Hi, I have been training for about 3.5 years now and have got good size on everywhere except my chest. I have very strong muscular shoulders and triceps and always tend to feel these working a lot during and after a chest workout.
I have recently started the above chest specialization program in order to try and get some gains on my lagging, underdeveloped chest.
I have a few questions. On each day there is a heavy exercise to start with followed by the post fatigue exercises. Are these following exercises meant to be done with a lesser wieght? For example one post fatigue exercise is 3 sets of decline dumbell press without any rest. Doing this with a heavy weight would not be realistic would it? And also do you think that the reason my chest is underdevoped is because my shoulders and triceps are doing most of the work?
I would be really grateful of some advice please.
Thanks a lot
Nick
Yes, your chest is most likely underdeveloped due to being tricep dominated.
Go as heavy as you can on the post fatigue exercises and still finish them. The weight used is going to depend on the exercise.
Also, you might want to check out the original article and the article discussion, to get a better background on the program.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1031781
Thanks a lot ninjaboy. Yeah i’ll check that out. How do I stop my triceps doing most of the work then? Does that mean that i’ve been going to heavy so my triceps have had to assist in lifting the weight? I always try and maintain good form but always feel like my shoulders and tri’s are doin most of the work.
When you lift something heavy, your body doesn’t know that you’re trying to isolate your chest, all it knows is that there is something heavy about to crush you, and you’d damn well move it or die.
Therefore, it will recruit the most powerful muscles it can to move the weight. For some people, that means that the triceps and shoulders get involved to such a large degree that the chest gets very little work. It’s not that you are going “too heavy”, you body is just using the most effective muscles for the lift.
Decline bench presses will take your shoulders out of the lift pretty effectively, and a wide grip will reduce the role of the triceps. Also, the exercise selection in the HSS-100 routine is such that you should be able to keep the focus on your pecs. Remember, when doing the fly type motions, keep your elbows at around 135 degrees throughout the entire ROM.
I see a lot of guys who make flies into presses by bending the arm part way though the movement. If you can’t do it with proper form, reduce the amount of weight you are using.
In the HSS program there is usually a pre-fatigue phase, and a post fatigue phase, and as ninja boy stated your body doesnt know that your trying to build your chest, it just wants to move the weight.
Follow the program, dont make changes, and it should work well for you.