Ok, I’ve been lifting for 4yrs, I have always had a hard time building my chest up.
Right now I’m doing a 3x a week workout and doing fullbody. I do chest flyes, DB bench, and decline bench (one each day)
Can someone help me figure something in addition or to replace those three to gain some FRIGGIN size for once???
Its a huge pain in my ass, and I have tried numerous exercises.
Dude, too vague.
You need to start mixing up your reps/sets. Some people respond very very well to 10 x 3, some to 5 x 3, some to 3 x 8, some to 4 x 12, etc.
This will probably help more than a specific wonder exercise. Some people will swear by pushups, others by benchpress to the neck, others by dips. You just need to try stuff out and figure out what works best for YOU. Everyone’s body responds differently to different exercises and protocols.
Your chest is not going to grow unless you take in enough calories to grow as a whole. Stop fretting about your tits and eat more.
That goes for biceps(and every muscle) too, just in case you were wondering.
Some advice that might help you appear bigger in the meanwhile is try the 100 rep thing doing pushups. This is all due to blood constantly rushing through your muscles because of an increase in capilaries. Look up Chad Waterbury’s 100 rep routine. Don’t know the exact name.
[quote]DemiAjax wrote:
Dude, too vague.
You need to start mixing up your reps/sets. Some people respond very very well to 10 x 3, some to 5 x 3, some to 3 x 8, some to 4 x 12, etc.
This will probably help more than a specific wonder exercise. Some people will swear by pushups, others by benchpress to the neck, others by dips. You just need to try stuff out and figure out what works best for YOU. Everyone’s body responds differently to different exercises and protocols. [/quote]
ok, lets clear up the vagueness.
when i do the 3 exercises listed above i do a warmup set, then my first workset i do 10, then 8, then 6 or 4.
i’ve been doing pushups at night (75-100.)
i’ve noticed that it is my upper chestal region that needs it, but inclines aggravate my shoulder.
[quote]Chickenmcnug wrote:
Your chest is not going to grow unless you take in enough calories to grow as a whole. Stop fretting about your tits and eat more.
That goes for biceps(and every muscle) too, just in case you were wondering.
Some advice that might help you appear bigger in the meanwhile is try the 100 rep thing doing pushups. This is all due to blood constantly rushing through your muscles because of an increase in capilaries. Look up Chad Waterbury’s 100 rep routine. Don’t know the exact name. [/quote]
As far as calories go…c’mon man…im a T-Nation member…you gotta know i didn’t find this website by googlin’ “how to lift” haha
my caloric intake is between 2200 and 2800 depending on my days activity. so that’s not a problem.
and on that note; its breakfast time.
[quote]B rocK wrote:
DemiAjax wrote:
Dude, too vague.
You need to start mixing up your reps/sets. Some people respond very very well to 10 x 3, some to 5 x 3, some to 3 x 8, some to 4 x 12, etc.
This will probably help more than a specific wonder exercise. Some people will swear by pushups, others by benchpress to the neck, others by dips. You just need to try stuff out and figure out what works best for YOU. Everyone’s body responds differently to different exercises and protocols.
ok, lets clear up the vagueness.
when i do the 3 exercises listed above i do a warmup set, then my first workset i do 10, then 8, then 6 or 4.
i’ve been doing pushups at night (75-100.)
i’ve noticed that it is my upper chestal region that needs it, but inclines aggravate my shoulder.
[/quote]
Honestly, keep the warmup and try 10 sets of 3 with around 80% of your 1 RM. It might work really well for you.
I always had a problem with my chest growing as well until…I started tearing up my back. Once my back started really growing it helped my chest out a lot! Also If you want a bigger chest you are going to be obligated to gain some weight overall. peroid.
22-2800 ??? how much do you weigh? I weigh 195 and am barely gaining a pound a week on 4100 for lifting days and 3300 non-lift days.
Are you gaining weight in other parts?
I just checked your stats… your the same size as me. I think you need to try and actually bulk. I do no extra cardio. I lift and eat and sit on my ass and barely gain weight with what i eat.
Try eating and see.
No one has mentioned dips… I know, they work tris a lot but if you lean forward (and have no “shoulder issues” as Ian King likes to put it :p) you will feel it in your chest area… along with myriad variations on pushups, etc.
