my chest routine is as follows
flat bench press 2 sets 4-8 reps
incline dumbell press 2 sets 8-10 reps
pec dec machine 2 sets 8-10 reps
dumbell pullover 2 sets 8-10 reps
ive also given 2 days before and after chest day and still no growth. my back and delts have grown by an inch each in the past month so i dont thinks its my diet or rest...could it be genetics?any thoughts?
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Thread: Chest not growing
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12-31-2008, 10:47 AM #1
Chest not growing
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12-31-2008, 11:00 AM #2
- Join Date: Jun 2006
- Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
- Age: 43
- Posts: 301
- Rep Power: 237
Perhaps your back and delts are strong areas in relation to the rest of your body. Have other areas of your body grown to the same level? I'm just trying to see if we can isolate this strictly to your chest. It is possible that it's a weak area. Everyone has their strong and weak areas.
I would take a close look at your diet. Regardless of how intense and good your routine is, if you're not providing your body with sufficient calories from good sources, you won't grow. How many calories are you eating per day? Consider gradually increasing this until you get the results you want.
Some other suggestions to help with the actual work out:
- If you are training your chest once every 5 days, add more sets. You can probably do 12-15 rather than just 8.
- Change it up. Alternate between barbell and dumbell exercises each work-out - something of this nature. Don't do the same work-out day in and day out. Your body adapts. Change everything - order of exercises, barbell vs dumbell, actual exercises, rep schemes, etc etc etc. Keep your body guessing.
- Incorporate some intensity techniques such as drop sets and rest pause. Rest pause you can do 2 ways: go to failure on an exercise, give yourself 10-15 second break and then go to failure again for 1-2 more reps - counts as one set. Or you can pick a weight that you can normally get 6 reps and do 2 reps, rest 10-20 seconds, 2 more, etc. The concept is you should be able to do more reps in this fashion than you otherwise would be able to.
Hope that helps !_________________________________________
Actual:
September 1, 2008: 170 lbs and 15% bf
December 31, 2008: 190 lbs and 18% bf
April 30, 2009: 165 lbs and 11% bf
Goals:
June 23, 2009: 155 lbs and 9% bf
July 2009 = Maintenance phase
August 2009 to December 2009 = Bulking
January 2010 to May 2010 = Cutting
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12-31-2008, 11:10 AM #3
yeah ive put on an inch everywhere almost except for chest and my back has widened quiet a bit ...i consume about 3500 cals and in this month i put on around 9 pounds .
the alarming thing is my bench is going up week after week. for ex i started inclined db press at 30 pounds 4 months back now im doing 60 pounds but chest looks the same.
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12-31-2008, 11:14 AM #4
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12-31-2008, 11:21 AM #5
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12-31-2008, 11:26 AM #6
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12-31-2008, 11:28 AM #7
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12-31-2008, 11:35 AM #8
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12-31-2008, 11:36 AM #9
- Join Date: Jun 2008
- Location: Hilliard, Ohio, United States
- Age: 37
- Posts: 553
- Rep Power: 220
first, the sets are too low then if u are not growing with that routine. I used a 5x5 routine for mass and my chest definitely got some results, here is my routine
flat BB bench 5x5
Incline DB bench 4x8
Dips (weighted if possible) 3xfailure
pec fly (DB's, Pec dec, and cable work well) 3x8
That is a medium level for me, some days i will add extra exercises in if my body is feeling good, such as a different style of flys or anothger DB press movement. I have also done a superset with pushups and dips. Also what is ur diet like? If you dont eat enough you wont grow. Shoot for around 3000 cals a day with plenty of protein. Heres an article i think that helps tremendously. hope this all helps!
http://www.animalpak.com/html/articl...ils.cfm?ID=415"Trust yourself, break some rules, don't be afraid to fail, ignore the naysayers, work like hell, and always give something back" Arnold Schwarzenegger
Vegetarian, before you ask where I get my protein do some research
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12-31-2008, 11:48 AM #10
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12-31-2008, 11:49 AM #11
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12-31-2008, 11:50 AM #12
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12-31-2008, 11:53 AM #13
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12-31-2008, 12:05 PM #14
- Join Date: Feb 2008
- Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
- Age: 44
- Posts: 123
- Rep Power: 202
Mine's very simular.
Looks like you're not doing enough. Sounds like you've made some good strength improvements in your chest, so if it's not growing than I suspect the same as everyone else: not enough sets and diet isn't good enough for growth.
He's what I've been doing the past few weeks and I've been putting some meat on after a frustrating platue.
Flat bench for a warm up. (not too heavy, 50%-60% ORM) 1 or 2 sets, 7 reps
Incline Press, 3 sets of 7
Weighted Dips, 3 sets of 7 (leaning forward and going deep to put more emphasis on the chest)
Incline Flies, 3 sets of 7
Pullovers, 3 sets of 7
See my routine on bodyspace to get specifics on how I work my sets and reps for continued progression.
