jpal's picture
jpal
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OK fellas i need some help with my chest

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My chest has always been my week part on my body so today was chest day and i started of with barbell bench press and it went horible i maxed out at 180 and it really hurt my left shoulder (have problems with it my whole life). I quit using barbell bench for a while and have been using dumbells but wanted to try it today what a ego breaker that was.
Any ideas on how i can improve my chest shape size and strength would be great thanks.

My normal chest workout :

Flat bench dumbell press
incline dumbell press
flat dumbell flys
3 sets on each

binary's picture

The phrase "maxed out" bothers me. Do you try and max out with one rep? Or are you talking about going to failure after a set? You shouldnt try and "max out" with one rep.

As for your shoulder , it could be your rotator cuff. Do you do any warm up exercises before you hit the bench? Or do you jump in cold? Google rotator cuff exercises...then do them before EVERY upper body workout. Not just chest.

As for adding mass. Your routine is pretty normal, so if your chest is a weak bodypart, and your diet is on point, then your only option is to up the intensity. Try incorporating drop sets for all 3 of those exercises, and if you arent doing so...do chest first on the day you work it.

dbow's picture

I agree with everyone as well. At one time I had problems with my chest lagging. What I ended up doing I have actually applied to ALL my workouts because of the results. The first thing I did was back off the weight. Just like many others my ego was in the way. I had to do this in order to get full extension. I used to press until my arms were @ 45 degree angle (w/ dumbbells). If I went deeper I wasn't able to press the heavy weight back up. So by going lighter I was able to get full ext. I would go until the weight could not go any lower, pause and then press. Second, I worked chest twice a week. I took about 3 days to rest between chest days and it was enough for me. Third I changed up my reps/sets. After proper warmup I began by using a weight that I could rep 25 times, but was close to failure at that point. I would do 3 sets of 25 and get a crazy pump then go heavy for 2 sets of 10-12. So 5 sets per exercise. (ex. On incline dumbbells I use the 55's for 3 sets of 25. I then go to 120's for 2 sets of 10) The great pump BEFORE you go heavy will benefit those heavy reps even more bc the blood has already filled the muscle and upon going heavier, helps to more effectively stretch the muscle fascia and tear the fibers. I personally do 18-22 sets per muscle group, which gives me better results in size and shape. These were the three main things I changed and it benefited my chest (and legs) a ton. At first the weight may have to be lowered, but my strength immediately went back up and then some. Of course, with your shoulder problem going deep MAY be an issue and if so don't do it. No need to hurt it again. And like the other guys said-Incline is everything. It will give you the size you are looking for. It may also be beneficial to add 1-2 more exercises to your routine and up your sets. Remember, "In order to get what you have never had, you must go places you have never been." I tell myself this before every workout. I hope everyone's tips help you out bro!

jpal's picture

Thanks guys great advice

bobo_xxl's picture

There are a lot of little tricks to add size to your chest. Most of which have been mentioned already. Concentrate on incline bench w/dumbells. Incline, incline, incline. Do ur fly's on an incline. I like to pyramide up to my max weight and build size. Then back the weight down 30% and do reps till I burnout. I always try to get my pump in. Squeeze ur pecs together at the top of ur motion. No need to lock out elbows. 3/4 is good enough. Anything past 3/4 doesn't involve enough chest to make it worthwhile. That's when shoulders come into play and it could have helped cause ur shoulder injury. Keep ur grip closer together. It will help bring ur pecs closer together and build that line down the center of ur chest. You'll have nice looking cleavage. It's also easier on the shoulders that way. I just came off of a shoulder injury like yours and those are some of the things I did to keep working on my chest.

Trenabolic's picture

I hear you bro, it's always the biggest mfo at the gym pushing baby weight with full control. At the other end it's the skinny punk pushing insane weight with no control and no range of motion.

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kirkles21's picture

My chest is my weak point too, try throwing in FST-7, Crazy 8's, or German Volume Training workouts on your chest day. My body has responded well after switching to high volume.

(GVT is: 10 sets of 10 w/ a 1 minute break in between each, same weight for all 10 sets)

Otter's picture

Unfortunately Brother, the size, strength, shape and insertion points of your pecs are purely determined by your genetics. There's no exercise that's going to allow you to travel outside those genetic walls but what I can recommend is switching it up, doing something different. Not only new exercises but new angles and even the same exercises with faster positives and slower negatives. Just something that your pecs (and all your muscles in general) are not used to doing and therefore creating new stimuli for the body to adjust to. Your gains diminish when you repeat the same things over and over. Change things up and you won't regret it. Hell. It'll make your workouts more exciting too.

Best of luck to you brother. Push hard but don't damage your shoulder. Dumbbell press is DEFINITELY much easier on the shoulder and rotator cuff.

Trenabolic's picture

Try adding some cable flys into your routine. You can really focus on contraction on these. Remember dont ever get married to the same routine, mixing it up is vital to muscle growth.

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EBSNW1's picture

You can try to only go 3/4 of the way up (no elbow lockout), in order to keep the muscles contracted.

In addition, widening your grip will put more strain on the chest muscles rather than the triceps.

Also, you could try doing rest-pauses and adding a adding a couple more sets to all three exercises. Maybe do some additional dips too.

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jpal's picture

thanks bro was not going to post this up but glad i did
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