New ideas on chest

lamonster14

lamonster14

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I was wondering if I could get some imput from some of you.

It pains me to ask but does anyone want to critique my chest routine, and or give me some new ideas? I have the most stubborn chest in the world and It seems that I only get stronger and not bigger per say. Not that I am small, but am by no means large at 5'10 195. I would like to compete within the next year and and attempting to build some more mass/symmetry. symmetry being the key here as my delts and lats seem to dwarf my chest. I have multiple years of baseball and training the back and rear delts to thank for that, everything we did was pulling movements.

Anyways I almost always train with freeweights and seldom use machines with the exceptions being a pec dec for flyes, and cables.
I am kinda old school in a sense, but i feel that your stabilizers dont get involved much with machines and lets be honest getting on the cables at a gym can be a chore due to guys doing their entire lift on there( bunch of bs).

A typical chest day would look like this:

flat or incline barbell bench 2 warm up sets followed by 2 or 3 heavier working sets. I tend to sit in the 8-12 rep range.
something like 135x20 for the 2 warm ups and ascending thereafter 225, 245, 275 i may or may not depending on how heavy i go perform 2 drop sets

Dumbell flyes either decline or flat
1 warm up set followed by 3 working sets again ascending in order something similar to 40's, 45's, and 50's occassionally heavier all within 8-12 reps

The next two workouts I do are normally up in the air due to availability,
I floor press occasionally,
and I normally finish with a contraction excercise with a high rep range to achieve some nice occlusion and get some blood to the muscles.
The finisher is almost always cable flyes,scoops, or pushups.

Feel free to pick it apart and give your input,
 
oli

oli

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maybe try throwing in some DB bench presses either before or in place of BB bench presses

recently i haven't been able to press as much due to nagging shoulder injury - i'm pretty sure my bench has gone down, but surprisingly enough - my chest really hasn't lost any size. i guess i could credit that with more focus on pec-dec flyes where i actually squeezed each rep and each last rep extra hard. sometimes i'd superset those with push-ups right after & i'd get a sweet pump.

lastly, i've doing more neutral grip (machine) benching - with more emphasis on 'feeling' the chest work & not just pressing straight from myy shoulders
 
lamonster14

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thanks ill take it into consideration, the neutral gip does make more sense , maybe thats why my delts kinda take over bc i flat barbell too often.
 
ludbg

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try descending. for ex. When doing Barbell bench incline or flat, warm up good, and try to go from heavy to lighter while doing same amount of reps. so first set if you do 8 reps at 275, for the second set find a weight that you can do 8 reps max maybe 260?, then 2x sets 245 8 reps.
for me i start with 245 but my chest mass improved greately
 
MusclestoGo

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Just like Oli said, focus on really recruiting the chest muscle when you perform your exercises. Also try 4 sets of max rep pushups, it works man.
 
lamonster14

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Ill apply it and try and establish more of a mind muscle connection
 

mccallister

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Switch your grip up, hit it wider.
Pre exhaust before doing presses, such as flyes, cable crosses, dips.
Don't be to concerned about weight and change your tempo on bench presses, slow down, slow up.
Add some plyo chest exercises, smith machine bp throws.
Declines
Decline flyes.
Hammer strength chest machines
More work sets per exercises.
Plyo pushups
 
Iron Warrior

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Might want to incorporate some dips in your routine.
 
VS91588

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Make sure you are squeezing the chest on every rep. Use a weight that allows you to have full control and isolation. You said that you want to compete in Bodybuilding; the judges could care less how much you bench or wether you are using free weights or machines so leave your ego out the door when it comes to how much you are benching. I can bench 315 with perfect form AND THAN I can muscle up 405 lol you catch my drift bro? ;)
 
toddgranit

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I've always found that heavy barbell bench press is not the best choice for hypertrophy, try switching to dumbbells for a while.
I can only speak for my self, but my chest has alway responded well to high volume.
Dips have always been the corner stone of my chest workout. I do them leaning forward and emphasize the stretch at the bottom of the movement.
Don't be afraid to experiment. The only dogmatic rule is proper form.
Good luck.
 
