Chest and shoulders, what am I doing wrong???

[PainforGain]

Heres my problem. I have been training chest and shoulders and dont see much development. I dont know if im doing too much or too little. My back grows no problem, but these other areas suck. Heres my routine:
Chest:
-dumbbell flat bench: 12,10,8
-incline bench press: 12,10,8
-decline : 12,10,8
-flat flyes: 12,10,8
-cable crossovers: 12,10,8
I do cable crossovers straight up for upper chest, slightly bent down for middle chest and pull up on them for lower chest.

Shoulders:
-behind the neck presses: 12,10,8
-side laterals: 12,10,8
-bent over laterals: 12,10,8
-front laterals with rope: 12,10,8
-one arm cross cable laterals: 12,10,8
-shrugs: 12,10,8

I do these all once a week. Should I start doing it 2x a week? Yes I am on gear. Any suggestions??

 

[louden_swain]

You are certainly performing way too many exercises!!! You are not growing because you are breaking your body down so much it cannot recover. Many of these movements that you listed are redundant. You only need 8 sets maximum for a larger muscle group. Pick 2 or 3 major exercises per each muscle group. That is all you need: Here is a possible routine:

Chest
Incline Barbell Presses - 4 x 6-10
Parallel Dips - 2 x 8-10
optional: Dumbbell Flyes - 2 x 8-10

Delts
Seated Barbell Presses - 3 x 6-10
Up Right Rows - 2 x 8-10
optional: DB Laterals - 2 x 8-12

Cut down on your sets. Believe it or not, I use 1 set per each exercise and my strength and size are increasing tremendously. This is because I am not overtraining. Make sure you are also eating enough food.

 

[gmanlax7]

less is more

less sets, heavier weight, less reps

try military presses instead of behind the neck for shoulders

 

[Thaibox]

Agreed with LS and gman.

Up to 4 or 5 working sets of only a few different lifts. Prioritize inclines for a while like ls said. Ditch the declines and most fly work.

Keep it simple, intense, and heavy.

I would also suggest working traps on back day instead of with shoulders.

They'll grow, don't worry man

 

[gmanlax7]

check out your diet too, maybe your not eating enough.if your juicing you especially want to be eating a shitload so its not a waste of money

 

[witkowsd]

So, what exercies would you suggest for back? Should you add shrugs when doing back?

 

[makovnik]

I agree, less sets, reps and heavier weights.

dump the cable cross overs, flyes and declines.

3 sets heavy barbell incline
3 sets heavy barbell flat bench
2 sets dips to failure

EAT A LOT, especially when You said You are ON.

You will grow.

pete

 

[gettinlarger]

So, what exercies would you suggest for back? Should you add shrugs when doing back?

Well, your traps are the top muscles in your back. Why would you do them with shoulders?

 

[Tony104104]

I always do traps with back...Here's an example of my back/traps workout:

Deadlifts

Chins-i'll change the grips every now and then from workout to workout. I'm actually doing alot of towel pullups right now to build up some strength in my forearms.

Bentover rows

Shrugs-I alter between bar and dumbbell from workout to workout on shrugs...

And thats it!

 

[louden_swain]

Well, your traps are the top muscles in your back. Why would you do them with shoulders?

Exactly.

 

[Vortexx]

lower the sets, lower the reps, up the weight and add some extra intensity by doing triple drop-sets:

2 * 5 - triple dropset flat benchpress

2 * 5 - triple dropset incline benchpress

2 * 7 - triple dropset flat flyes

2 * 7 - triple dropset incline flyes


Delts seem to respond well to combining basic and isolation movements to extend your set, do the basic exercise first:

2 * 5 push press or millitary press combined with 2 * 9 barbell front raise

2 * 5 behind neck press combined with 2 * 9 dumbell side raise

2 * 7 upright row combined with 2 * 9 dumbell side raise

2 * 7 dumbell Arnold press, combined with incline barbell front raise

As you can see, with both pec and delts we apply strategies that allow to hit the white fibres with heavy weight and low reps, while using a few tricks to extend the sets so the additional reps can make inroads to the intermediate type 2B fibres....

 

[Lord_Suston]

if your body part is lagging then break them up into two different days.

Example
chest/ traps
Incline barbell 2-3 work sets
Flat Db press 2-3 work sets
Flyes / dips 2 work sets
DB shrugs 2-4 work sets


Delts/tri
Military Press 2-3 work sets
Lateral raises 2-3 work sets
reverse flyes 2-3 sets
Close-grip bench 2-3 sets
french press 2-3 sets

get you a good amount of rest time so you can put full effort into each body part without sacrificing any intensity

 

[gmanlax7]

thats a damn good idea Lsuston