Help: Bird chest won't grow, legs on swole

[Jeff Brown]

I was hoping I could get some advice here.

I'm a skinny guy, but my routine involves eating/taking supplements every 2 hours and:

MON
Flat Bench
Incline
Decline

Shoulder presses

Dips

WED

All legs

FRI

Biceps
Back
Forearms


My legs get swole in about 2 months. My ex thought I was a soccer player because my legs got so big. My triceps get big pretty quickly, and if I stick with it long enough, I get some decent arms.

My biggest problem though is my chest, with shoulders being second.

My chest doesn't seem to grow, despite going up in plates, slowly but steadily. What am I doing wrong?

One thing I noticed is that when I do flat bench and decline, I feel it, and feel sore the next day in those areas. But with the incline, I only feel the pain in my arms when I'm benching. It feels like I'm doing it wrong, and like I said, there's nothing in that upper area of my chest. Completely flat.

Shoulders are also very weak too, but the chest is my biggest concern at the moment, since I've always struggled with it.

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[SteveMobsterG]

Don't do the versions you feel vs the one the don't. Widen the grip too

 

[stevesmi]

it could simply be poor genetics or you could be young

weight training is something people need to accept where it is 95% genetic based. don't compare yourself to that meathead in your gym who benches 3 plates. that will probably never be you.. just try and get better

 

[muskate]

I highly recommend purchasing the size and strength training program off my website -> https://trevorkouritzin.com/product/size-and-strength-training-program/

It's 10 bucks and it'll teach you how to properly train for size and strength.

Part of your problem is you are only training chest once per week. You are only stimulating your chest to grow once per week. I recommend training body parts twice per week so you get two growth stimuli each week instead of just one.

 

[MasonicBodybuilder]

Prioritize incline exercises and switch to dumbbells instead of barbell for pressing. That will not only work your upper chest more but also incorporate the shoulders more in the routine.

 

[Jeff Brown]

I appreciate the helpful advice everyone, thanks.

@SteveMobsterG
That makes sense, but I'm just worried that maybe there's some trick I'm missing out on for incline that will allow me to properly hit the upper pecs.
For the longest time I was doing regular bench wrong, only going half way-because I heard going further down will ruin your rotator cuff, and I was bringing the bar toward the middle of my chest, and not to the nipples/below the nipples.
When I switched it to bringing it as close as an inch to my nipples, I started feeling it, and being sore the next day.
Altering the grip, and going wide definitely helped with my flat and decline.

@stevesmi
I'm assuming at this point in time, it's bad genetics. It's like there's very little to work with, plus my parents are string beans too. If I can get the upper chest to look a little more mass, I'd be willing to put in the work.

@muskate
Thanks and I'll check out your training program.
This is the advice I had in mind, but after reading previous threads on the subject, more people seemed to be against training chest twice a week.

It DOES seem like a week between chest is too long. For my other muscles no, but chest yes.

When I was 18 and had a personal bench press in my room, I used to work chest 3 times a week. I was still skinny everywhere else, but my chest looked bigger, and even people were telling me my chest looked bigger.

I think I'll try the 2x a week method and see how I feel.

@MasonicBodybuilder
I've heard good things about dumbbells for chest, but every time I've done them, I never feel it in my chest at all. No burn, no soreness the next day. During the exercises I only feel it in the area between my shoulders and triceps. It's not a good feeling. I've tried to go very light, and be very focused with the movement and I've tried variations on moving the wrists a little, and I haven't felt any proper pump, nor have I made any good gains, in mass or in going up in weight.

However, it makes sense that incline dumbbell presses would be a better workout for the upper pecs. It's a fuller range of motion, right? When you bring the dumbbells up and then together at the peak, the pecs are squeezing together stretching more. With the barbell incline and a wide grip they don't seem to be stretching that much at peak contraction, and when I go with a closer grip it seems like the triceps are getting involved.

I'll try this routine with the recommendations given:

MON

Bench Barbell
Incline Dumbbells
Decline Barbell


FRI

Bench Barbell
Incline Dumbbells
Decline Barbell

All the while making sure I'm doing them properly, flexing at peak contraction, and getting the full range of motion.

This should be good to try, right?
Is there any signs of overtraining I should look for, or will it just be a case of no gains and weakness?

 

[SteveMobsterG]

I'll copy and paste a tip I posted on Evo:

Training Tip No6
Getting more from the Bench Press
So when Arthur Jones did his bulletins he came up with a minor tweak. I'll add another two (one of which I might re-use it as another tip).

Tweak one is to elevate one end of the bench about 4 to 6-inches. Like say 10-degrees. It shifts emphasis to the mid pec portion and so is a better all round developer. On his old multi angle machine (chest and pec flye) that's there they were set (10 degrees). It works well for both barbell and dumbbell.

Tweak two (works on a barbell bench - any position). Take your usual grip (narrow, medium or wide), squeeze and then, as you do each rep, gently try to pull your hands together. Do it from the stretched to contracted or full extension position and back. It's a killer.

Tweak three (the one I might re-use): Flex as you press and lower the bar or dumbbells (this works for them too). Squeeze the pecs into the gap. You can get a gym buddy / coach / trainer / someone you trust to gently touch the pecs with a fingertip and you squeeze the muscle against them (so you can't relax at any point).

 

[stevesmi]

yes bro genetics is a big part of everything. i mean bill gates parents gave him gneetics to be a computer geek, not to play in the NFL right?

doesn't mean bill gates doesn't still eat healthy and exercise.. in fact he is well known for being really fit..

 

[muskate]

I am going to make things super easy for you.

Enter your email here -> https://mailchi.mp/5609bde580e5/sizeandstrengthe-book

And I will email you my size and strength training program E-book for free

 

[jayhavin01]

Stretching is key. Try this:


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