StangBanger

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I see the pre exhaustion recommendation a lot... If I do that, I cant bench as much weight.. .should I not be concerned with that and just do it to it?
 

mccallister

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I see the pre exhaustion recommendation a lot... If I do that, I cant bench as much weight.. .should I not be concerned with that and just do it to it?
Yeah man, it's not all about the weight Don't get me wrong I love loading the bar up and hearing the plates clang together and feel the bar bend, but I get a better chest workout when I push the weight slow and controlled. Pre exhausting will help you with size and strength.

Nothing widens my chest out like cable crosses, and when your at the bottom of the movement squeeze your chest together and hit the part that attaches by your sternum
 
lamonster14

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I took the advice listed into my previous chest day, im a bit more sore than usual which feels good if you know what i mean. I backed off on weight and threw in drop sets. I did decline bench instead of flats, incline flyes, reverse grip bench which bleww, and at the end did four sets of pushups with pushup handles that allowed me to go past parallel for failure. in all it was a different feel, but effective none the less. Will keep tinkering and see what happens.
 
toddgranit

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Keep us posted, sounds like your heading in the right direction.
 
rome32

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I was wondering if I could get some imput from some of you.

It pains me to ask but does anyone want to critique my chest routine, and or give me some new ideas? I have the most stubborn chest in the world and It seems that I only get stronger and not bigger per say. Not that I am small, but am by no means large at 5'10 195. I would like to compete within the next year and and attempting to build some more mass/symmetry. symmetry being the key here as my delts and lats seem to dwarf my chest. I have multiple years of baseball and training the back and rear delts to thank for that, everything we did was pulling movements.

Anyways I almost always train with freeweights and seldom use machines with the exceptions being a pec dec for flyes, and cables.
I am kinda old school in a sense, but i feel that your stabilizers dont get involved much with machines and lets be honest getting on the cables at a gym can be a chore due to guys doing their entire lift on there( bunch of bs).

A typical chest day would look like this:

flat or incline barbell bench 2 warm up sets followed by 2 or 3 heavier working sets. I tend to sit in the 8-12 rep range.
something like 135x20 for the 2 warm ups and ascending thereafter 225, 245, 275 i may or may not depending on how heavy i go perform 2 drop sets

Dumbell flyes either decline or flat
1 warm up set followed by 3 working sets again ascending in order something similar to 40's, 45's, and 50's occassionally heavier all within 8-12 reps

The next two workouts I do are normally up in the air due to availability,
I floor press occasionally,
and I normally finish with a contraction excercise with a high rep range to achieve some nice occlusion and get some blood to the muscles.
The finisher is almost always cable flyes,scoops, or pushups.

Feel free to pick it apart and give your input,
Incline bench followed by Incline DB Flys.

On a Fly movement I use lighter weight(4 sets. 20,25,30,35-40)
And I keep my arms locked straight and touch the floor before coming back up. Full range and full stretch.

It hurts, but it feels sooo good ha
 
MooseLoRoose

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It's easy to sit back and think of the missing exercise, that would ignite all your gains. But the answer is, it doesn't exist. Start looking more into the intensity and the volume. This is where guys screw it up... Some go crazy heavy with.long sets for weeks on end. Others do 10-15reps of weak intensity for weeks on end. I started incorporating the Charles Poliquin Intensification/Accumulation program months ago and watched my strength go through the roof and chest get massive. I'm 5'8 205 with a Max Bench of 435. Look it up..
 
