Pick anything already mentioned above and do it for 3 months
Take measurements, pics, before and after those 3 months
Eat more and work your upper back more
And eat
I agree with others that you don’t seem to have underdeveloped chest in comparison to everything else. What I find is that the bench pressing exercises always suffer the most if gains are pretty mediocre (like especially on a diet when things slows down). So this to me (the fact that chest has suffered the most) says that your training is wrong in some way for you (e.g. diet, not enough frequency as touched upon already).
So yeah, nothing special other than focussing on pec tension while benching. Also, something else that keeps the tension on pecs - I have always done my pressing without going 100% down because like you, delts comes into the movement more than chest (more-so towards the bottom, hence why I leave a few inches). From doing this, I managed to bring my chest up to par, while getting much stronger (2-3 sets in the 6-8 rep range). Before I did this, my strength plateaued really badly, afterwards it went up weekly.
Agreed on getting in more frequency too (always works for bringing strength/size up, but especially seems to work well for bench pressing/smaller bodyparts).
[quote]actionboy wrote:
[quote]Gargoyle82 wrote:
[quote]actionboy wrote:
things arent lookin too bad. i wouldnt worry too much about it.
try pre-exhausting if you cant feel your chest working. try hammerstrength machines, they’re a good change of pace and the chest variations are pretty awesome. finally, try hitting chest twice a week. maybe try a straight chest day and then do incline stuff on shoulder day. [/quote]
Thanks Action. I have been trying that as of late. I start off with a few sets of high reps on the pec deck and get a really good pump going and then move in from there. Incline on shoulder isn’t a bad idea. It never fails that at the end of my chest routine my shoulders are pumped and sometimes feeling as if they were taking the beating the whole time even though I try and focus on keeping them out of the movement as much as possible. Perhaps move my incline to shoulder day at the end so that my shoulders are already exhausted and therefore maybe placing more emphasis on the upper pectorals?[/quote]
id probably prioritize pecs in this case. so on shoulder day start with incline bench and then smith high incline presses. it’ll hit your front delts hard enough that you can cut out your overhead work and then just do medial and rear delt work.[/quote]
Thanks again Action! I started my delt routine today with incline barbell bench. I did 4 sets of very strict, slow negative presses and not only was it the best incline session I have had in years it led in to the best delt workout I think I have ever had. My delts were pumped up and ready to go after the inclines and I moved right into heavy overhead presses and everything went smoothly. From there I went to seated Arnold presses and then to lateral raises and finished off with reverse flies on the pec deck. The entire workout was liquid. Not only is this allowing me to hit my chest twice a week it really seemed to prime my delts up.
[quote]its_just_me wrote:
I agree with others that you don’t seem to have underdeveloped chest in comparison to everything else. What I find is that the bench pressing exercises always suffer the most if gains are pretty mediocre (like especially on a diet when things slows down). So this to me (the fact that chest has suffered the most) says that your training is wrong in some way for you (e.g. diet, not enough frequency as touched upon already).
So yeah, nothing special other than focussing on pec tension while benching. Also, something else that keeps the tension on pecs - I have always done my pressing without going 100% down because like you, delts comes into the movement more than chest (more-so towards the bottom, hence why I leave a few inches). From doing this, I managed to bring my chest up to par, while getting much stronger (2-3 sets in the 6-8 rep range). Before I did this, my strength plateaued really badly, afterwards it went up weekly.
Agreed on getting in more frequency too (always works for bringing strength/size up, but especially seems to work well for bench pressing/smaller bodyparts).[/quote]
Thanks for the reply bro! As I stated in the post right above this one, I had a fantastic session tonight thanks to your advice, Action’s advice and as well as a few others here in this thread. When doing inclines tonight, I kept my negatives very slow and controlled and used my hands as hooks instead of gripping the bar tightly. I also left a few inches between myself and the bar and instead of bringing the bar down to upper chest level I brought it slightly higher almost to the bottom of my neck and it was the best incline session I have had in years. I will have to apply this to all my pressing movements.
[quote]Dre the Hatchet wrote:
[quote]Gargoyle82 wrote:
[quote]Dre the Hatchet wrote:
[quote]Gargoyle82 wrote:
I want to thank everyone that has replied so far and shared your insight. It’s greatly appreciated!
What would everyone’s thoughts be on maybe trying some sort of power lifting type push routine to try and encourage more growth?[/quote]
Benching PL-style would only aggravate your existing muscle imbalance.
I think you don’t utilize your chest well enough, a common problem when you rely on pressing movements as main chest work. Try flyes in the pec deck (lying down on a bench) as both a stand-alone exercise and to stimulate your chest before you press (this has been mentioned somewhere in this thread already I think under “pre-exhaustion”.[/quote]
Yeah. I will start trying this as well. Do you think I should stick to flat or incline when I perform the flies? Also, when doing a pre-exhaustion do you think higher reps would be more effective or do them as a heavy working set?[/quote]
For pre-exhaustion sets I’d say the 10-12 rep range is appropriate. Work sets you can either go heavier in the 6-8 range or simply work harder on getting more reps at a higher weight. Progression has many forms.
