Thread: Only doing 2 excercises for chest...should i do more?

no need to. two is fine.

If you have no plateaued then keep it up. Don't mess with what works. The only way to truly know if something is working for you is to measure progress. If the progress is favorable, then continue with it.

I built my raw bench up to 405 naturally by doing only 4-5 sets of BB bench and 3-4 sets of DB or BB incline press....most of the guys I knew with big benches did about the same workout.

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

I built my raw bench up to 405 naturally by doing only 4-5 sets of BB bench and 3-4 sets of DB or BB incline press....most of the guys I knew with big benches did about the same workout.

Wow, it's like looking in a mirror....Although I still have a little over 10# to go to reach your PR. I also find myself agreeing w/ Cowpimp again, if it's working, stick to it.

Yea, 2 is fine. Maybe alternate exercises flat DB with incline/decline BB every so often, so that you dont plateau

If it works why change?

Two is fine - it all depends on how many sets of each exercise you're doing. I'd suggest dropping the flyes for another exercise that allows you to use more weight - ie. incline db press or something? That and I think flyes suck one, because of poor loading and two, because you lose tension in the top part of the range of motion.

What are your goals? A bodybuilder may find it appropriate to do six different chest exercises with low volume and frequency while a functional lifter may do just one. It depends on a lot of things and I would vote that the question can't be answered with that alone.

I disagree about flyes. While I don't do them because they're useless to my goals and I feel they place too much stress on the shoulder joint, I've always felt that when I did them I really worked my chest very well. After all, the function of the pectoral muscles (if I recall correctly from camaro I believe) is to do that exact motion (like hugging a tree). This means they're actually more in play during flyes than during, say, a BB bench. If you lose tension at the top, the mind/muscle connection usually comes into play because you can simply squeeze the muscles more during the top portion.

Like I said, I don't use them because they're useless to me, but I think they're a great exercise in terms of bodybuilding.

Originally Posted by Squaggleboggin

I disagree about flyes. While I don't do them because they're useless to my goals and I feel they place too much stress on the shoulder joint, I've always felt that when I did them I really worked my chest very well. After all, the function of the pectoral muscles (if I recall correctly from camaro I believe) is to do that exact motion (like hugging a tree). This means they're actually more in play during flyes than during, say, a BB bench. If you lose tension at the top, the mind/muscle connection usually comes into play because you can simply squeeze the muscles more during the top portion.

The movement itself is fine, but I think with dumbbells it's inefficient. I think better to use cables if you're going to use flies for the tension.

Well I'm a stickler for free weights, but purely from a bodybuilding aspect I would agree that cables are the better choice.

Originally Posted by Squaggleboggin

Well I'm a stickler for free weights, but purely from a bodybuilding aspect I would agree that cables are the better choice.

Myself as well, hence my not using cables or flies or anything of the sort more often than very infrequently. Those exercises aren't any fun.

And they're not 'needed' from a bodybuilding standpoint. I haven't had to rely on lots of isolation work.

Another option is to use some sort of setup where you are doing a pressing movement with cables, like sticking a bench in between two low cable stacks. That way the line of resistance is such that it calls on your chest to perform both horizontal adduction and shoulder flexion while maintaining the usage of a compound movement. Granted, both of those shoulder articulations are involved in bench press variations to some degree, but the line of pull is still straight down.

Originally Posted by Thunder

Two is fine - it all depends on how many sets of each exercise you're doing. I'd suggest dropping the flyes for another exercise that allows you to use more weight - ie. incline db press or something? That and I think flyes suck one, because of poor loading and two, because you lose tension in the top part of the range of motion.

yeah, thats another problem with the flyes that i'm having. right now i go from 85lb to 95lbs. but its difficult to get the weights from off the floor into the starting position for the flyes.

Thanks for the advice everyone

For the bodybuilding part, alot of bodybuilders like to pre-exhaust with DB bench press then do neck bench pressing. Although many feel that neck bench pressing is very dangerous and must have a training partner watching.

if ur BB i would deff throw in more exercises, but if ur goen to stregth no need

2 is enough for chest. Flat bench & & incline bench. Do these two exercises heavy & til failure & watch ur chest blow the f#$% up. Promise. Max out evey 5 to 6 weeks & if your getting strong, your chest will get bigger. Providing you are getting in calories, proteins & carbs. Good luck.

i dont mean to sound like a n00b but what does plateaued mean?

im assuming it has something to do with your pectorial muscles forming

platuea is when ur gains level out

Originally Posted by GYM GURU

2 is enough for chest. Flat bench & & incline bench. Do these two exercises heavy & til failure & watch ur chest blow the f#$% up. Promise. Max out evey 5 to 6 weeks & if your getting strong, your chest will get bigger. Providing you are getting in calories, proteins & carbs. Good luck.

more exercises are needed if going for size, crossovers, flyes, declines, any of those will only help growth

Originally Posted by kicka19

more exercises are needed if going for size, crossovers, flyes, declines, any of those will only help growth

Nonsense. All that's needed is for you to subject the muscle to enough stimuli (Tension, volume, etc.) to make the body respond with hypertrophy. You don't have to vary the exercises all over the place in order to do so.