You mention the upper part of your pecs need work… What worked for me in the formative years of my training I stuck by high incline flyes and incline BB and DB press…
As well, as the first poster has stated, your rep ranges & setup should have some variety.
Have you been doing your squats? Try doing more compound money exercises (hi CT :p) to get more bang for your buck and elicit an overall gorwth response for your whole body.
[quote]beaul wrote:
22-2800 ??? how much do you weigh? I weigh 195 and am barely gaining a pound a week on 4100 for lifting days and 3300 non-lift days.
Are you gaining weight in other parts?[/quote]
I weigh 198lbs…and am maintaining. I am seeing gains in other areas of my body too, just my chest is lagging behind the rest.
[quote]I just checked your stats… your the same size as me. I think you need to try and actually bulk. I do no extra cardio. I lift and eat and sit on my ass and barely gain weight with what i eat.
Try eating and see. [/quote]
i did a bulk at the end of the summer, i went from 180 to 208lbs…just changed my diet not my workout. didn’t see any large improvment in my chest; but im not gonna do a bulk right now b/c of the time of year.
It looks like you do some kinda of MMA fighting or something. I used to as well. Any wrestler or MMA fighter is going to have a hell of a hard time putting on muscle, due to the extreme conditioning one has to be in to compete. Your muscles constantly go into a catabolic state. So remember if you want to get any bigger, you have to shovel extreme amounts of food into your system, and loud up on those Simple Carbs before and after your workouts/practices.
I believe CT mentioned that if you have really strong tri’s it is hard to get your chest to grow. He recommended 1 1/2 rep pressing movements to spur growth.
I had the same problem until I realized my form was off. I benched mostly with my front delts. if thats your problem, try to roll your shoulders back and pinch your shoulder blades together. then stick out your chest like a 15 year old girl. go light until you get the hang of it. maybe that will help.
I spot two problems, one has been addressed when everyone is telling you to eat more.
the problem i spot is in your training. If your going to do fully body 3x a week and do one exercise per session for your chest id choose the thre best ones, and imo you dont have either. I would choose to replace those exercises with flat barbell bench, incline and Dips, but since you said inclines aggravate your shoulders, id sub for some sor of intensity techinique lift like 1 and 1/2 rep bench presses, or keep the declines if you like them alot. If you going to choose one exercise per session choose the ones that give you the most bang for your buck.
ill make my last point in the wise words of my mn ronnie…
“every body wanna be big everybody wanna be strong, but nobody wanna lift no heavy ass weight…”
when you do those exercise make sure you go heavy and hard
[quote]BigCorey75 wrote:
I spot two problems, one has been addressed when everyone is telling you to eat more.
the problem i spot is in your training. If your going to do fully body 3x a week and do one exercise per session for your chest id choose the thre best ones, and imo you dont have either. I would choose to replace those exercises with flat barbell bench, incline and Dips, but since you said inclines aggravate your shoulders, id sub for some sor of intensity techinique lift like 1 and 1/2 rep bench presses, or keep the declines if you like them alot. If you going to choose one exercise per session choose the ones that give you the most bang for your buck.
ill make my last point in the wise words of my mn ronnie…
“every body wanna be big everybody wanna be strong, but nobody wanna lift no heavy ass weight…”
when you do those exercise make sure you go heavy and hard[/quote]
Good post and agreed. Btw you must have a super slow metabolism if you can maintain at around 2500 cals. Maybe you could rev up the metabolism if ya ate a little more.
I eat as much as I can, I’m a college student…food means money, and that is scarce…I’m gonna go whore myself out to 10 fat chicks for 10 bucks a piece, or 100 fat chicks for a dollar a piece to make some coin.
i am gonna switch to flat bench next week, we’ll see how that goes.
i did incline today and it didn’t hurt…so i’ll add that to my list as well.
so right now i have 3x a week, flat bench, incline, DB bench. with the benches i’ll be going “hard and heavy”
thanks alot guys!
What? 2200-2800 calories? That’s most likely not enough to make your chest or an other body part grow. Certainly not 2200. I can eat 2200 calories on many days on a fat loss phase. You are a college student, but to get the gains you want you will still likely have to eat more. Find a way to make it work.
Do you have a meal plan? Look through the archives for an article by Steve Berardi, John’s brother. It is about bulking as a college student. I think it addresses being on a fixed budget too.