Help bringing my Chest up to size

[get456]

In the last several months Ive gotten heavily back into lifting and things have been going great... Im the type of person that does things 150% but have a hard time keeping it up for a very long time, so my history pretty much since I was 17 has been 1-2 years on hardcore, then a year off. Not a great way to be and hopefully I can change that...

anyway, since ive started up again, ive noticed that my shoulders are WAY surpassing my chest. I suspect this is becuase of my love for DB incline presses and lack of bar work since I was about 19. I always thought my upper chest needed the incline work, but ive found that my shoulders have done a lot better with it than any part of my chest.

My usual workout was:
Db Inc- 5-6 sets (2-3 warm up, then 3 working sets)
Flat Hammer strength- 4 sets
inc cable flyes- 3-4 sets

I switched about 2 weeks ago to:
flat bench 5-6 sets (inc warmup)
Inc DB - 3-4 sets
Flat Hammer- 3-4 with drop set
Inc DB flyes- 3-4 sets

The last workout with DB's I was up to 120lb db's for 5/6 reps with a push up (so push up, Then 5/6 reps with light spot at end)

On the flat bench i am only doing 225 x 8 with a light spot at end of last rep or two

I am assuming that number will come up... and is there any other input etc for adding mass to my chest

currently im 25, 5'7, 190 approx 15% bf ..

also, a good picture of my shoulder imbalance would be troy alves (in principle)

 

[ZGzaZ]

Starr's 5x5 has done wonders for my chest, it involves benching 3x a week, 2 times on flats, one time on inclines. With increasing weight each week. Just think about growth logically, you need a stimulus for growth (an increasing weight on the bar), and a caloric surplus each day to fuel the growth. If you must keep your workout the way it is, drop the flys and hammer machines and focus on 1-2 exercises and continue to improve on them, the rest is just fluff...and you wil grow asuming your diet is correct. GL to you....

 

[thegoodfoods]

...around my area, it is rare to see a person bench 225x8...

 

[mrgravez]

...around my area, it is rare to see a person bench 225x8...

haha I think there are only 3 or 4 people at my college gym that can bench more then 225 let alone for 8 reps =p

 

[b fold the truth]

Hopefully The Shadow will chime in on this one. I remember his chest looked crazy through a shirt (so did his legs too).

I've been working "chest" now for a few months when I've been out of the hospital and I've been doing a variation of this:

Close Grip Bench
warm ups
308 x max (3-5 reps) rest 30 seconds, 1 more rep
rest 30 seconds then 220 x max, rest 30 seconds, repeat

Incline Smith Bench (they don't have a non-smith machine)
1 set of 10, rest 20 sec, max again, rest 20 sec, max again

Cable Crosses or Flat Flyes (often pinky fingers facing outwards a bit)
1 set to failure, total failure

I don't have a great chest right now though...so...

 

[get456]

...around my area, it is rare to see a person bench 225x8...

lol well... feeling like a big fish in a small pond wont help me


thanks though

 

[The Shadow]

Hopefully The Shadow will chime in on this one. I remember his chest looked crazy through a shirt (so did his legs too).

I've been working "chest" now for a few months when I've been out of the hospital and I've been doing a variation of this:

Close Grip Bench
warm ups
308 x max (3-5 reps) rest 30 seconds, 1 more rep
rest 30 seconds then 220 x max, rest 30 seconds, repeat

Incline Smith Bench (they don't have a non-smith machine)
1 set of 10, rest 20 sec, max again, rest 20 sec, max again

Cable Crosses or Flat Flyes (often pinky fingers facing outwards a bit)
1 set to failure, total failure

I don't have a great chest right now though...so...

Eclipse - HEY MY MAN!!!



Bfold is right on the button as always.

Note his set total versus your own.

I personally have been doing a max of 6-8 sets for chest and my strength is going up as well as size, and I hit each bodypart directly abut once every 6-7 days. I would consider only doing ONE variation of flat bench....do Hammer flat one session and then Flat(bb or db) the next. That eiminates some corssover form the exercises.

