Need help developing chest

[Little_Nugget]

Hi all, I've had a lot of trouble developing my pecs compared to all the other muscles in my body. There is no definition or real mass in the chest area and my lower chest is flabby, almost to the point of bitch tits. To address this I've tried adding push ups, DB press and decline DB press to my routine. Decline seems to be hitting the spot but I've only been doing it for 1 week so far. Soon I'll receive my dip station so I hope that helps also. I've watched countless videos on correct bench press form and read like 50 threads about chest exercises but none of the advice seems to be working.

I was wondering since my chest is so crap compared to the rest of my body should I start doing 2 chest workouts each week?

At the moment it's chest and triceps on Monday on the 3 day split with 3 chest exercises each week ranging from BB press, DB press, Incline BB press, Incline DB press, push ups, flyes, incline flyes, decline DB press, seated machine chest press. I'm Wondering if I should do another 3 exercises on Friday or just stick with my routine. For the last 2-3 weeks I've done 3-4 sets of 6 and below reps. Before that I was doing about 8 and below.

[Shreder54]

How long you been lifting? Working chest once a week at 3 exercises isn't really enough imo.
Maybe try to add an exercise to your chest day.
Flat BB bench 3x8
incline BB bench3x8
Dumbbell flys 3x8
Dips 3x8

Make sure you focus on your chest when do these exercises and arn't just going through the motions with all the power coming from your arms.

[Little_Nugget]

How long you been lifting? Working chest once a week at 3 exercises isn't really enough imo.
Maybe try to add an exercise to your chest day.
Flat BB bench 3x8
incline BB bench3x8
Dumbbell flys 3x8
Dips 3x8

Make sure you focus on your chest when do these exercises and arn't just going through the motions with all the power coming from your arms.

Thanks for the advice.

The sad thing is I've been lifting seriously for over a year now, and I get so upset and frustrated when I think about all the time I dedicated to get such a poor result, especially in my chest. At one stage I was doing 5 day splits and was doing 5-6 chest exercises each week which didn't work either. I've blamed it on diet, on bad advice, and bad form but even after I've addressed these things I'm getting nothing. I'll take your advice and add another chest exercise to my routine.

I'm still trying to understand how to focus on my chest, I'm trying to follow the principle of my body/chest getting pushed into the ground/bench during the lifts, and I'm trying to tuck in my elbows as much as I can. I'm at the point where I'm thinking of starting from the beginning benching about 60lbs with the best form possible or hiring a personal trainer because this is just getting ridiculous.

Yesterday I got so frustrated after my chest workout I felt like giving up as I'm finding it hard to see the point of all this.

[tobyow]

What order do you perform your chest exercises? Maybe switch it up and do your flyes first to pre-exhaust your chest before your presses.

[Little_Nugget]

What order do you perform your chest exercises? Maybe switch it up and do your flyes first to pre-exhaust your chest before your presses.

I've always done flat BB or DB press, or seated chest press to begin with. Thanks, I'll follow your advice.

[KoHuskie]

I have been doing this for a month, and continue to see good results. Some may say it is too much, but I have found it to hit all the areas of the chest and give me strength and definition.

-Flat bench 5-8 reps x 5 sets
-Incline bench same^
(alternate between DB and BB each week)
-Cable Fly 8-12 reps x 4 sets
-Pec dec 8-12 reps x 4 sets

Comes to a total of 18 sets. I usually do a burn out set of pushups and call it a day. Works for me, give it a try.

[TotalCombat]

Thanks for the advice.

The sad thing is I've been lifting seriously for over a year now, and I get so upset and frustrated when I think about all the time I dedicated to get such a poor result, especially in my chest. At one stage I was doing 5 day splits and was doing 5-6 chest exercises each week which didn't work either. I've blamed it on diet, on bad advice, and bad form but even after I've addressed these things I'm getting nothing. I'll take your advice and add another chest exercise to my routine.

I'm still trying to understand how to focus on my chest, I'm trying to follow the principle of my body/chest getting pushed into the ground/bench during the lifts, and I'm trying to tuck in my elbows as much as I can. I'm at the point where I'm thinking of starting from the beginning benching about 60lbs with the best form possible or hiring a personal trainer because this is just getting ridiculous.

Yesterday I got so frustrated after my chest workout I felt like giving up as I'm finding it hard to see the point of all this.

Here's what I think: Stretch! Warm up with a few sets of pushups. Do 5 sets of 8 flat bench(if u can do 10 reps then add more weight)then do 4 sets of 8 incline,then either do some fly's or finish with more push ups. Simple but if you have a layer of fat on your upper body then you must do some cardio or something to get rid of that,then you will start to notice your defintion coming in(push ups are good) also a good tricep routine will improve your bench a lot. There is nothing else to do,keep it basic,keep it simple it works for me!

[MotherSuperior]

What did you bench when you started a year ago and what do you bench now? Do you keep a log of all your workouts? If you had never worked out previous to this year, then you should have been able to add some weight or reps every week up to this point.

Bench, incine, dips are the bread and butter. Whether using db or bb you should see gains. Switch it up every few months.

Other than that it comes down to diet. You have to cut some body fat. Right now I still have a bit of fat under my left tit that bugs me, but I am more worried about strength at the moment so I live with it for now. Of course, my chest looks 10x better than it did back in november when I took back up lifting, and I have put on 15lbs.

[Little_Nugget]

I have been doing this for a month, and continue to see good results. Some may say it is too much, but I have found it to hit all the areas of the chest and give me strength and definition.

