal.
Any ideas? Super dense muscle? Mental superiority? do they just suck? any input here would be great?
 
BigCasino

BigCasino

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
Ok so im at the gym right, Its monday so im doing my chest workout. Its been a while so im gunna bump up the weight. So i start with two 40lbs dumbells(five pounds heavier then b4) but i did my 8 reps without breaking a sweat, so i bumped it up another five. Perfect weight, hit eight the first time, only got to seven the next, then failed at six.
Sounds pretty normal right? but heres the thing, i have no pecs, or triceps. Im the guy version of flat chested, nothing at all. Im trying to work on it, but i have no chest mass at all. Somehow im still lifting the same weight as guys in my gym with 2-3 times the chest muscle.
Just this last time at the gym, i watched a pretty beefy guy do the same reps with the same weight, but he had at least twice the chest muscle as me.
Don't get me wrong, im not complaining. i love watching their faces when me, this skinny stick asks to get in with their dumbells and then do more reps then the can, then hand it back to them like its just normal. Its hilarious. But this cant be normal.
Any ideas? Super dense muscle? Mental superiority? do they just suck? any input here would be great?
Hard to tell without seeing them, but...

You said a "pretty beefy" guy was using 40lbs - 45lbs dumbells on DB press??? I dunno how you define beefy, but that sounds seriously wrong to me.

I just looked @ your stats, 6' @ 170, and I will assume that is a lean 170. I'd expect you to be able to do 45lbs DBs on a chest workout @ 16, however if someone noticeably bigger than you is using that weight and struggling, they just suck as far as strength is concerned, that would deff. be subnormal.

As for why this is, if you train with lower reps your body will generally be more acclimated towards developing strength, high reps will go more towards hypertrophy, so yes it is possible that if you usually train in a lower rep range (6-8) and someone else trains like (12-15), even if they have more mass than you it is possible you guys could use the same weight for the 6-8 rep range. Of course genetics and other factors come into play as well, but if nothing else be happy you are ahead of them strength wise :)
 
suncloud

suncloud

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
thoughts:
barbell bench will build more muscle - you'll be able to do more weight
you need to get in a higher rep range to build that muscle (8-10 reps, 4 sets)
your muscles might just be more dense than others
muscle size and weights lifted aren't always the same - look at olympic lifters and how frikken small they are - and they can clean and press twice their body weight (or more).
i don't know how you define big, i use 70 lb db's for bench and i'm not really that big. mass and strength don't always go hand in hand.
 
NerdFlexd

NerdFlexd

Member
Awards
0
When i said beefy, i meant compared to me.
As for what suncloud said and the whole barbell press, i would like to, but i dont feel safe doing heavy reps without a spotter and i dont have a partner and the other guys at the gym i go to generally have no clue what their doing. So i stick to dumbells so i dont hurt myself.
Thanks for the info guys.
 

Top