Originally Posted by CowPimp

Nonsense. All that's needed is for you to subject the muscle to enough stimuli (Tension, volume, etc.) to make the body respond with hypertrophy. You don't have to vary the exercises all over the place in order to do so.

your logic goes against everything i have seen in the gym, thats like saying all you need is to do curls all the time if u want ur biceps to grow, when in accuallity you need to hit the bicep from different angles to make them grow. different angles affect different muscle fibers diferently with different levels of tension, i have no studys to back this up but i have concluded this from years in the gym

Originally Posted by kicka19

your logic goes against everything i have seen in the gym, thats like saying all you need is to do curls all the time if u want ur biceps to grow, when in accuallity you need to hit the bicep from different angles to make them grow. different angles affect different muscle fibers diferently with different levels of tension, i have no studys to back this up but i have concluded this from years in the gym

It really depends on peoples genetics. For me what CowPimp says works wonders, 4 sets of bench and 4 sets of incline press makes my chest grow like a weed and my Bench go up like crazy. But I have long arms so my chest gets a sh1t load of work from presses...But a guy with short arms and a huge ribcage wouldnt get the same results. The idea you are limited by the muscle incersion points as far as how you can hit a muscle is a big argument even between people highly educated in Anatomy, Physiology, kinesiology...ect.

Originally Posted by kicka19

your logic goes against everything i have seen in the gym, thats like saying all you need is to do curls all the time if u want ur biceps to grow, when in accuallity you need to hit the bicep from different angles to make them grow. different angles affect different muscle fibers diferently with different levels of tension, i have no studys to back this up but i have concluded this from years in the gym

re-read your first statement. "your logic goes against everything i have seen in the gym." please tell me you're not looking to the vast majority of gym-goers for logic, direction or good form. from the swinging curls to partial squats to cardio before training to static stretching in between sets...

and re-read CPs post..."you don't have to vary the exercises all over the place." yes, it's necessary to hit various muscle groups from different exercises/angles. do you need 6 exercises for chest to do so? absolutely not.

Originally Posted by kicka19

your logic goes against everything i have seen in the gym, thats like saying all you need is to do curls all the time if u want ur biceps to grow, when in accuallity you need to hit the bicep from different angles to make them grow. different angles affect different muscle fibers diferently with different levels of tension, i have no studys to back this up but i have concluded this from years in the gym

You recruit more muscle fibers by using heavier weights, that is to say increasing intramuscular tension. It has nothing to do with the movement, save for the fact that different movements place slightly different amounts of tension on varying musculature. Of course, in the case of simple movements like curl variations, this effect is not nearly as noticeable as in a complex movement like the squat.

The idea that hitting your chest from all kinds of angles is optimal for hypertrophy is kind of silly. Your muscles don't know angles. They contract or they don't contract. Muscle fibers are recruited in order from "slowest" to "fastest" based on the amount of tension. Nothing else. However, it is good to vary to some degree as in a movement like the bench press, the most tention is placed on your chest during the bottom of the movement, and it varies based on grip width and the shoulder articulation used. So, it would be good to supplement that with an isolation movement like flys or a pressing movement with a line of pull that requires greater pectoralis activation during the entire range of motion.

Originally Posted by The13ig13adWolf

re-read your first statement. "your logic goes against everything i have seen in the gym." please tell me you're not looking to the vast majority of gym-goers for logic, direction or good form. from the swinging curls to partial squats to cardio before training to static stretching in between sets...

and re-read CPs post..."you don't have to vary the exercises all over the place." yes, it's necessary to hit various muscle groups from different exercises/angles. do you need 6 exercises for chest to do so? absolutely not.

im not saying i look at what other people do in the gym, gym experience is me learning from being in there 3-5 days a week for the past 5-6 years of my life. I do not think simply doing incline and flat bench is enough to grow at the highest rate possible.

Originally Posted by kicka19

I do not think simply doing incline and flat bench is enough to grow at the highest rate possible.

right, he's gonna have to switch it up at some point in order to continue to progress

Originally Posted by The13ig13adWolf

right, he's gonna have to switch it up at some point in order to continue to progress

Indeed. Although it takes quite a while for the body to adapt to an exercise itself. The set and repetition paramters need to be changed far more frequently.