Chest frustration
Hi all,.
Iv recently hit a bit of a brick wall with my chest workouts and wondered if I could get some tips or advice from people with similar experiences. In the past I always struggled to put any descent mass on my chest and I put this down to my height and reach. last year I spent hours upon hours of my free time working on muscle mind connection and trying to get my pecs firing. I used pushups light dumbell work and assisted dips whilst doing this... Low and behold I got somewhere ! I now have great engagement and burn with DB press and fly, pushup and cable flies are also great all with good form. But here's my problem.. iv now noticed that with BB bench, dips and any bench machine that I'm back to square one. Iv had my form checked and Im not trying to push more than usual.. if anything it's less.
anything constructive from the community would be much appreciated. Anyone had a similar obstacle to overcome ?
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As said below pre exhausting works great. I also find superset the whole workout and rotate the days and exercises and order of exercises. I have been trying to hit any lagging muscle twice a week each workout being different. I always go back to Arnold's book for help and motivation lol. Goodluck push through it.
can you put a picture of your chest????
Here's what I gather, you're fly type movement is strong where the tris aren't being engaged, but your presses where they are, are weak. I'm not a Dr so I'm not saying this is your issue BUT I had a friend with the same problem and it turned out to be a shoulder issue that wasn't allowing proper muscle engagement of the triceps. Again IM NOT SAYING THATS YOUR PROBLEM. Just trying to throw a different thought at you if the problem persist.
Now exercise wise, I struggled with the exact same issue for years. What finally broke my plateau was doing 3 high rep sets with light weight focusing on the mind/muscle connection. 20reps, 15, 12 was my rep scheme and I did as much weight as I could properly. Making the last rep as perfect as the first. I did that for 6 weeks and moved to a 4set 8-12 rep style scheme. Along with taking in at least 3800-4000 clean cals a day. I was able to add 2 1/2" in 8-9 weeks.
This may not work for you, idk, but it really helped me and its something to consider. Truely you gotta find what works for your body and don't get stuck in the same set/rep scheme for more than 8 weeks. Good luck.
Its about experimenting in what works for you. Another person mentioned Pre Exhaust. I like it too.
Try doing 3-4 sets of PEC DEC or DB FLYES then do some heavier 6-10 reps of INCLINE BENCH PRESS for 3-4 sets.
Try pre exhausting. This method works awesome for chest because your takin away the emphasis on the tri''s and delts and outs more emphasis on the chest. I like to start out with incline flys or flat flys for 3 sets of 8-12 as heavy as possible and then move into a couple compound movements.
I've always imagined the bar being stationary and Im pressing away from it so as I'm pushing my back into the bench(at least for me) puts a great deal of emphasis on my chest. Try reverse grip bench with light weight as well.
Try squeezing the bar tight and focus on pushing your hands together which will place constant tension on the pecs. Believe me try this, you'll have to drop the weight a bit but your pecs will get destroyed!
For an example, put 2 fists together in front of you like youre holding the bar with a super close grip. Push your hands together hard and do a bench press motion.
Gonna try the pushing my hands together bit...makes sense
Keep your shoulders down and depressed while benching this will engage the pecs more and less so on the front deltoids. Most times when there is a lack of development it is because the shoulders are doing most of the pressing. Try and pinch your shoulder blades together at the bottom of the movement to fully stretch the chest and get a full range of motion. The eccentric portion should be a minimum of 4 sec and blast through the concentric with no pause at the top..
Hammer Strength iso lateral benchpress machine really isolates the pec muscles. I feel it better than flat bench etc.
I'm with you on that Drop-set but I need the bar work for incline presses. This week iv used fly machine to pre exhaust, dips to slightly exhaust my triceps and gone lighter on the bar.. seems to be doing the trick. Absolutely no problem with DB presses of any kind even if I go heavier.
Heavy dips are great for chest, but it mimics decline bench. It won't build your upper chest.
I only really use dips to warm up and pre exhaust
I really like weighted dips...
Took me a long time to develop the mind muscle connection with my chest especially with barbells. And my chest is still a weak point but atleast i feel it working now. You just have to keep working at it. Your frame could also have alot to do with it making it harder. I have long ass arms and alot of times they will give out before my chest gets a good workout. So what ill do is pre exhaust and isolate my chest with cable flys like 5 sets or so 10-12 reps so its already fatigued and then move onto incline barbell. I found this great for actually feeling my chest work when using barbells and by doing this my chest fail before my arms. I dont think it was all that great for growth but it did help me get past a big sticking point like where you're at. Good friend of mine is an older ifbb pro and he helped me get my form down and suggested I do something like 15 12 10 8 and then one last set light weight i can get for 15-20 reps to really get the blood in there. Bring the bar all the way down in a nice controlled motion but dont touch your chest get a nice stretch then bring it back up stop right before lockout and squeeze the shit out of your pecs like you're flexing it. Hope some of this can help you.
Right on point pre exhaustion is the key to any lagging muscle ....add in super sets drop sets and rest pause force it to grow ive also learned to just train hard dont mess around and over think it if your arms delts grow more like mine just embrace it ..id rather have some well developed muscle groups than none at all ..worrying causes cortisal our worst enemy
Thankyou irongame.. i have tried some of what youv mentioned but never the less it is all very helpful and appreciated. When I was breaking the mind muscle barrier I found unusually that with dumbell pull overs I could easily engage my chest and got an incredible burn and pump in the upper portion. Agreed that my long arms and frame don't help,. Pre exhaustion I definitely think is a key factor for us. Thanks again for takin the time to reply
Posted this up a few weeks back. May help get you training in a different way perhaps.
https://www.eroids.com/forum/training-nutrition-diet/workout-exercise/ha...
Are you worrying too much about weight perhaps? It's one of those lifts where ego often takes over.
Cheers for the link and reply catalyst.
its certainly not an ego thing. I don't feel iv changed anything which is why it's so odd to me. Maybe your right though, maybe I need to go back to basics with that exercise and just push the bar for a few workouts.