MooseLoRoose

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Here's an example: Intensification Phase Weeks 1 and 2
1. Barbell Flat- 5 sets of 5 reps
2. Dumbell Incline- 5 sets of 5 reps
3. Weighted Dips- 3 sets of 6 reps
4. Dumbell Flyes- 3 sets of 6 reps
The Volume is total reps so in this workout volume is 86 reps
Accumulation Phase Weeks 4 & 5
1. Barbell Flat- 3 sets of 10reps
2. Dumbell Incline- 3 sets of 10reps
3. Weighted Dips- 2 sets of 12reps
4. Dumbell Flyes- 2 sets of 12 reps
The Volume in this phase is 104 reps
* The volume in reps is the crucial component cause as intensity goes up volume has to go down and vice versa... This will ensure that your not overtraining.
* Next rest times are equally important.... In the intensity phase you rest 3-4minutes between sets. In the accumulation phase only 1-1.5min between sets.
* And last after the 4th week you move back to intensity with a different set of exercises for the next 4 weeks. And this time you change and do 6 sets of 4 intensity and 4 sets of 12 accumulation... *After every month you do a new group of exercises and new sets and new reps. Keep the sets between 5,6,7 and reps 5,4,3 for intensity. And 2,3,4 sets and 12,10, 8 reps for accumulation
 
VS91588

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It's easy to sit back and think of the missing exercise, that would ignite all your gains. But the answer is, it doesn't exist. Start looking more into the intensity and the volume. This is where guys screw it up... Some go crazy heavy with.long sets for weeks on end. Others do 10-15reps of weak intensity for weeks on end. I started incorporating the Charles Poliquin Intensification/Accumulation program months ago and watched my strength go through the roof and chest get massive. I'm 5'8 205 with a Max Bench of 435. Look it up..
I agree.. Intensity and Volume is key!
 
StangBanger

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Here's an example: Intensification Phase Weeks 1 and 2
1. Barbell Flat- 5 sets of 5 reps
2. Dumbell Incline- 5 sets of 5 reps
3. Weighted Dips- 3 sets of 6 reps
4. Dumbell Flyes- 3 sets of 6 reps
The Volume is total reps so in this workout volume is 86 reps
Accumulation Phase Weeks 4 & 5
1. Barbell Flat- 3 sets of 10reps
2. Dumbell Incline- 3 sets of 10reps
3. Weighted Dips- 2 sets of 12reps
4. Dumbell Flyes- 2 sets of 12 reps
The Volume in this phase is 104 reps
* The volume in reps is the crucial component cause as intensity goes up volume has to go down and vice versa... This will ensure that your not overtraining.
* Next rest times are equally important.... In the intensity phase you rest 3-4minutes between sets. In the accumulation phase only 1-1.5min between sets.
* And last after the 4th week you move back to intensity with a different set of exercises for the next 4 weeks. And this time you change and do 6 sets of 4 intensity and 4 sets of 12 accumulation... *After every month you do a new group of exercises and new sets and new reps. Keep the sets between 5,6,7 and reps 5,4,3 for intensity. And 2,3,4 sets and 12,10, 8 reps for accumulation
Thanks... good info here.
 
MooseLoRoose

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No prob... I discovered this months ago on Poliquins Strength & Cond. Website... Charles Poliquin as been training Olympic athletes for decades... And I can tell you first hand.. That's program is amazing. And every Intensity Phase makes you stronger and gives you the ability to handle heavier weight in the accumulation phase... He does 3 weeks/ 3 weeks but I changed it to 2 just cause I would be bored to death doing a 3rd week
 
herderdude

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OP, your chest workout looks eerily similar to mine...great minds think alike I always say.
 

TJGUNN

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does that really work for building strength iv never done that before
 

TJGUNN

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man everything Im a beast on. but shoulders and chest I cant bring them up bench 300 and shoulders hu like 170
any idea what I can do maybe im over traing them on those day I double Il go 5 sets 10-6 than another 10-8 take shoulders for ex il do a sitting press thN do Arnold press or standing press with front raise is that overtraining my sides I only do to exercises
 
supraseed48

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You really want to recruit the muscle fiber in the pecs I would reccomend concentrating on negatives, particularly beyond failure. Pressing is only 50% of the any chest excercise. Lots of potential for growth on the down stroke bro imho...
 

TJGUNN

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ya iv never done negatives before don't no why but il start doing that and I was gunna cut the double **** out and replace the doubles with chest dips and flys
 

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