What usually works for getting a big chest?

RasPlasch · 10-19-2007, 04:04 PM

Im a rookie at lifting but for my chest day it usually goes:

Flat Benchpress. I usually warm up at 135lbs 5 reps. Then move up to 155lbs for 5 reps. Then 160lbs for 2 sets of 5. Then I move down to 155lbs for 5 reps.

Then Dumbell Press. 3 sets of 5 reps at 50lbs.

Then Flys. 30lbs 5 reps.

Then I use some machine that works the pecs. 3 sets of 5 reps.

This is my routine for strength training, same thing for hypertrophy (sp?) except I do 8-12 reps for that. I don't really know if this is a good chest routine. I want big pecks with alot of strength. Could someone maybe fix my routine or suggest any exercises that will help work my pecs more.

maratk1 · 10-19-2007, 04:23 PM

I'm just going to input that its important for you to recognize that if you are looking for significant growth in any muscle group, that its imperative to get your diet geared towards weight gain. Check out the stickies in the Diet/Nutrition section.

Scarface30 · 10-19-2007, 04:27 PM

genetics also play a huge role...I was wondering the same thing a while back, and the main answer I got (from on here, and also looking it up throughout the internet) was just that. it you don't have the genetics to fill out your chest, there's not too much you can do about it.

RasPlasch · 10-19-2007, 04:56 PM

I currently have my diet geared towards weight gain. So you think I should just keep on with my same routine and see what happens?

maratk1 · 10-19-2007, 05:29 PM

I have my routine posted on the My Routine thread. I have been following that for awhile and notice gains fairly often. Its rather similar to what you are up to, however i prefer to do a lot more pyramidization. I feel that its necessary to try to push yourself past what your body is used to each routine in order to get stronger. By simply doing 3x5 at the same weight, you arent improving and therefore your body will get used to that weight and have no need to adapt (thicken the muscle fibers). I see that you go from 135 to 155 to 160. What I would recommend would be going 135 x8reps, 155 x 6, 155 x 6, 165 x as many as you can. Again, you are forcing your body to do something its not used to and therefore your body must become stronger. Assuming you are a healthy adult male, you probably wont plateau out at 160. Therefore i think that you should be able to handle that set that i suggest doing 165 as many times as you can, even if its 1-3 reps. Just to clarify, you may believe that you cant do 165, but even doing a few spotter assisted presses will benefit you. Eventually, you'll notice that you can do that 165 for 5+ reps. By keeping the mentality that you must --try-- to slowly increase your weight, you will notice yourself being able to rep the weight that you did in the previous session. With strength and proper nutrition comes size. Keep in mind it takes awhile.
If anyone disagrees with my post go ahead and let RasPlasch know for his benefit.

vortrit · 10-19-2007, 07:28 PM

Bench Press and cable flies have done wonders for me.

HialeahChico305 · 10-19-2007, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scarface30

genetics also play a huge role...I was wondering the same thing a while back, and the main answer I got (from on here, and also looking it up throughout the internet) was just that. it you don't have the genetics to fill out your chest, there's not too much you can do about it.

hard work,smart dietin and good rest play a huge role. I got poor genetics and my best body part by far is my chest. Dont let that genetics shit get in your head. Read the stickies and lift like a mad man.

HialeahChico305 · 10-19-2007, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RasPlasch

Im a rookie at lifting but for my chest day it usually goes:

Flat Benchpress. I usually warm up at 135lbs 5 reps. Then move up to 155lbs for 5 reps. Then 160lbs for 2 sets of 5. Then I move down to 155lbs for 5 reps.

Then Dumbell Press. 3 sets of 5 reps at 50lbs.

Then Flys. 30lbs 5 reps.

Then I use some machine that works the pecs. 3 sets of 5 reps.