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12-31-2008, 12:07 PM #15
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12-31-2008, 12:20 PM #16
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12-31-2008, 12:26 PM #17
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12-31-2008, 01:06 PM #18
How long have you been doing this chest workout? Could be that your chest has grown use to this routine. You're not really going to get much of a chest workout just doing 2 sets for each exercise. Bump yours up to 4 sets each then do that for awhile and see if its still not growing. Also whats your form like? I know a lot of these exercises if you dont use the correct form you're not going to use your chest muscles at the optimum levels. Also I would add cable cross overs at the end to your routine because you can get a hell of a pump with them at the end of your workout.
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12-31-2008, 03:46 PM #19
- Join Date: Oct 2008
- Location: Waco, Texas, United States
- Age: 34
- Posts: 652
- Rep Power: 217
strict incline dumbells will help. make sure your wrist is angled to reduce deltoid activation
genetics determine the shape of your muscles and to a lesser degree how fast they grow, but they dont determine how big the can get. that comes from diet and exercise. try doing slow sets and dont lockout at the top to keep tension on your chest.
5x5 for the win!“You are not what you were born, but what you have it in yourself to be.”
- Liam Neeson
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12-31-2008, 11:51 PM #20
hey thanks all you guys for your inputs...
i never used to do push ups in my routine and when i used to do it i used to be totallly tired and my muscles would be totally fatigued to bench or do any other exercise...maybe i should concentrate on doing push ups?which kind?during the begining or end of the workout?
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01-01-2009, 12:30 AM #21
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01-05-2009, 03:51 AM #22
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01-05-2009, 05:17 AM #23
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01-05-2009, 05:22 AM #24
- Join Date: Jan 2009
- Location: Hartsville, South Carolina, United States
- Age: 36
- Posts: 354
- Rep Power: 215
Add push ups in between your bench days, do 2 sets of push ups, last set go to failure. So, you will need to bench only once a week. This made my chest and shoulders explode, but I don't know if it will work for you. Try it for a month, if you don't see any noticeable changes then try something else.
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08-20-2011, 09:40 PM #25
- Join Date: Jun 2011
- Location: singapore, singapore, Singapore
- Age: 31
- Posts: 1
- Rep Power: 0
I need help too!!!!!!
i do 4sets of incline bench press 8-10 reps
3 sets flat bench press 8-10reps
3 sets incline flys 8-10reps
3 set dips to failure
3 sets pullover 8-10reps
For the bench press i normally do failure set after the 1st set.but i still see no diffrence=( help me please.im on no supplements
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08-20-2011, 10:15 PM #26
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06-03-2014, 02:00 AM #27
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actually its contraction thing, you need to put manual tension when training, i've said this alot on this forum so i hope it doesn't sound like i'm advertising for a youtube channel
i.e biased but special guest for mike chang 'ben pakaulski' states "the body puts the tension whereever it wants" YOU need to manually put the tension. There's 3 videos with ben as a guest i'd recommend watching it
i myself feel my chest is stronger but also like the OP it isn't growing as much as i want it to, maybe i'm not going hard enough, each muscle is different
ALTHOUGH maybe its just my bottom pecs lagging, people mainly train upperchest but that doesn't round the pecs off well. Because when i stand on the side my pecs DO look reasonably good....i need to add more decline, but decline STILL feels like it trains the top
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06-03-2014, 03:02 AM #28
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06-03-2014, 06:46 AM #29
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07-20-2015, 04:13 PM #30
I have a little tip here based on personal experience. I had a similar problem until a few years back. I completely agree with some of the posts here that say that its genes. When i worked out, my shoulders, thighs and arms popped out sooner than my chest. I tried a few things, and i am not exactly sure which one worked.
Stronglifts 5*5 followed by normal heavy lifting bodybuilding routine - for 2 months i followed stronglifts to get some strength to lift heavy weights. After 2-2.5 months i switched back to my normal routine but with heavier weights. It made a lot of difference to the fullness in my chest. I did only 4 last sets on machines and before that 5-7 sets of barbell press making the bar touch your chest on every rep. The explosive motion from there probably worked.
The second trick is a bit controversial in some circles - i tried lifting with a slight arch in my back. The arch should not be that big that it puts pressure on your back, but good enough to make sure that you are pressing against your chest with full force. I recommend you try it with some professional in your gym so that he can explain you the right way to do it. If you see powerlifting competitions, there is a slight arch that is allowed even there, some people do it more than other but a little arch worked for me and my back is still stronger than ever after 5 years with that kind of lifting and at 34 years of age. But again as i said , do it under guidance and DO NOT try it if you feel that you are putting pressure on your back.
Genes are a factor, but they don't stop you from building a bigger chest..they are just a hinderance like so many other things in life that you have to overcome.
Good luck !
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