Trouble Building Strength in my Chest

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hi i just recently started going back to the gym. In the past month and a half my weakness has become very apparent in my chest. My bench press has only gone up 10lbs currently at 105. I don’t have a gym partner so its very hard for me to try and go for failure or to attempt heavier weight. I have been trying to find a way to help not speed up the process but to at least start seeing results. Below i have posted what i do for my my chest.

Bench Press 4/10
incline press 3/10
chest press 3/10
incline chest press 3/10
incline dumbbell flyes 3/10
cable crossover 3/10

I’m just looking for way to to improve or things to add. Thank you for your time

2
  1. What’s your full routine? Not just chest day
  2. What are you eating every day? Give a breakdown of a typical day, include amounts please (not just “ate some chicken”)
  3. Do you lift at home or in a gym? If it’s a gym, ask someone to spot you. People don’t get mad at you for it.
3

I might assume you would be better doing a program a bit simpler like stronglifts, starting strength or 5/3/1, in order to increase your numbers at the bench press, and only after building a solid base started worrying more about the volume and the “detail” lifts.
It just seems, to me, that you are doing too much in order to increase consistently the weight. I think you would be better doing a full-body or an upper/lower split.
Just my opinion

4

Guess what, bench press is a better triceps workout than a chest workout (depending on how you do it). Narrower grip focuses on the tris, wider grip the chest. The best chest exercise is probably the DB Bench Press or Dip, depending on your form for the latter. Your bench is very much at the beginner level and I would suspect from this that your form is your weakness, not that you cannot build muscle.

Dont go to failure. Work up using a linear progression method. Stronglifts 5x5 is very good for entry level lifters, but beware of some of the BS Mehdi states. I recall a page where he mentioned body weight has no factor in how well you can do a chin/pull up, for example. Honestly, my favorite lifting site is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s page.

Be honest:
how low do you let the bar go until you push up again and when the bar is in the lowest position where does it sit along your chest?
Do you have any shoulder pain?

5

[quote]piercednerd23 wrote:
Hi i just recently started going back to the gym. In the past month and a half my weakness has become very apparent in my chest. My bench press has only gone up 10lbs currently at 105. I don’t have a gym partner so its very hard for me to try and go for failure or to attempt heavier weight. I have been trying to find a way to help not speed up the process but to at least start seeing results. Below i have posted what i do for my my chest.

Bench Press 4/10
incline press 3/10
chest press 3/10
incline chest press 3/10
incline dumbbell flyes 3/10
cable crossover 3/10

I’m just looking for way to to improve or things to add. Thank you for your time[/quote]

That is advanced bodybuilding level of variety my friend. For a strength focus for your chest doing a flat bench press and incline dumbbell press(30 degrees) 5 sets of 6-10 reps would be great. The fastest way for strength would actually be 5 repetition sets or maybe even lower but being a beginner low reps and no spotter can be dangerous.

You definitely do not need that kind of volume/ exercise variety for your chest and should be focusing on compound movements such as bench press, squats, deadlift, pullups, overhead press ect with a few isolations such as ez bar curls and extensions.

6

if that is your chest day, what does the rest of your program look like?

you could be wasting your time in many areas of your training given the aforementioned training-layout.

No muscle group needs TONS of stimulation at your stage of training. If you train it using a full range-of-motion and proper form(you control the motion, the motion doesn’t control you).

Doing less to achieve more…is a GOOD thing. Ask almost anyone on this forum, they’ll agree to that.

Once you are advanced, ‘doing it right’ is not enough, it’s simply what got you there in the first place.

If I was you, I’d spend a month(or six) doing Incline/decline/dips only on the chest days, but to make up for the “lack of volume”, you should make each rep count and punish you. GL!

7

My routine 3-4 days a week depending my work schedule.

Day 1- Bench Press, incline press, chest press, incline chest press, incline dumbbell flyes, cable crossover, Tricep pushdowns, lying tricep extensions, tricep dips

Day 2- one arm dumbbell row, t-bar row, seated cable row, deadlift, wide grip lat pulldowns, preacher curls, hammer curls, barbell curl, incline dumbbell curl

Day 3- standing dumbbell shoulder press, side lateral raise, front dumbbell raise, upright row, shrug

Day 4- Squats, leg extensions, lying leg curls, seat leg curls, leg press, dumbbell lunges

some weeks i do Day 3 and 4 together it just depends on work. Also i do abs and core workouts 5 days a week. I try to do a minimum of 10 reps for 3 set on most exercises.

@staystrong i go to a gym but usually when i go i am the only one in the weight area. I have been trying to recruit a few friends/co-workers to come with me.

@Aero51 I bring the bar down to my chest sometimes it touches but i do not bounce the bar, Most times its just barely above. The bar itself is lined up right across my nipple line i would say.

8

[quote]piercednerd23 wrote:
My routine 3-4 days a week depending my work schedule.

Day 1- Bench Press, incline press, chest press, incline chest press, incline dumbbell flyes, cable crossover, Tricep pushdowns, lying tricep extensions, tricep dips

Day 2- one arm dumbbell row, t-bar row, seated cable row, deadlift, wide grip lat pulldowns, preacher curls, hammer curls, barbell curl, incline dumbbell curl

Day 3- standing dumbbell shoulder press, side lateral raise, front dumbbell raise, upright row, shrug

Day 4- Squats, leg extensions, lying leg curls, seat leg curls, leg press, dumbbell lunges

some weeks i do Day 3 and 4 together it just depends on work. Also i do abs and core workouts 5 days a week. I try to do a minimum of 10 reps for 3 set on most exercises.