This is my routine for strength training, same thing for hypertrophy (sp?) except I do 8-12 reps for that. I don't really know if this is a good chest routine. I want big pecks with alot of strength. Could someone maybe fix my routine or suggest any exercises that will help work my pecs more.

stick from 8-12 reps for mass............dumbell press have done wonders for me and I always take them to failure when liftin them. 5 or 6 sets of 8-12 reps takin them to failure every time is the key for mass, you truly gotta lift that weigth with all your effort makin the last rep real hard to lift. after that you can do some incline and flyes. I like finishing my chest routine with high rep of pushups and it works for me. hope that helps

HialeahChico305 · 10-19-2007, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maratk1

I have my routine posted on the My Routine thread. I have been following that for awhile and notice gains fairly often. Its rather similar to what you are up to, however i prefer to do a lot more pyramidization. I feel that its necessary to try to push yourself past what your body is used to each routine in order to get stronger. By simply doing 3x5 at the same weight, you arent improving and therefore your body will get used to that weight and have no need to adapt (thicken the muscle fibers). I see that you go from 135 to 155 to 160. What I would recommend would be going 135 x8reps, 155 x 6, 155 x 6, 165 x as many as you can. Again, you are forcing your body to do something its not used to and therefore your body must become stronger. Assuming you are a healthy adult male, you probably wont plateau out at 160. Therefore i think that you should be able to handle that set that i suggest doing 165 as many times as you can, even if its 1-3 reps. Just to clarify, you may believe that you cant do 165, but even doing a few spotter assisted presses will benefit you. Eventually, you'll notice that you can do that 165 for 5+ reps. By keeping the mentality that you must --try-- to slowly increase your weight, you will notice yourself being able to rep the weight that you did in the previous session. With strength and proper nutrition comes size. Keep in mind it takes awhile.
If anyone disagrees with my post go ahead and let RasPlasch know for his benefit.

great post

KelJu · 10-19-2007, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HialeahChico305

stick from 8-12 reps for mass............dumbell press have done wonders for me and I always take them to failure when liftin them. 5 or 6 sets of 8-12 reps takin them to failure every time is the key for mass, you truly gotta lift that weigth with all your effort makin the last rep real hard to lift. after that you can do some incline and flyes. I like finishing my chest routine with high rep of pushups and it works for me. hope that helps

Wrong wrong and wrong.

Sticking with 8-12 will almost definitely mean you will adapt. You should use some sort of periodization so that you never give a muscle group a chance to adapt. Do 3-5 one week, then 8-12 the next, then 5-8 the next. you get the idea. Always change that shit up.

Going to failure every set is not optimal. Maybe hit failure on the last rep of the last set, but that should be it.

If you are having problems with a lagging muscle, hitting it with more exercises is not going to fix the problem. Two compound exercises per movement is more than enough. Don't hit your chest with more than 2 compound movements in one day.

vortrit · 10-19-2007, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KelJu

Wrong wrong and wrong.

Sticking with 8-12 will almost definitely mean you will adapt. You should use some sort of periodization so that you never give a muscle group a chance to adapt. Do 3-5 one week, then 8-12 the next, then 5-8 the next. you get the idea. Always change that shit up.

Going to failure every set is not optimal. Maybe hit failure on the last rep of the last set, but that should be it.

If you are having problems with a lagging muscle, hitting it with more exercises is not going to fix the problem. Two compound exercises per movement is more than enough. Don't hit your chest with more than 2 compound movements in one day.

Agreed.

HialeahChico305 · 10-19-2007, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KelJu

Wrong wrong and wrong.

Sticking with 8-12 will almost definitely mean you will adapt. You should use some sort of periodization so that you never give a muscle group a chance to adapt. Do 3-5 one week, then 8-12 the next, then 5-8 the next. you get the idea. Always change that shit up.

Going to failure every set is not optimal. Maybe hit failure on the last rep of the last set, but that should be it.

If you are having problems with a lagging muscle, hitting it with more exercises is not going to fix the problem. Two compound exercises per movement is more than enough. Don't hit your chest with more than 2 compound movements in one day.

let me add that what I posted was my way of gettin my chest from nothing to something and its the way I work out my chest. I get how you change your reps from now and then but why will I adapt if I do 8-12 every chest routine? if I feel I get strong enough to do more then 12 easy I just add more weigth ....works for me. Also why not go to failure on my first 6 sets? To me that means not pushin my body to its limit or not tryin my best...............let me add that I work out like this once a week and give me chest plenty of rest.

KelJu · 10-19-2007, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HialeahChico305

let me add that what I posted was my way of gettin my chest from nothing to something and its the way I work out my chest. I get how you change your reps from now and then but why will I adapt if I do 8-12 every chest routine? if I feel I get strong enough to do more then 12 easy I just add more weigth ....works for me. Also why not go to failure on my first 6 sets? To me that means not pushin my body to its limit or not tryin my best...............let me add that I work out like this once a week and give me chest plenty of rest.

when I started lifting I didn't know shit about lifting and I still made gains. After about a year the gains stopped. I was doing exactly the same things you were advising. After doing more reading, mostly on this site, I refined my training program and was able to push far beyond where I was.

