I’m thinking of altering my split to help concentrate my workouts a bit more and was wondering if combining Barbell chest with dumbbell chest workouts makes any difference?
My new split just separates the arms from my back and chest workouts:
Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: Biceps & Triceps
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday: Legs
My usual split is:
Sunday: Chest & Triceps
Tuesday: Back & Biceps
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday or Saturday: Legs
But I’m finding I may not be concentrating on my chest workout enough to get the results possible in one workout.
Chest workout is usually:
Incline DB Press
Lateral DB Press
Incline DB Flyes
Decline Single Arm Flyes
I’ll switch to a barbell routine after about 8 weeks for another cycle but if I’m going to spend a whole session on my chest I’m most likely going to combine it with my dumbbell workouts.
I have seen this one debated a bit here and on other boards recently. Some of the comments that I noted out of these are below. I am not quoting, just my memory of the points made that I thought were interesting. I put my own comments in () after some of them to help clarify the basic statement I am recalling. I have always used a mixture of the barbell and dumbells for chest training as well as peck deck and cables btw.
Using a barbell helps you to train synergistically. (Personally this was never a goal of my training. I do want symmetry though.)
The larger weight that can be used on barbell lifts gives more stimulation to muscles. (Even though dumbells are felt more directly in the chest the idea was that the increased working weight possible from a barbell trumped the more isolated work.)
The barbell is a dangerous lift and you can easily damage your shoulder. Stick with dumbells. (I myself have never had any problems but I suppose this could be true for some. A weak side could feasibly be damaged because of tandem efforts.)
To get the same feel from a barbell press as I do in the dumbell press, I like to focus on pushing my hands together as I press. Like I am trying to bend the bar.(The idea is to not only push the bar upwards but to maintain a static squeeze on the chest by attempting to bring the hands together at the same time. This one interested me.)