@staystrong i go to a gym but usually when i go i am the only one in the weight area. I have been trying to recruit a few friends/co-workers to come with me.

@Aero51 I bring the bar down to my chest sometimes it touches but i do not bounce the bar, Most times its just barely above. The bar itself is lined up right across my nipple line i would say. [/quote]

I would highly recommend a split where you hit each body part two to three times a week.

This can be accomplished with full body training , a push pull legs rotation , upper /Lower split( I think your best bet with 3 to 4 days )

Below legendary coach Glenn Pendlay discusses upper lower splits along with a few other interesting tips.

And here is a article giving you programming ideas.

I have had upper lower split work wonders for dozens of people I work with and myself. Plus it’s ideal for a 4 day a week schedule and if you miss a workout it’s acceptable versus if you miss a workout now a muscle group goes an entire week without stimulation.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

9
  1. You absolutely DO NOT NEED a spotter to gain strength. Don’t even try to use this as an excuse to why your strength has not gone up. This is just a convenient excuse to use to mask the fact that you are simply training incorrectly.

In fact, just as many around here suggest, leave 1 or 2 reps in the tank for each set. This will allow for better progress. If you don’t understand why, there is a plethora of articles that deal with science of it.

  1. Your training program looks horrific. You can’t bench 135lbs, but you spend 70% of your time focusing on Bicep-Curls? Do you realize how small your bicep muscle is compared to the rest of your muscle groups? Do you realize that you don’t actually bend your elbow THAT often in real life? I’m going to get harsh, but your training layout is stupid(you are wasting your own time, that is stupid, right?).

  2. I would suggest a PPL routine, and instead of doing 12509124 different exercises for each muscle, narrow it down to 2 or 3, and become an ultimate expert in those.

The logic behind this one is apparent, right?

http://www.T-Nation.com/searchResults.jsp?cx=016420786931182441572%3Akswwmllusns&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=push+pull+legs&siteurl=www.T-Nation.com%2F&ref=&ss=1306j151808j14

Here is a good start, with tons of comments under each, so you can get a head-start on what works and doesn’t seem to work. What is shit and what isn’t shit. A good idea could be to create your own routine, within the PPL format, and then post it here for some of these really smart guys to critique you on it.

Lastly, how old are you? How tall are you, and how much do you weigh?

10

[quote]Claudan wrote:

  1. You absolutely DO NOT NEED a spotter to gain strength. Don’t even try to use this as an excuse to why your strength has not gone up. This is just a convenient excuse to use to mask the fact that you are simply training incorrectly.

In fact, just as many around here suggest, leave 1 or 2 reps in the tank for each set. This will allow for better progress. If you don’t understand why, there is a plethora of articles that deal with science of it.

  1. Your training program looks horrific. You can’t bench 135lbs, but you spend 70% of your time focusing on Bicep-Curls? Do you realize how small your bicep muscle is compared to the rest of your muscle groups? Do you realize that you don’t actually bend your elbow THAT often in real life? I’m going to get harsh, but your training layout is stupid(you are wasting your own time, that is stupid, right?).

  2. I would suggest a PPL routine, and instead of doing 12509124 different exercises for each muscle, narrow it down to 2 or 3, and become an ultimate expert in those.

The logic behind this one is apparent, right?

http://www.T-Nation.com/searchResults.jsp?cx=016420786931182441572%3Akswwmllusns&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=push+pull+legs&siteurl=www.T-Nation.com%2F&ref=&ss=1306j151808j14

Here is a good start, with tons of comments under each, so you can get a head-start on what works and doesn’t seem to work. What is shit and what isn’t shit. A good idea could be to create your own routine, within the PPL format, and then post it here for some of these really smart guys to critique you on it.

Lastly, how old are you? How tall are you, and how much do you weigh?

[/quote]

+1 as well. Brutally true.

11

I don’t think I’m spending 70% of the time on my biceps. If other exercises hit them as well sure but i’m not focusing on them at all. I never claimed that lack of spotter was the issue. I have been going this long without one. All i said was that it sucks that i can’t really do heavy weight without the fear of dropping it on me or having to sit up with the weight. Doesn’t embarrass me but it can be discouraging. lastly i’m 27 6’1 280 last i checked.

12

chest: Bench Press, incline press, chest press, incline chest press, incline dumbbell flyes, cable crossover (6)

arms: Tricep pushdowns, lying tricep extensions, tricep dips preacher curls, hammer curls, barbell curl, incline dumbbell curl (7)

back:one arm dumbbell row, t-bar row, seated cable row, deadlift, wide grip lat pulldowns shrug (6) (most of these will punish your biceps as well)

shoulders: standing dumbbell shoulder press, side lateral raise, front dumbbell raise, upright row (4)

legs: Squats, leg extensions, lying leg curls, seat leg curls, leg press, dumbbell lunges (6)

just fyi, this is what your program currently is.

13

I think the most important thing to take from this thread is :

if you start training smarter, your bench press numbers have no choice but to sky-rocket, so look forward to it!