Both flat and incline are fine; I’d personally go with flat.[/quote]
Thanks! I will give this a try on Monday and make sure I quote you back in this thread and let you know how it went.
[quote]Gargoyle82 wrote:
[quote]roguevampire wrote:
[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
[quote]Gargoyle82 wrote:
[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
You’re not going to like to hear this, but you simply need to grow more overall.
Your chest looks fine to me at your current level of development. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders and are training pretty hard, so I would just keep adding weight to the bar/scale and watch your chest improve as your entire body gets bigger.
[/quote]
Not at all. I enjoy hearing it. I’m not the typical “newb poster that already knows what they want to hear and gets upset when they don’t hear it.” Feel free to say whatever you feel is needed. That’s why I’m on here bro. I’m flat out saying what I have been doing is obviously wrong so any feedback is much needed and respected.
I actually think my chest looks decent in that shot (go figure lol). But I can tell is is definitely under par. What would you suggest then? Just keep sticking to the big basic compounds with no real emphasis on it?[/quote]
Well, it’s not that you aren’t putting special emphasis on it, you just don’t need to do anything special just yet. Just keep crushing compound lifts (incline presses, flat presses etc) and adding in the appropriate hypertrophy work to go along with that and you’ll be happy with your progress.
[/quote]
Alot of guys, for whatever reason, don’t get good results doing regular benches. Their shoulders and tri’s seem to get most of the work. Always try to use a bit of an incline. and honestly, you said you tried to do the less is more. Doing 3 sets per exercise isn’t less is more. less is more, is doing 3 total sets per muscle.
last night i did chest, I switch between free weights in a power rack and doing them on a hammar strength machine. this was the machine night. I warmed up, did 2 good heavy sets. then i did 1 set of heavy dips on this machine that i like. then i did one set of flies. 4 sets total. I do work each muscle 2x per week though. but thats low volume. [/quote]
That’s me to a T! Doing bench movement (especially with a barbell) I always walk away with fried tris and delts and my chest still feels like I could lift for hours.
I have tried doing volume that low and I get a pump and do take the sets to failure but I always feel like I have a lot more work left in my pecs and I feel like I didn’t get a good work out. I think when first getting into this idolizing guys like Frank Zane, Arnie, Franco, etc. just really put high volume into the back of my mind and for whatever reason no matter how much work I do I always feel like I should do more. Maybe that is something I need to work on. I will say though, and again, perhaps it is just my mind over muscle, but I do feel like my body likes high volume. But then again, I’m not exactly making great progress either.
[/quote]
When it comes to doing low volume, that is the biggest obstacle to overcome. In your mind, your telling yourself, “im not doing enough. I’m not even tired, i need to do alot more sets.”
You should read about a program called “dogcrap” training. Serious. thats the name. its is designed for advanced lifters. But, it just goes to show you, how effective real low volume can be. check it out. REad what the inventor of this style says. “Dante” makes alot of sense. goes over some of the things you just said.
if you are not a PLer i dont see why you wouldnt hit everything twice a week.
Also maybe try some neck/guillotine press, lots of people get great upper chest development with it.
**didnt read whole pose so not sure if this was covered.
[quote]Achilles of war wrote:
if you are not a PLer i dont see why you wouldnt hit everything twice a week.
Also maybe try some neck/guillotine press, lots of people get great upper chest development with it.
**didnt read whole pose so not sure if this was covered.[/quote]
Yeah, I am going to start hitting everything twice a week. Paired with their primary and secondary movements. Such as on chest day I will incorporate overhead presses for shoulders and on delt day I will incorporate incline press for pecs. On back day I will incorporate some heavy barbell curls and on arm day I will incorporate heavy reverse grip rows, and so on. See how that treats me.
I have never tried neck presses but I am going to start trying them this Monday. I do have a question though regarding them. Do you grip the bar the same width you would a standard bench press and how low do you bring the bar to the neck?
[quote]roguevampire wrote:
[quote]Gargoyle82 wrote:
[quote]roguevampire wrote:
[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
[quote]Gargoyle82 wrote:
[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
You’re not going to like to hear this, but you simply need to grow more overall.
Your chest looks fine to me at your current level of development. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders and are training pretty hard, so I would just keep adding weight to the bar/scale and watch your chest improve as your entire body gets bigger.
[/quote]
Not at all. I enjoy hearing it. I’m not the typical “newb poster that already knows what they want to hear and gets upset when they don’t hear it.” Feel free to say whatever you feel is needed. That’s why I’m on here bro. I’m flat out saying what I have been doing is obviously wrong so any feedback is much needed and respected.
I actually think my chest looks decent in that shot (go figure lol). But I can tell is is definitely under par. What would you suggest then? Just keep sticking to the big basic compounds with no real emphasis on it?[/quote]
Well, it’s not that you aren’t putting special emphasis on it, you just don’t need to do anything special just yet. Just keep crushing compound lifts (incline presses, flat presses etc) and adding in the appropriate hypertrophy work to go along with that and you’ll be happy with your progress.
