Since I can remember I have not been able to build my chest

[bwilkes1992]

I'm 5'11 200 pounds with pretty big arms, shoulders and traps but I've tried several different workouts and still have a flabby chest, note that I've been working out for years now off and on and lately 6 days a week. The only thing that works out my chest well is cables which I don't have available to me anymore. Any suggestions?

[jnbrk]

I'm 5'11 200 pounds with pretty big arms, shoulders and traps but I've tried several different workouts and still have a flabby chest, note that I've been working out for years now off and on and lately 6 days a week. The only thing that works out my chest well is cables which I don't have available to me anymore. Any suggestions?

if none exercise work for you I'd play with frequency and volume and see the results I guess

[Biscophan]

Do you focus on the negative?

Do you not lock out reps and keep tension on the chest?

Is your form clean?



Doing those three things really helped me. I don't worry about the weight as much, and instead use very clean form, slow and controlled reps. When I started out, working out was for sports, so I was trying to get strong as fast as possible, and my form lacked (looking back). Literally, drop the weight in half for a workout, and do high reps sets with short rest times, and see how it feels.

[Tommy W.]

If the Flabby is the problem it's your diet and not your training

[angrypenguin54]

DB flys with good form should hit the same or close as cables. Also, don't be afraid of push-ups.

[CanadianNoob]

Flabby chest? Cut.

[GravityLee]

A couple tips

You mention you have tried a lot of programs. Pick one program and stay with it. Go up 5 pounds a week or whatever until you can't with proper form.

You can't grow without proper nutrition. Track your calories and protein at the very least. Calculate your maintenance and eat over it.


Those are probably the two biggest mistakes I personally have made and seen other people make. You can't grow without food number 1. You can't grow without punishing the muscle in a way that tells it it needs to adapt. If you find yourself doing 30 sets a workout.. cut it down to 16. Make those 16 sets count. 30 sets at ho hum intensity is less than nothing compared to 16 quality intense sets.

[Brozef]

Start doing decline BP. Targets the pec like no other. You may have a lack of mind-muscle connection, so high reps for a week or two may help if this is an issue.

Do less tricep isolation workouts, or even none at all. I had a similar issue where my chest was lacking and my tris were not. Cutting out tricep isos and doing just BP (compound) helped my chest and tris grow together, instead of one instead of the other. It's possible your tris are taking over when benching because of their development.

[RxAJ]

For what it's worth I personally saw my best chest growth when I dropped the bench press all together and focused on DB flies and dips. People often overlook the potential of an active stretch to stimulate growth.

[Tommy W.]

People often overlook the potential of an active stretch to stimulate growth.

And exercises that actually directly stimulate the pecs.........

[Trijicon]

Roll your shoulders back and bring your traps / shoulder blades together and keep them in contact with the bench... This will expand your chest and help keep your shoulders out of the exercise and place the main focus on your chest...

Try it sitting upright where you are now... Roll those shoulders back and bring the traps together. Now put your arms out in front of you in a pressing motion and do a couple of 'reps' like that, focus on that feel and how the chest contracts in that position...

This one thing helped me out a lot as I used to be pretty 'shoulder heavy' when doing pressing movements, take those shoulders out of it and focus on the chest.

[EjnarKolinkar]

If the Flabby is the problem it's your diet and not your training

Flabby chest? Cut.

Well OP? What you think?

[bwilkes1992]

Hey guys thanks for the info. Sorry I've been off here for a while. I'll try several things you guys mentioned and hopefully it works. Appreciate it

[JontheAtheist]

You mentioned you worked out off and on.. what exactly does that entail? Working out off and on and not dedicating to a workout program could also be your problem.

I agree with CanadianNoob though. Dieting is key to muscle growth.

[BankWalker]

If the Flabby is the problem it's your diet and not your training

Yep. Building a bigger chest will not address the flab on your chest. Only a calorie deficit will fix the problem.

[BrawnySwoleman]

[bwilkes1992]

[QUOT=JontheAtheist;1273707051]You mentioned you worked out off and on.. what exactly does that entail? Working out off and on and not dedicating to a workout program could also be your problem.

I agree with CanadianNoob though. Dieting is key to muscle growth.[/QUOTE]

When I said on and off I meant over the years. The last 6 months I workout 4 to 5 days a week sometimes 6. I'm not on a plan, I just rotate workouts as my own plan. I try to do various workouts. My friend who is a trainer noticed no matter how I set my shoulders, they aways roll forward causing the focus to move on my shoulders and less chest. He even tried holding them back and I still couldn't hold them back. Idk if it's genetics or because I'm double jointed or what, but it's annoying as ****.