The truth is, I don't know why. I just know what works and what doesn't. Most of this is covered in the training stickies.

PreMier · 10-20-2007, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KelJu

Wrong wrong and wrong.

Sticking with 8-12 will almost definitely mean you will adapt. You should use some sort of periodization so that you never give a muscle group a chance to adapt. Do 3-5 one week, then 8-12 the next, then 5-8 the next. you get the idea. Always change that shit up.

Going to failure every set is not optimal. Maybe hit failure on the last rep of the last set, but that should be it.

If you are having problems with a lagging muscle, hitting it with more exercises is not going to fix the problem. Two compound exercises per movement is more than enough. Don't hit your chest with more than 2 compound movements in one day.

i agree. however i like to switch it up every 3 weeks so i have some consistancy and can measure progress

KelJu · 10-20-2007, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PreMier

i agree. however i like to switch it up every 3 weeks so i have some consistancy and can measure progress

Yeah, that is good to do. I was just giving a rough example. You could switch it up monthly and be fine, in my opinion.

**Gazhole** · 10-22-2007, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HialeahChico305

let me add that what I posted was my way of gettin my chest from nothing to something and its the way I work out my chest. I get how you change your reps from now and then but why will I adapt if I do 8-12 every chest routine? if I feel I get strong enough to do more then 12 easy I just add more weigth ....works for me. Also why not go to failure on my first 6 sets? To me that means not pushin my body to its limit or not tryin my best...............let me add that I work out like this once a week and give me chest plenty of rest.

You will adapt because your body likes homeostasis (to stay the same). If you give it the same stimulus for an extended period of time, your body will adapt to it so it doesnt have to waste energy giving a response (like muscle growth. sythesizing muscle tissue isnt a walk in the park, yknow).

If you change your rep ranges or other variables every so often your body will not have chance to adapt to what you are doing thus the stimulus will produce a response for longer. Your body will get used to it eventually, because one variable is bound to stay the same. Either that or the rate you are damaging tissue will exceed your body's ability to recover. This is what regular rest weeks are all about.

Why would you WANT to push your body to the limit? Pushing your body to its limit means you are pushing it to the point of BREAKING. Breaking = excessive damage = increased need for recovery = more likely to overtrain. Your body isnt going to be building any extra muscle if you are pushing it to absolute failure all the time, because its just too stressful and it will want to recover what it already has before it adds anything else to the equation.

Failure is called failure for a reason, its the point where your muscles simply cannot do any more work and are fighting a losing battle. If your muscles give out, the stress they are under during the movement is going to DAMAGE THEM. If youre doing this every set a few times a week, not only is it really going to mess your muscles up, your CNS will suffer aswell.

There are protocols that utilize muscular failure and maxing out, HIT for example, but there is a reason why these protocols use incredibly low volume (one set to failure for HIT, and complete training sessions typically last less than 10 minutes!) - its because that sort of training is incredibly hard on the system.

Sure, what you're doing might work for a while, but you will get to a point where youll do more harm than good. Like Kelju said, i did a similar thing, and the same thing happened to me as happened to him - it just stopped working.

Pre-empt this and choose a better training method!

StanUk · 10-22-2007, 02:57 AM

I think Gazhole has pretty much summed it up there!

**CowPimp** · 10-22-2007, 09:39 PM

To sum it up: hard work, proper progression, sleep/recovery, proper nutrition, and proper manipulation of load, volume, and other training variables. Pretty much the same as any other muscle.

**Gazhole** · 10-23-2007, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StanUk

I think Gazhole has pretty much summed it up there!

I think Cowpimp's sum up was more to the point. Summaries are supposed to be Succint, mine was a page of waffle :P.

Though thanks for the support

lol.

Mags · 10-24-2007, 11:34 AM

Genetics, diet, sleep and routine. Routines must definitely change regarding exercises, rep ranges and even styles etc. Never let the chest adapt. As soon as it does plateau, although strength may still increase, growth will stop. Oh yeah, drugs will help too.

