Chest lacking in strength and size. Suggestions?

[iceman338]

Hi, i've been working out 3-4 times per week for about a year now and i have barely gained any strength or mass on my chest.

I am comparitively strong elsewhere but i can't seem to gain much on my chest.

This is what i currently do once/wk for chest:

Flat DB press 4 x 8
Cable-crossover or flies: 3 x 8
Incline BP: 3 x 8-10

I have tried changing a few things, but nothing seems to help. My chest is usually pretty sore (good sore) for a few days after, but i have pretty much never increased in strength.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[zackmurphy]

Hi, i've been working out 3-4 times per week for about a year now and i have barely gained any strength or mass on my chest.

I am comparitively strong elsewhere but i can't seem to gain much on my chest.

This is what i currently do once/wk for chest:

Flat DB press 4 x 8
Cable-crossover or flies: 3 x 8
Incline BP: 3 x 8-10

I have tried changing a few things, but nothing seems to help. My chest is usually pretty sore (good sore) for a few days after, but i have pretty much never increased in strength.

Thanks for any suggestions!

I would suspect you're not eating enough or enough of the right things to allow your body to add new tissue. More calories. More protein. More carbs around your workouts - the basics.

And I'd be pretty sure you're not forcing gains for yourself (periodization) with any set schedule or plan. You have to plan the gains, not just wait for them. You end up in a rut that way. Want to life more? Just start lifting more. Sure, your reps will drop a little, but in time you'll gain reps back. Then increase the weight again.

And change your exercises. Those clearly aren't working - do other things. And look at your tricep and delt workouts, too.

[iceman338]

Ya..i guess i can try lowering my reps a bit to maybe 5-6 with more weight. See if that helps...

As for the nutrition, i eat plenty of the right things and the right times and have no problem with gains in other areas, so this is proof of that. For example, i went from only being able to do 25 x 6-8 on DB curls to now 40 x 8-10 for 4 sets in about 6 months of training, which i'm quite happy with considering i have kept reletively lean. I've experienced similar growth in size and strength in other areas, just not my stubborn chest for some reason.

Thanks, i will try the lower reps for a while.

[zackmurphy]

Ya..i guess i can try lowering my reps a bit to maybe 5-6 with more weight. See if that helps...

As for the nutrition, i eat plenty of the right things and the right times and have no problem with gains in other areas, so this is proof of that. For example, i went from only being able to do 25 x 6-8 on DB curls to now 40 x 8-10 for 4 sets in about 6 months of training, which i'm quite happy with considering i have kept reletively lean. I've experienced similar growth in size and strength in other areas, just not my stubborn chest for some reason.

Thanks, i will try the lower reps for a while.

Then I would look at your tricep routine. How are your tricep gains?

[iceman338]

Then I would look at your tricep routine. How are your tricep gains?

Not huge, but noticeable. Large increase in mass, but not as much in strength. Definitely more than my chest though.

I've just decided on a new routine that i got off this forum so hopefully a change will help it to, and i'm going to try lower reps as u said.

[zackmurphy]

Not huge, but noticeable. Large increase in mass, but not as much in strength. Definitely more than my chest though.

Well, it's certainly no coincidence that chest gains are disappointing when tricep less than amazing.

I've just decided on a new routine that i got off this forum so hopefully a change will help it to, and i'm going to try lower reps as u said.

Sounds good. Good luck with it.

[farfie]

if you are 155 lbs. i don't think it's fair to say your chest is lagging. get to 170 with similair bf and then take a look

[dpkla12]

had the same problem,found a real good article here by big cat ,http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ice9.htm,helped move my chest alot,hope this article might help,good luck

[dpkla12]

sorry,tried the link I put on here,make sure u delete the helped part out of it,sorry

[Jay Bisto]

ditch the cable crossovers, they define an already big chest, if you do them in a workout, youve only done two beneficial exercises, and forget 5 reps, dont go below 6

my current chest routine that has bought me good gain recently,
flat db press 4 set 12, 10, 8, 6-8 failure
hammer strength seated incline press 4 sets 12, 10, 8, 6-8 failure
flyes(flat or incline vary) 15, 12, 10-12 failure, 12(last set go lighter)
db pullovers 2-3 sets 12 reps

a also feel db works the pecs more than a barbell, people say oh your using more weight so there better, but i feel it involves the front delts too much and take to much stress off my pecs

[peregrine]

i think you need to start eatting more. 5'11" at 155lbs. i've been there. i was shredded but needed mass.
eat and eat. take 155lbs x 20cal.= 3100. so get in a minimum of this. you will gain. study the diet forum and it's stickies. add more calories and protein. cut back on your workout days if more than 4 a week. cut back on cardio to a maintenace if you are doing it excessivelly.
follow workouts with 75gm whey and maybe 50-100gm carbs.

as for building your chest i suggest 1 workout a week

5 min cardio warm up
light joint and muscle stretching
DB inclines 5x3-8
DB flat 3x3-8
Weighted Dips 3x8-12
follow with tris

do that for 4-6wks. then add a set to each exercise. do for another 2-4wks. then take 2wks off and don't touch a weight. cardio can be done if needed during this time. do not do forced reps or negatives as these hinder strength gains. cable crossovers at this point are a waste of time when more valuable things should be done.