If you are doing the 120 bells and arent seeing a lot of size.....open the rep range up just a bit and shoot for 6-10 or so reps.



btw - when Fold and I met up for dinner......he blocked out the light when he walked in front of me....hence I call him Eclipse

 

[dhawkins]

5x5 is currently doing wonders for my chest. Chest was previously one of my weakest body parts and now it is slowly becoming one of my best.

 

[get456]

So basically I should just drop the amount of work im doing...

That was my big question, whether i needed to be doing more/less... I know that something must be amiss if im doing those kinds of weights with db's (not that it is *that* much but a goodamount) and my chest isnt growing, or not enough.

Im thinking my chest workout will look like this:

Warmup
Bar- 4 heavy sets
Inc DB- 4 sets
1 set inc db flyes

better?

 

[thegoodfoods]

Chest was previously one of my weakest body parts and now it is slowly becoming one of my best.

DITTO

 

[b fold the truth]

Eclipse - HEY MY MAN!!!

Bfold is right on the button as always.

Note his set total versus your own.

I personally have been doing a max of 6-8 sets for chest and my strength is going up as well as size, and I hit each bodypart directly abut once every 6-7 days. I would consider only doing ONE variation of flat bench....do Hammer flat one session and then Flat(bb or db) the next. That eiminates some corssover form the exercises.

If you are doing the 120 bells and arent seeing a lot of size.....open the rep range up just a bit and shoot for 6-10 or so reps.

btw - when Fold and I met up for dinner......he blocked out the light when he walked in front of me....hence I call him Eclipse

It was all smoke, mirrors, and I was fat then too!!!

One thing that got me going was increasing my intensity again, instead of just focusing on ONLY getting 1 more rep on THAT set or using 2-5 more pounds. I've done all kinds of super sets, giant sets, and lots of different exercises over the past few months and I've really liked it.

If I can find a place to do chest dips...I need to try those again too. All kinds of possibilities (drop sets, super sets, rest pause, negatives, etc...).

I have to try out one of those Hammer Flat Presses. EVERYONE says that they are great yet I've never found a great machine. Must be something to it then.

 

[The Shadow]

yes.....you are totally correct.

Drop some sets - up the intensity

LOL@ you being fat

Bullshit

 

[BiggT]

It was all smoke, mirrors, and I was fat then too!!!

One thing that got me going was increasing my intensity again, instead of just focusing on ONLY getting 1 more rep on THAT set or using 2-5 more pounds. I've done all kinds of super sets, giant sets, and lots of different exercises over the past few months and I've really liked it.

If I can find a place to do chest dips...I need to try those again too. All kinds of possibilities (drop sets, super sets, rest pause, negatives, etc...).

I have to try out one of those Hammer Flat Presses. EVERYONE says that they are great yet I've never found a great machine. Must be something to it then.

The bolded part would be one of the reasons you're bigger and stronger than most people who will ever set foot in a gym.

 

[get456]

Ok tried a new workout.... looked like this:

(posting weights only for frame of reference compared to my original)

Bar:
warmup (135x 10 - 3 times)
225x 5
245x 6
255x 4 + 2 with spot
225x 7

Inc Db:
90x 8
90x 7
85x 8

Cable Flyes: (hi cable)
50x 12
50x 12
60x 10

I did feel much better after this workout... I think my biggest thing before was especially my intial sets on the bar- doing 20+ reps then another set to failure before im really doing my working sets... and then doing Inc + the hammer machine work... basically circa 16 sets does seem like a lot now that I think about it lol

 

[gettnlarge01]

...around my area, it is rare to see a person bench 225x8...

I bench 225x20 and I'm nothing special in my area.

 

[The Shadow]

Ok tried a new workout.... looked like this:

(posting weights only for frame of reference compared to my original)

Bar:
warmup (135x 10 - 3 times)
225x 5
245x 6
255x 4 + 2 with spot
225x 7

Inc Db:
90x 8
90x 7
85x 8

Cable Flyes: (hi cable)
50x 12
50x 12
60x 10

I did feel much better after this workout... I think my biggest thing before was especially my intial sets on the bar- doing 20+ reps then another set to failure before im really doing my working sets... and then doing Inc + the hammer machine work... basically circa 16 sets does seem like a lot now that I think about it lol

Looks much better on volume