10-19-2007, 04:04 PM	#1
RasPlasch Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 422 Photos: 1	What usually works for getting a big chest? Im a rookie at lifting but for my chest day it usually goes: Flat Benchpress. I usually warm up at 135lbs 5 reps. Then move up to 155lbs for 5 reps. Then 160lbs for 2 sets of 5. Then I move down to 155lbs for 5 reps. Then Dumbell Press. 3 sets of 5 reps at 50lbs. Then Flys. 30lbs 5 reps. Then I use some machine that works the pecs. 3 sets of 5 reps. This is my routine for strength training, same thing for hypertrophy (sp?) except I do 8-12 reps for that. I don't really know if this is a good chest routine. I want big pecks with alot of strength. Could someone maybe fix my routine or suggest any exercises that will help work my pecs more.

10-19-2007, 04:27 PM	#3
Scarface30 C'Nucked Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Halifax, Canada Posts: 1,741 Photos: 2	genetics also play a huge role...I was wondering the same thing a while back, and the main answer I got (from on here, and also looking it up throughout the internet) was just that. it you don't have the genetics to fill out your chest, there's not too much you can do about it.
	Warning: Seismic Testing Zone 14 more victories + 61 more games + 3082 more minutes + 8 more shutouts

10-19-2007, 07:28 PM	#6
vortrit Bulk. Cut. Repeat. Elite Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Missouri, USA Posts: 2,652 Blog Entries: 1 Photos: 5	Bench Press and cable flies have done wonders for me.
	My Journal!

10-22-2007, 09:39 PM	#18
CowPimp Fueled by Testosterone Moderator Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Silver Spring, MD Posts: 15,405	To sum it up: hard work, proper progression, sleep/recovery, proper nutrition, and proper manipulation of load, volume, and other training variables. Pretty much the same as any other muscle.
	The only time it's bad to feel the burn is when you're peeing... CowPimp Picks Up Heavy Shit MySpace YouTube Videos

10-24-2007, 11:34 AM	#20
Mags We ate the toys eddie! Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: East London, UK Posts: 899 Photos: 8	Genetics, diet, sleep and routine. Routines must definitely change regarding exercises, rep ranges and even styles etc. Never let the chest adapt. As soon as it does plateau, although strength may still increase, growth will stop. Oh yeah, drugs will help too.
	BUILD IT, AND THEY WILL COME. THE ONLY TIME SUCCESS COMES BEFORE WORK IS IN THE DICTIONARY. DO OR DO NOT - THERE IS NO TRY.

10-19-2007, 04:23 PM	#2
maratk1 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: a Posts: 19	I'm just going to input that its important for you to recognize that if you are looking for significant growth in any muscle group, that its imperative to get your diet geared towards weight gain. Check out the stickies in the Diet/Nutrition section.

10-19-2007, 04:56 PM	#4
RasPlasch Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 422 Photos: 1	I currently have my diet geared towards weight gain. So you think I should just keep on with my same routine and see what happens?

10-19-2007, 05:29 PM	#5
maratk1 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: a Posts: 19	I have my routine posted on the My Routine thread. I have been following that for awhile and notice gains fairly often. Its rather similar to what you are up to, however i prefer to do a lot more pyramidization. I feel that its necessary to try to push yourself past what your body is used to each routine in order to get stronger. By simply doing 3x5 at the same weight, you arent improving and therefore your body will get used to that weight and have no need to adapt (thicken the muscle fibers). I see that you go from 135 to 155 to 160. What I would recommend would be going 135 x8reps, 155 x 6, 155 x 6, 165 x as many as you can. Again, you are forcing your body to do something its not used to and therefore your body must become stronger. Assuming you are a healthy adult male, you probably wont plateau out at 160. Therefore i think that you should be able to handle that set that i suggest doing 165 as many times as you can, even if its 1-3 reps. Just to clarify, you may believe that you cant do 165, but even doing a few spotter assisted presses will benefit you. Eventually, you'll notice that you can do that 165 for 5+ reps. By keeping the mentality that you must --try-- to slowly increase your weight, you will notice yourself being able to rep the weight that you did in the previous session. With strength and proper nutrition comes size. Keep in mind it takes awhile. If anyone disagrees with my post go ahead and let RasPlasch know for his benefit.

10-22-2007, 02:57 AM	#17
StanUk Light weight! Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a galaxy far far away Posts: 679 Photos: 1	I think Gazhole has pretty much summed it up there!

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