Chest exercises

[Metman07]

My thanks to those of you who responded to my bench press questions. Do any of you have any good advice on building up my chest muscles?

I am a very skinny guy who started working out dieting properly etc. several months ago. My arms have gotten noticeably bigger and stronger. But my chest is still pretty flat and not very defined. It looks kinda wierd when I take off my shirt because my biceps seem to be a little disproportionate to my torso and chest.

Any suggestions on some workouts to develop my chest? Me and my friend work out three times per week, with breaks in between each work out day. One day we focus on legs, one day we focus on the back, shoulders and bicep and on the last day we focus on the chest and triceps.

Basically I just want my pecks to get bigger; more bulk. Right now my chest is almost flat. I don't really care about it being cut at first. Maybe first I could work on adding bulk and then later focus on making my chest more cut and defined?

 

[tjwes]

What are you presently doing for a cghest workout?

How many sets,and what exercises and reps?

Thanks!

 

[Metman07]

At the moment I do about 5-6 sets on regular bench. I start with the heaviest weight and try to do at least 4 reps, sometimes unsuccessfully. Then I just keep going down until I can easily do 10+ reps. After this, I do 4 sets of dips without added weight besides my own bodyweight.

I forget the name of the next exercise, but I just recently started doing it. Basically it's a machine in which your arms are spread out and at an angle a little greater than 180 degrees. Then you move the arms together in front of you, and of course there is a lot of resistance to this. Basically I do the same as with bench: start out really hard and keep getting lighter with more reps.

The last chest exercise I do is the inclined bench in the same way I did the previous workouts. Usually by this point, I'm totally spent and I can't do too much weight.

I only started doing this recently (like for the last 3 weeks). Before, I did a less specialized workout routine, doing the same exercises 3 times per week. So I just did bench press 3 times per week with rests in between each workout day. I tried to do 3 sets of 10. When I could do 3 sets of 10, I moved up.

I now work out with a friend who seems to know his stuff much better than the guy I used to work out with. He was the one that suggested the current routine. Is my new approach better? Obviously, thus far I can't judge its results after only 3 weeks.

My previous routine obviously didn't work that good for my chest although it's done pretty good for my arms.

 

[KarlW]

My secret chest routine..............shhhhhhh keep it hush. Don't want everyone getting huge.


1 set regular bench press for 8 reps
1 set regular bench press for 8 reps

1 set dips for 8 reps
1 set dips for 8 reps

1 set incline DB flyes 10 reps

 

[Seanp156]

That's a pretty short routine, do u add triceps in as well, or do those on a different day?

 

[Metman07]

Yeah we do various tricep exercies too. I just described the chest routine.

 

[CursedOne]

your going through your poundages in reverse. start light and get heavy. you have to teach your muscles to expect greater loads. stick with 6-8 reps and get progressively heavier on each set, so you fail on the last 1-2 reps of your last 1-2 sets.

 

[KarlW]

your going through your poundages in reverse. start light and get heavy. you have to teach your muscles to expect greater loads. stick with 6-8 reps and get progressively heavier on each set, so you fail on the last 1-2 reps of your last 1-2 sets.

There's different ways to do things. Frankly, I prefer the reverse pyramid. As long as you warm up adequately, there's no reason you can't start your 1st set with the heaviest weight, then strip off whatever it takes to stay in the rep range on subsequent sets.

you have to teach your muscles to expect greater loads

Do you?

 

[BigDyl]

I prefer doing 100 sets chest High Intensity. I usually get bored though.

 

[CursedOne]

all i can speak of is from experience as well as phys path class, using progressive resistance i (an ectomorph) added 40 pounds of lean mass in 10 months. yes i know everyone is different, just offering what worked for me.

one thing i learned in school is that when muscles are consistently faced with increasing loads they often respond by growing larger to compensate

so if reverse pyramiding is not seeming to do much for you . . .
maybe try something different



although we can all see by carl's pic that he's got it goin on so maybe stick with it.

 

[KarlW]

no worries. However, re the inreasing loads you speak of, isn't that referring to increasing the load from one workout to the next? and not necessarily between sets.

Not arguing anything, I agree it's all up to the individual.

 

[StingLikeAbee]

let me tell you all my exercise routine...i work out probably a good 3-5 days a week...i start my day off with backarms 4-6 sets of 25 and then i rest then go to my bicepts... 3-5 sets of 30 with 30 ibs. dumbellz...then i rest and then i go to my shoulders and trapazoids with a set of regular weights...i do 1 set of 20 push up over my head...then 10 reps of push ups behind my head..then i go straight to the abz and i do 2 sets of 25 of crunches and 1 set of 50 leg lifts...then i rest a little and top it all off with 2 sets of 30 push ups....now here is the problem i am having my whole stature looks great!! and im super strong...but my pecs...you can see a little bit of my chest bones in between my pecs...how do i fix that?!?!

 

[KarlW]

let me tell you all my exercise routine...i work out probably a good 3-5 days a week...i start my day off with backarms 4-6 sets of 25 and then i rest then go to my bicepts... 3-5 sets of 30 with 30 ibs. dumbellz...then i rest and then i go to my shoulders and trapazoids with a set of regular weights...i do 1 set of 20 push up over my head...then 10 reps of push ups behind my head..then i go straight to the abz and i do 2 sets of 25 of crunches and 1 set of 50 leg lifts...then i rest a little and top it all off with 2 sets of 30 push ups....now here is the problem i am having my whole stature looks great!! and im super strong...but my pecs...you can see a little bit of my chest bones in between my pecs...how do i fix that?!?!

No offense, honestly, but there's so much wrong with this I don't know where to begin.

 

[DimebagDarrell]

sting, assuming you're serious, its genetics. i also have a large space between my pecs. that's just where they attach.

metman, i could never get my chest to develop even though my other muscles were growing until i decided to start eating like a maniac. as in 5000 cals/day. then they grew by leaps and bounds.

 

[StingLikeAbee]

i was told by a trainer that i can fill that gap with muscle...isnt there some way...

karl...what is so wrong with my exercise? by the shape that my body is in and how strong i am...i would say its a pretty good routine.

 

[KarlW]

i was told by a trainer that i can fill that gap with muscle...isnt there some way...

karl...what is so wrong with my exercise? by the shape that my body is in and how strong i am...i would say its a pretty good routine.

I started draughting up a big reply (with the aim of helping you) but then realised that you didn't actually directly ask for help so I thought I'd just say, "hey, if your'e happy then then "

 

[DimebagDarrell]

i was told by a trainer that i can fill that gap with muscle...isnt there some way...

if he told you that you could do it through dumbbell flyes, please shoot him. its not possible. you can make the muscle bigger to make the areas next to the gap thicker so it looks smaller, but you cannot get the two to grow closer together. its genetics. sucks but its true