-Flat bench 5-8 reps x 5 sets
-Incline bench same^
(alternate between DB and BB each week)
-Cable Fly 8-12 reps x 4 sets
-Pec dec 8-12 reps x 4 sets

Comes to a total of 18 sets. I usually do a burn out set of pushups and call it a day. Works for me, give it a try.

Thanks for that. I don't have a pec dec at home. What's the difference between pec dec and cable flyes?

Here's what I think: Stretch! Warm up with a few sets of pushups. Do 5 sets of 8 flat bench(if u can do 10 reps then add more weight)then do 4 sets of 8 incline,then either do some fly's or finish with more push ups. Simple but if you have a layer of fat on your upper body then you must do some cardio or something to get rid of that,then you will start to notice your defintion coming in(push ups are good) also a good tricep routine will improve your bench a lot. There is nothing else to do,keep it basic,keep it simple it works for me!

That sounds like a good idea to do push ups to warm up. I can only do 4 sets of 10-25 I'm 5"6 and 158lbs - is that amount of push ups pathetic? I think I have a pretty good tricep routine. My triceps are probably the most improved muscles since I started lifting yet my chest is ****house. Thanks.

What did you bench when you started a year ago and what do you bench now? Do you keep a log of all your workouts? If you had never worked out previous to this year, then you should have been able to add some weight or reps every week up to this point.

Bench, incine, dips are the bread and butter. Whether using db or bb you should see gains. Switch it up every few months.

Other than that it comes down to diet. You have to cut some body fat. Right now I still have a bit of fat under my left tit that bugs me, but I am more worried about strength at the moment so I live with it for now. Of course, my chest looks 10x better than it did back in november when I took back up lifting, and I have put on 15lbs.

When I first started I could do 66lbs DB presses for about 12 reps. Now over a year later I can only do about 121lbs BB press for about 2-4 reps with pretty **** form. I always seem to feel it in my shoulders. I saw in a video that you should not have to extend your arms too far back and upwards to get the BB off the rack, and it's bad for your shoulders if you do. My rack requires me to extend my arms this way so I think that maybe why. I didn't do DB presses for a long time but when I did it the other week I could only do 97lbs.

I've never done dips before so I'm looking forward to getting my dip rack. I always thought that exercise was for your triceps but a lot of people recommend it for your chest so I'm hopeful that will help.

I started doing more cardio and dieting a the beginning of this year and lost 22lbs, but still no signs of pecs.

[MotherSuperior]

When I first started I could do 66lbs DB presses for about 12 reps. Now over a year later I can only do about 121lbs BB press for about 2-4 reps with pretty **** form. I always seem to feel it in my shoulders. I saw in a video that you should not have to extend your arms too far back and upwards to get the BB off the rack, and it's bad for your shoulders if you do. My rack requires me to extend my arms this way so I think that maybe why. I didn't do DB presses for a long time but when I did it the other week I could only do 97lbs.

I've never done dips before so I'm looking forward to getting my dip rack. I always thought that exercise was for your triceps but a lot of people recommend it for your chest so I'm hopeful that will help.

I started doing more cardio and dieting a the beginning of this year and lost 22lbs, but still no signs of pecs.

*I am assuming you mean that you started out pressing 33lb dumbells for 12 reps.

I think you pretty much nailed the problem right there. It is your bench. You are not able to keep your back tight when unracking, which is not good. If you are primarily feeling it in your shoulders, you are also probably not tucking your elbows in enough.

Considering that you cannot setup your bench properly, I think you would be better off with sticking with db for now. Be sure you keep track of what you are lifting and keep in the 3-5 sets of 3-8 rep range for flat and incline. Once you can start repping that weight 8-10 on more than one set, it is time to move up in weight. I would also keep the dips in the same range and add weight (dumbell between legs or by some heavy chains to wrap around your neck) as needed. You should be fine using your bench for CG benching for tricep work.

Pushups are fine, but once you get in the >15 rep range you are pretty much just working on endurance and not building muscle. They would probably be a good finisher.

[Little_Nugget]

I am assuming you mean that you started out pressing 33lb dumbells for 12 reps.

I think you pretty much nailed the problem right there. You are not able to keep your back tight when unracking, which is not good. If you are primarily feeling it in your shoulders, you are also probably not tucking your elbows in enough.

I started off doing 66lbs DB press, 33lbs in each hand for 10-12 reps.

Is bad unracking really that much of a problem that it will throw the whole exercise out the window? That means I've wasted a lot of time bench pressing. I will stick with DBs for a while. I might start looking for a new rack, or modify my current one.

[MotherSuperior]

I started off doing 66lbs DB press, 33lbs in each hand for 10-12 reps.

Is bad unracking really that much of a problem that it will throw the whole exercise out the window? That means I've wasted a lot of time bench pressing. I will stick with DBs for a while. I might start looking for a new rack, or modify my current one.

No, but you said you were having discomfort in your shoulders. That and not tucking your elbows popped out to me as the most likely reason. The best thing you could do is put up a video. I am just making assumptions off of what you are saying.

The proper way to bench is back tight(which you will lose unracking), elbows tucked, back arched etc..... That does not mean it is the only way to do it. Some people will keep there elbows flared out but only bring the bar down untill their upper arms are parellel with the floor. You can get results lifting like that also, but I would think you would be better off with the db for now.

You could videotape your self benching and post it so people can see what is going on.

FYI When referring to DB press don't combine the weight of the two dumbells. exp If i press 2 100lb dumbells for 8,then I did 8x100 db press.

[jiberish.]

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