Anyone got a chest focus routine that worked for them?

Sparta12

Well-known member
I am really wanting to focus on my chest for atleast 8 weeks as it is lagging behind my other parts. I have done heaps of programs like PHAT, 8x8, 10x10, 5x5, PPL. Upper/Lowers etc etc so I am very experienced with routines and can handle heavy and/or high volume routines

What has worked for you guys?
 
These little tweaks helped my lagging chest become my strongest body part...

Chest and Back on the same day:
I like training chest and back on the same day twice a week similar to the Arnold split.In your case, prioritizing chest but keeping the back volume would lend itself to this approach. The chest / back combination makes for a longer workout but it keeps my shoulders supported and happy due to the back movements warming up and engaging the rotator area. It also reminds me to stick my chest out and shoulders back, allowing better pec engagement and form.

Incline Bench > Flat Bench:
When I switched my first heavy chest exercise from flat bench to incline, I really started to see major gains. I was likely letting too much shoulder and tricep "help" into the flat bench, which is common. For incline bench I like 6-8 heavier working sets of 6-10 close to failure, staggered with an easier lat pull down and 1+ minute rest between each. For my next chest exercise (usually a hammer press or flat bench) I will dial back the volume (more like 4 sets) as I will be pretty fatigued, and focused on a heavier back movement like a row. Obviously progressive overload and strength matters a good deal with these first few exercises but starting this way seems to allow me to then do the chest movements that "feel" the best focussing on pump, stretch and engagement, having already pre exhausted and maximized recruitment.

Maximizing Stretch/Depth:
I also feel like my chest really grew after switching from standing cable flys - to (bringing the adjustable bench over for) seated flys. Something about the support makes it so you cant cheat or use shoulders and really maximizes the stretch. On the last set I will hold the stretch for :30 - 1:00. This should be done near the end of your workout because it kills your strength afterwards.

Honorable mention: Cheat meal or higher cal/carb refeed on your chest days within one hour post workout. Pinning IGF into pecs immediately after or before chest training.

Good luck bro!
 
^ another vote for chest and back together !
It just works…like training tri’s and bi’s together. Also keeps tendons/ligaments etc happy…

Main chest movement….Low incline (it’s the first notch up on a bench) DB Press.
 
Will look into starting another chest/back routine and focus on the deep stretches, I have done more incline stuff these past two workouts and have noticed I do get a better pump
 
Most say incline but for me my chest was the biggest with extra wide grip bench. I don't anymore because it's hard on my shoulders. If you give it a shot gradually widen your grip each workoiut. I'd go as low as 6 but very controlled and cocentrating on staying tight. I think weighted dips and plain old push up variations to finish any chest workout is underrated. As someone else already said working on strength for awhile may also help. Good raw benchers always seem to have big chest, backs, shoulders, and triceps. Last thing I'd say is try whatever people recommend that you haven't tried yet. Everybody is a little diffrent. Like I said most say dumbbells or inclines. For me flat extra wide grip bench worked best.
 
I'm gonna disagree here a little, although I train multiple body parts together, if you wanna bring up something you gotta focus on that thing, back is a major group probably second biggest after legs, id keep chest with something minor or by itself, id stop thinking about weight and id ditch my favorite exercises for the exercises that let me isolate my chest. Bro split style. If I was doing chest with back then I'd have a separate workout to give some extra attention to the chest. A incline press, a fly focused on the stretch position and a crossover variation would cover pretty much everything in a basic sense so maybe do that with back And then later in the week hit chest again. For me personally if more is usually the answer although not always. But my shoulders went from trash to my best bodypart training them 3x week. Last year I worked up to 20+ rep sets on chins and my last were probably the biggest they ever been and I was just doing pullups 3-4x week on top of my back training. So not 3-4 full sessions. Some days I would just go in and do 5x5 with weight or 5x15 and be done. It's just extra volume mixed in and it's much easier to recover from. I'm trying that with legs this year. Not excited about it lol
 
General rule of thumb when prioritazing a muscle group is to add overall work load for it. Common approach is to increase frequency of stimulus. 3-5 work outs per week for the prioritized muscle group. As bigger muscle groups usually take more time to recover, 3 x week will likely be plenty for chest. You can start with lower volume per session and increase the volume per session as your pecs start to get more accustomed and able to recover from the increased work out frequency / work load.

One thing to note is that when ever you're prioritazing a muscle group(s), overall work load for other muscle groups or at least for some other muscle groups will be lowered to pretty much maintenance or close to. Otherwise it's not really a prioritazing period, just an increase in working out. Which may be fine and doable in some cases. But if it's ok to get a bit 'technical' on the subject of prioritazing muscle groups then that's just how it goes.
 
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I am currently doing a sort of bro split
Chest (heavy presses +dips) biceps (light)
Back,Traps
Shoulders, Triceps (light)
Legs
Chest (volume fly focus) and calves

I also started applying top muscle to pecs for chest days, going to give this a shot for a few weeks and see how I go. I was thinking of just adding 3-4 sets of incline bench in on shoulder day too.... just for more stimulation
 
If you are injury free - Arachidonic Acid supplement like X-Gels PWO on chest days for a couple months also might help you break your plateau.
 
AwakeningAlpha said:
If you are injury free - Arachidonic Acid supplement like X-Gels PWO on chest days for a couple months also might help you break your plateau.
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Not fully injury free atm bit of tennis and golfers elbow not too bad though. I ahve been putting top muscle (I think this has topical ArA?) on for both chest workouts and my gosh I am still sore. I wonder if people still use topmuscle as I dont see anyone talkign about it anymore
 
Sparta12 said:
Not fully injury free atm bit of tennis and golfers elbow not too bad though. I ahve been putting top muscle (I think this has topical ArA?) on for both chest workouts and my gosh I am still sore. I wonder if people still use topmuscle as I dont see anyone talkign about it anymore
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Ya the soreness is no joke. I like ArA but watch the elbows. I just looked up the ingredients to Evomuse Topmuscle it does contain ArA, UA, Epicatechin, Laxogenin and some other ingredients I like. Seems like a good product for localized pumps and muscle growth (though no longer in stock).
 
Just an update, chest is already shaping up nicely. Doing two workouts a week making sure I include incline bench (which I previously avoided because I didnt like how it felt on my shoulders, but feels good now)

I think the Top muscle is definitely helping
 
Sparta12 said:
Just an update, chest is already shaping up nicely. Doing two workouts a week making sure I include incline bench (which I previously avoided because I didnt like how it felt on my shoulders, but feels good now)

I think the Top muscle is definitely helping
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Good work man!
Incline takes some getting used to for sure. I felt the same way. Kinda sketchy on my shoulders at first.
If using free weight flat bar I like to have a spotter because the unracking movement made me reach up, get my shoulders out of the down-and-back position and prone to injury. A spotter can just lift it off and into the right position, while I keep my shoulderblades back for the full load. (if that makes sense) I'll stay light or stick to machine if I am training alone.
 
AwakeningAlpha said:
Good work man!
Incline takes some getting used to for sure. I felt the same way. Kinda sketchy on my shoulders at first.
If using free weight flat bar I like to have a spotter because the unracking movement made me reach up, get my shoulders out of the down-and-back position and prone to injury. A spotter can just lift it off and into the right position, while I keep my shoulderblades back for the full load. (if that makes sense) I'll stay light or stick to machine if I am training alone.
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Yeah I'm starting light and really getting the deep stretch, slowly building that strength there I've been neglecting. I kind of wish I was on cycle right now to see what I can do haha
 
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