As far as my diet goes, I can't really afford to buy good food like I used to. I eat 6 times a day but I can't guarantee its always super healthy.

[kanis999]

I eat 6 times a day but I can't guarantee its always super healthy.

This is completely irrelevant. Sounds like you have all the nutrition myths stuck in your head still (eating 6x per day, "good" foods vs "bad" foods), so your first stop is the nutrition section.

For many people, simply doing bench press and flies doesn't work the chest correctly without the conscious effort to place the strain in the chest. I always use the analogy of trying to give someone a huge crushing hug while you do bench and flies (a hug that doesn't involve your shoulder blades rolling forward, of course). You need to also deliberately reduce front delt activation which reduces the weight you can bench. Once you become a front delt dominant bencher, it is going to be an extremely difficult habit to break without significantly reducing weight, so you gotta decide now - bench for a good chest or bench for strength?

Few people seem to naturally use the chest during a bench press because they haven't practiced the ability to use the chest with lighter weights. Their bench gets too high for them to be willing to "take a step backwards" and use a light enough weight to learn to use the chest. I'm using 70 lb dumbbells right now and getting chest fatigue and growth magnitudes greater than when I was using 225 lbs with a barbell, or 90 lbs DBs with shoulder dominant form (which doesn't necessarily look bad, or even cause you harm, but it doesn't work the chest).

[CompletePimp]

I'm 5'11 200 pounds with pretty big arms, shoulders and traps but I've tried several different workouts and still have a flabby chest, note that I've been working out for years now off and on and lately 6 days a week. The only thing that works out my chest well is cables which I don't have available to me anymore. Any suggestions?

I'm going to give you a few key things to try:

1) When bench pressing with a barbell, do not flare your elbows out, try to tuck them in while bench and bring the bar near your nipples, not the neck (flaring elbows will do this) Flaring elbows puts all the tension in the shoulders and triceps - so if you feel sore front delts the next day or two you are guilty of doing this.

2) Try not locking out every rep. Meaning bring the bar alllllllll the way down to your chest (Also key, the chest works at the bottom half of the rep and lockout is all triceps) and do not lock out your arms when going up, stop just 2-3 inches short of lockout and bring bar back down. This maintains tension on the chest the entire time and takes a lot of your triceps out of it. Many people that lockout at the top are simply resting, taking all tension off the chest.

3) Prioritize incline benching. Barbells. No machines. Go for 3-4 sets of incline bench in the 8-12 rep range. Doing heavy low rep sets will not make your chest grow.

4) EAT EAT EAT!!

[bwilkes1992]

I'm going to give you a few key things to try:

1) When bench pressing with a barbell, do not flare your elbows out, try to tuck them in while bench and bring the bar near your nipples, not the neck (flaring elbows will do this) Flaring elbows puts all the tension in the shoulders and triceps - so if you feel sore front delts the next day or two you are guilty of doing this.

2) Try not locking out every rep. Meaning bring the bar alllllllll the way down to your chest (Also key, the chest works at the bottom half of the rep and lockout is all
triceps) and do not lock out your arms when going up, stop just 2-3 inches short of lockout and bring bar back down. This maintains tension on the chest the entire time and takes a lot of your triceps out of it.
Many people that lockout at the top are simply resting, taking all tension off the chest.


3) Prioritize incline benching. Barbells. No machines. Go for 3-4 sets of incline bench in the 8-12 rep range. Doing heavy low rep sets will not make your chest grow.

4) EAT EAT EAT!!

alright man I'll try everything you mentioned. Appreciate the reply

[Tommy W.]

I'm going to give you a few key things to try:

1) When bench pressing with a barbell, do not flare your elbows out, try to tuck them in while bench and bring the bar near your nipples, not the neck (flaring elbows will do this) Flaring elbows puts all the tension in the shoulders and triceps - so if you feel sore front delts the next day or two you are guilty of doing this.

2) Try not locking out every rep. Meaning bring the bar alllllllll the way down to your chest (Also key, the chest works at the bottom half of the rep and lockout is all triceps) and do not lock out your arms when going up, stop just 2-3 inches short of lockout and bring bar back down. This maintains tension on the chest the entire time and takes a lot of your triceps out of it. Many people that lockout at the top are simply resting, taking all tension off the chest.

3) Prioritize incline benching. Barbells. No machines. Go for 3-4 sets of incline bench in the 8-12 rep range. Doing heavy low rep sets will not make your chest grow.

4) EAT EAT EAT!!

Couple things...

Flaring elbows at a 45 degree angle will optimize chest involvement and take tension off triceps. Tucking elbows will take tension off shoulders but also chest and it puts tension on triceps. Never going below the 8-12 range is a bad idea for compound exercises. You need some lower rep days also. Other than that, good post.