tried everything -- chest still lacks considerably

[t0mmy]

hey guys

i'm looking for a new workout for chest, perhaps something "outside the square"

I've done the traditional 3x8 for db bench, db incline and then dips.. after 8 weeks i increased the weight and changed to 4x5-6 for all exercises except dips, again after 8 weeks replaced dips with cable cross overs and threw decline in.

All three have yielded very little, if any, results so I would appreciate some advice and some workouts.

Attached is recent pic and on the left (my av) is another recent pic

[GuyJin]

Are you eating enough? If not, add more calories.

Are you pairing chest with any other bodypart? If you are, it may be impairing gains. As well, are you training chest once a week or twice? Check your frequency.

As a suggestion, try some mixed rep ranges for a bit. Example: Do bench in a 3 or 4x5 manner ramping up the weight each set. Inclines for 3x10-12, and flyes for three sets even higher, i.e. 12-15 reps. After six weeks, you could change to different exercises or use the same exercises and switch the rep scheme around.

[Orlando1234977]

after 8 weeks i increased the weight

You should be adding weight or reps pretty much every session.

[V5RED]

tho its not 100% clear from the pic, your chest looks in proportion to the rest of you to me

a lot of the time the problem is people expect the chest they will have at 220Lbs when they are 180Lbs

[flipthetrainer]

The above response was a good one, you probably aren't eating right. But...You can still gain. You need to lay off the DB presses and move to regular bench for one. Do 6 sets of bench, warm up(20x45) then two other warm up sets 4 or 5 reps of 60%1RM and 4 or 5 reps at 70% 1rm. After this hop on up to 3 sets of lower rep above 80% max, on your last set for bench employ the forced rep principle and failure principle, Take a heavy weight, push it yourself until you can't, have a strong partner and do forced reps(your partner assists with the weight) until you are no longer doing the weight.

After this you will be destroyed, but don't let that deter you follow up with 4 sets of DB flyes and incline presses. Take both to absolute failure, dropping to a weight you can fail on at about 8 reps, have your partner push you past this point.

Had enough? Too damn bad, follow up with 3x20 on cable crossovers and underhand cable crossovers. Switch up and interchange some of the workouts and rep ranges but try to stick to heavier weight.

Once every week or two, perform a dropset to absolute failure on your bench. This means you need to put on a good weight(something you will fail at about 5 reps on) take it to failure and beyond, then quickly strip off some of the weight, do the same and strip the weight again, repeat one or two more times until you are screaming for your mommy.

Some may not agree with this, but do it with proper form and you WILL grow. You must push past your limits, and it sounds to me like you are settling for a set number of reps and weight and that is not enough to grow your muscles. Remember, you are tearing muscle and rebuilding it to get bigger. If you don't go past your limits you will not utilize all of your muscle fiber and you will not grow.

Trust me.

Flipthetrainer

[V5RED]

The above response was a good one, you probably aren't eating right. But...You can still gain. You need to lay off the DB presses and move to regular bench for one. Do 6 sets of bench, warm up(20x45) then two other warm up sets 4 or 5 reps of 60%1RM and 4 or 5 reps at 70% 1rm. After this hop on up to 3 sets of lower rep above 80% max, on your last set for bench employ the forced rep principle and failure principle, Take a heavy weight, push it yourself until you can't, have a strong partner and do forced reps(your partner assists with the weight) until you are no longer doing the weight.

After this you will be destroyed, but don't let that deter you follow up with 4 sets of DB flyes and incline presses. Take both to absolute failure, dropping to a weight you can fail on at about 8 reps, have your partner push you past this point.

Had enough? Too damn bad, follow up with 3x20 on cable crossovers and underhand cable crossovers. Switch up and interchange some of the workouts and rep ranges but try to stick to heavier weight.

Once every week or two, perform a dropset to absolute failure on your bench. This means you need to put on a good weight(something you will fail at about 5 reps on) take it to failure and beyond, then quickly strip off some of the weight, do the same and strip the weight again, repeat one or two more times until you are screaming for your mommy.

Some may not agree with this, but do it with proper form and you WILL grow. You must push past your limits, and it sounds to me like you are settling for a set number of reps and weight and that is not enough to grow your muscles. Remember, you are tearing muscle and rebuilding it to get bigger. If you don't go past your limits you will not utilize all of your muscle fiber and you will not grow.

Trust me.

Flipthetrainer

wtf? where did you get that from?

well at least you being 6'1 165lbs makes sense if you train like that

[Panacea.]

wtf? where did you get that from?

well at least you being 6'1 165lbs makes sense if you train like that

quoted for truth.

[t0mmy]

You should be adding weight or reps pretty much every session.

Sorry, i do.. What I meant was that I increased the weight (by about 20lbs) as I lowered the reps.

My diet is fine, no complaints there and I am gaining satisfactorily for every other muscle. I only started gym about three months ago, although some of my gains are attributed to muscle memory from a couple of years ago.

Furthermore, I train chest with tri's. I do this workout once every 8 days (my split is every 2nd day, not set days, which I find to be far better than the traditional 7 day split [for me]).

[LarryByrd]

Woah dude, you have pretty good arm size. You're my opposite. I have a decent chest but no arms . Anyways, do you bench press with a BB? All I saw was db flat bench. Try doing 5 sets of 5 reps on the bench with a BB.

[mrjimmy2308]

wtf? where did you get that from?

well at least you being 6'1 165lbs makes sense if you train like that

LOL, true story

[t0mmy]

Woah dude, you have pretty good arm size. You're my opposite. I have a decent chest but no arms . Anyways, do you bench press with a BB? All I saw was db flat bench. Try doing 5 sets of 5 reps on the bench with a BB.

i have tried BB a few years back but still had problems with chest growth. I get more from DB bench..

and yea the guys workout before was a bit absurd but to be fair i did ask for 'outside the square' workouts

[dtboxy]

have you been doing flies? inclince flies are a good exercise imo
cable crossovers maybe

[t0mmy]

have you been doing flies? inclince flies are a good exercise imo
cable crossovers maybe

not really a fan of flies.. i might give them a go

anyone got any example workouts?