also what is your split like? do big compound movements for the foundation of your routines. legs=squats, back=heavy rows(excluded deads due to using squats), chest=db presses, shoulders=military. use reps in the range of 3-8 so as to get hypertrophy but also benefit from strength gains. you can use 5 sets for your primary exercise. many use 5x5, but you seem more like the bodybuilder type so 5x3-8.
i would do something like this 2on/1off/2on/3off so chest,tris/legs/off/back,bis/shoulders,rotator cuff.

good luck

[iceman338]

Thank you very much for the help. I have been doing aroudn 20 minutes of treadmill/eliptical 3-4 times a week, but not any more, this is my new routine:

Monday – Chest/Triceps/Forearms
DB Bench Press
Incline Dumbell Press
Pullovers
Flies
Skull Crushers supersetted w/ close-grip DB press
Tricep Rope Pushdowns
Wrist Curls

Tuesday - Cardio/ABS

Wednesday – Back/Biceps
One-Arm Dumbell Row
Deadlifts
Lat pulldown
CableRows
Curl Bar Curls
Alt. Dumbell Curls
Chinups

Thursday - Cardio/ABS

Friday – Legs/Shoulders/Traps
Squats
Lunges
Leg Curls
Sitting Calves (4 sets)
Barbell Military Press
Dumbell Press
Side laterals
Shrugs

Saturday - Cardio/ABS

On cardio days i plan on doing around 25 minutes of cardio, and then stretching. I don't think this is excessive and i'm hoping it will help my gains now that i'm not doing cardio right before lifting.

I will try the 3-8 rep range, i usually try to make myself fail at around 7.

As for eating, i eat very well (as in health-wise) but i probably don't eat enough calories. Although, i do eat usually 5 meals/day, i will try to get some more in there.

Thank you very much for the awesome posts.

i think you need to start eatting more. 5'11" at 155lbs. i've been there. i was shredded but needed mass.
eat and eat. take 155lbs x 20cal.= 3100. so get in a minimum of this. you will gain. study the diet forum and it's stickies. add more calories and protein. cut back on your workout days if more than 4 a week. cut back on cardio to a maintenace if you are doing it excessivelly.
follow workouts with 75gm whey and maybe 50-100gm carbs.

as for building your chest i suggest 1 workout a week

5 min cardio warm up
light joint and muscle stretching
DB inclines 5x3-8
DB flat 3x3-8
Weighted Dips 3x8-12
follow with tris

do that for 4-6wks. then add a set to each exercise. do for another 2-4wks. then take 2wks off and don't touch a weight. cardio can be done if needed during this time. do not do forced reps or negatives as these hinder strength gains. cable crossovers at this point are a waste of time when more valuable things should be done.

also what is your split like? do big compound movements for the foundation of your routines. legs=squats, back=heavy rows(excluded deads due to using squats), chest=db presses, shoulders=military. use reps in the range of 3-8 so as to get hypertrophy but also benefit from strength gains. you can use 5 sets for your primary exercise. many use 5x5, but you seem more like the bodybuilder type so 5x3-8.
i would do something like this 2on/1off/2on/3off so chest,tris/legs/off/back,bis/shoulders,rotator cuff.

good luck

[zackmurphy]

That all looks very good. Good luck with it.

[peregrine]

that is definatelly a lot of exercises. i would drop the flies, chin ups, cable rows, barbell curls, also i would highlly consider dropping THURS workout day all together.

2x a week cardio should be enough to keep body fat in check and allow you to develop some stamina.
bump up your calories as well.

[Dirk D.]

People often think that if you just change around the exercises you'll eventually find that magic combination that works wonders for your unique and individual inigma of a body. That kind of advice is just another way of saying, "I dunno, try this and that and just keep guessing randomly until you hit the jackpot."

It's very possible that your chest reacts differently to total volume than the rest of your muscles. You're gaining on your other movements, so you know you're eating enough. You don't need zillions of callories a day to gain. Eating over 3000 cals at a buck fifty isn't necessary. Doing so, and continuing to train your chest the way you are, will just lead to weight gain and no strength gain in your chest. If you're gaining on your other lifts, just eating more without changing your chest workout won't change your resluts in your chest.

You've just been using 3 exercises for chest, which is more than enough work to stimulate muscle growth. Going to 4 exercises isn't going to change much. Besides, if 4 exercises work better than 3, why not do 5, or do as many as you know? More work is almost never the answer.

Start experimenting with volume. I'll assume you're training hard enough, ie: using a heavy enough weight and putting in the required effort, so fool around with your volume. If you're doing 10 total work sets for chest, go down to 6. Then try 2 or 3 sets, and see what your chest responds to. Maybe just 3 sets of bench is enough to do the job. Experiment, write down what you did, then analyze what you find over the course of several workouts. It's almost never exercise selection that's the problem, but normally total amount of work.

It's more than likely that the amount of work you're doing for your chest is too much, and doing less would provide the stimulation you need, but not destory it to the point where it can't recover and grow before your next session.

Dirk

[Chris_Seal]

here is what i do for my chest /Tricep day

3 sets BB bench press
3 sets DB incline press
3 sets of dips
3 sets BB close grip bench press
2-3 sets of tricep pushdown

I lift in the 3 sets by going 10 reps (1st set), 8 reps (2nd set), 6 sets (3rd set)
I lift to failure on the last set always.
2 nd set prob 1-2 reps from failure
3rd set frob 2-3 reps from fauilre

Just aim to increase the weight or reps you can do on each excersise each time you go to the gym.
Maybe you need a really high cals diet like me to achieve this (I take 4000)