19 5’9 155lbs
trying to get advice on how to fill out my chest more and when I should be cutting/bulking. my goal right now is to put on another 10ish pounds before I start cutting. also, I have been having an issue during chest workouts where my arms get tired much faster than my chest does, and a lot of the time I feel little to no chest activation on exercises that should target mainly only the chest. any advice on those 3 things or just comments about issues with my body would be greatly appreciated.
forgot to mention. have been working out for a little less than 6 months ago 5 days a week (most of that time was just me getting acquainted with the process as a whole) I also picked up boxing around that time as well. thanks in advance.
You need to fill out your everything more dude. I’m not saying that to talk shit, I’m saying that because overall your body needs more muscle before trying to specialize in anything… Your chest isnt “lagging” if your whole body is - no offense.
I think you should aim for more than 10lbs weight gain before cutting. You’re not too fluffy and you’ve got a lot of muscle to gain; I think continuing in a surplus for longer would be a great benefit to you and your goals.
Which exercises specifically?
Keep doing this, and most of the questions/concerns you have will be resolved in time… It’s not just eating the right things and training properly, it’s (eating + training)^time = results
Thanks for the feedback!
Do you have a dieting plan that could go along with the “5/3/1 for hardgainers” program. Even now I am struggling with knowing exactly how much and what to eat.
the exercises i struggle to feel activation in are dumbell bench presses, less so during decline bench, dumbell flys, and even pushups for the most part.
i mentioned cutting at around 10ish pounds because I felt like most of my weight was just going to my stomach fat, however, I am willing to try going up even more. What would you say is a good range that I should get to before cutting.
also, any other chest exercises you would recommend would be appreciated.
This is a question you have to answer for yourself, sorry.
Flyes, incline bench (with wider grip), and reverse-grip bench. Those are most of the specific pec-targetting exercises, but you should be aiming to increase mass all over. I wouldn’t address “weak points” until they are very clearly “weak”.
Perfectly well said. I agree with you much on every point here, and honestly everyone in this thread. Very smart and experienced group! @jk08 you’re in good hands Young man!
Find a good training program, train HARD and consistently for a couple of years
Forget all this cutting and bulking stuff. Eat a high protein nutrient rich diet with enough food to recover from your training and you will add muscle slowly over time. When you have build a noticeable amount of muscle then you may want to think about getting a little leaner. But that is months/years away for you.
This is normal for a new trainee. You need to get stronger everywhere first. Stop worrying about minor details and just train hard.
If is starting to feel like we need a beginners advise thread, like the AAS one. Somewhere all beginners should go and read before they do anything else.
Pre fatigue your chest dude. Your arms getting tired before your chest isn’t really an issue, it’s normal.
Do Pec Flyes first, either as a no-rest superset like I do, or just as the first exercise of the day in your normal 3x8 or whatever method.
The only challenge with this is you need to check your ego because your bench goes way down. With a no-rest superset it is less than 50% of the normal working set!
i read through this and it seems to be more focused on weight loss, while I am trying to put on more weight in general. I could have just misinterpreted it, but any feedback on putting on weight would be appreciated as well.
Will definitely use this as a guideline for weight loss whenever I eventually feel like its time for that. Thanks for the help so far!