[/quote]
Alot of guys, for whatever reason, don’t get good results doing regular benches. Their shoulders and tri’s seem to get most of the work. Always try to use a bit of an incline. and honestly, you said you tried to do the less is more. Doing 3 sets per exercise isn’t less is more. less is more, is doing 3 total sets per muscle.
last night i did chest, I switch between free weights in a power rack and doing them on a hammar strength machine. this was the machine night. I warmed up, did 2 good heavy sets. then i did 1 set of heavy dips on this machine that i like. then i did one set of flies. 4 sets total. I do work each muscle 2x per week though. but thats low volume. [/quote]
That’s me to a T! Doing bench movement (especially with a barbell) I always walk away with fried tris and delts and my chest still feels like I could lift for hours.
I have tried doing volume that low and I get a pump and do take the sets to failure but I always feel like I have a lot more work left in my pecs and I feel like I didn’t get a good work out. I think when first getting into this idolizing guys like Frank Zane, Arnie, Franco, etc. just really put high volume into the back of my mind and for whatever reason no matter how much work I do I always feel like I should do more. Maybe that is something I need to work on. I will say though, and again, perhaps it is just my mind over muscle, but I do feel like my body likes high volume. But then again, I’m not exactly making great progress either.
[/quote]
When it comes to doing low volume, that is the biggest obstacle to overcome. In your mind, your telling yourself, “im not doing enough. I’m not even tired, i need to do alot more sets.”
You should read about a program called “dogcrap” training. Serious. thats the name. its is designed for advanced lifters. But, it just goes to show you, how effective real low volume can be. check it out. REad what the inventor of this style says. “Dante” makes alot of sense. goes over some of the things you just said. [/quote]
I will check that out today. Thanks for the information!
Get your bench up…
a friend of mine always had a problem developing his chest, he always had a stronger bench than me but his chest looked smaller, he hit 315 over 6 months ago and im only hitting 315 for my 1rmax now but my chest has always looked bigger, he said that he has started doing alot of pushups on off days and even between bench sets and he has seen major improvements in chest size
also on neck press you grip as wide as you possibly can
hope this helps
[quote]Gargoyle82 wrote:
Hey Guys,
I know this has been covered 698,058,4927 times on these forums but I am a pretty avid reader here and really respect all of your opinions. Especially you vets and mods.
Problem I am having is over the past few years I have made progress in both size and strength with every body part with the exception of my pecs. I just cannot get them to grow and they are lagging badly. In fact, I can barely bench my own body weight at 170 and this is after like 7 years of avid training! I have tried x reps, high rep, low heavy reps, all sorts of things over the years and nothing. Many times my anterior delts get far more fried than my chest does after a workout and that’s keeping shoulders back with a slight arch in my lower back. I come from a gene pool of flat chested males but I know I have more potential than this.
Right now I have been doing:
Incline DB Press x 4
Fat DB Press x 4
Decline BB Press (on Smith Machine) x 4
Finish off with a drop set or 2 of flies
I have been doing this routine for the past few months and no progress to speak of. I have tried the less is more approach by doing 3 sets of each, doing far less and just doing incline and flat, doing high volume of 6 sets each, training chest twice a week, once a week, everything leads me back to square one. As stated, my chest lifts haven’t moved in probably 2 years. I’ve tried all kinds of cookie cutter routines online and they haven’t seemed to help either and I always make sure I give each routine 2-3 months to try it. Any ideas you guys have would be greatly appreciated!
Stats:
5’ 7"
170 lbs
Maint Cals - 2600
Eating - 3200 Cals
I eat 2 grams/lb of protein
[/quote]
if you want to give this routine a try
it works for me
barbell flat bench 4 sets 4-6rm 6-8rm 8-10rm and finish with a 15rm rep
(monday) incline barbell bench 4 sets with the same rep count as above
(Thursday)decline barbell bench 4 sets with the same rep count as above
4 sets of dumbell flies, presses or cable crossovers at 15rm
the deeper you lower the weight with flies the more you will tear the fibers in your pecs (check out how arnold does his flies and youl get an idea)
do this twice a week ( i hit it em every monday and thursday)
I also work delts and triceps the same day and constantly switch up my order of exercises
it may take a few weeks to find all your correct rms during the lifts
shoot for 2 to 3 minute breaks in between sets and like 4 to 5 minutes between exercises
if you use a smithmachine for benching make sure you develop your delts just as much as your pecs or your numbers wont be close when you compare the smith bench to free weight
In your original post you said you cant bench your body weight in 7 years of training. Hitting your chest twice a week is not the solution. Your form is obviously bad. Hitting your chest twice a week will further reinforce your bad form/technique. I think you really need to recalculate the amount of calories you need to grow. To be honest for 7 years of training your numbers are pretty bad. You need to eat more.