Bodyweight Chest Exercises for muscle mass

[LilBr00mstick]

Hey, I am new to this forum. My name is Ivan, it's nice to meet you guys.
Due to the pandemic, I have had a hard time hitting the gym. My uni gym only offers 45 minutes a day daily, with pre booking. I am looking to subscribe to a local gym that doesn't require pre-booking but that's quite hard. Therefore, I am limited to bodyweight exercise, with a 20-65lbs elastic band and a pull up bar which I am sure is on the verge of snapping in half. I am 18, and 80kg. The area of my body that needs the most work is abs and chest. I make this post specifically to inquire about exercises that can help grow my chest.

I started hitting the gym at 15, at which I could bench press 60kg for about 3 reps. Three years late, I am at a neat 75kg (pre-covid) but my chest has barely increased in mass; a very tiny amount compared to the growth of my other muscles. I am at the point where I can do 70 normal pushups without stopping or 30 clapping pushups. I have started doing normal pushups with an elastic band, and I am thinking of getting a backpack and filling it up to the brim with rice. But this pushups stuff is starting to seem ridiculous, as I know that to train for muscle mass I should be doing at most 8 reps (for me personally). Are there any exericses that you can recommend that require little to no equipment? I don't even have a set of dumbbells as I've recently moved out and the ones I have ordered will most likely take a month to arrive.

Thanks guys

[sitsonCHROME]

Mass with bodyweight will be a hard thing to achieve. I would say go with the weighted backup for pushups. I did the same thing for pushups on lockdown, put a case of water in a backpack and it weights 30lbs. Definitely a good start and you can add more as you go.

[BeginnerGainz]

Slow eccentric, releasing hands each rep, increased RoM with handles will do the trick. It worked for me on quarantine. Don’t count out the humble push up!!!

[Xpiro]

Backpack weighted push-ups with handles. Got better results with them than with bench press, and I don’t foresee myself going back any time soon.

[air2fakie]

Do pushups with handles both flat and with feet up on a chair - you can get an 80-100 lb adjustable weighted vest that'll likely be more than enough for years.
The big online retailers have them at decent prices if you get the ones sold directly by them, but they get sold out shortly after they come in stock each time.

You can also do forward leaning dips between stools or the seatbacks of sturdy chairs, but be mindful of your shoulders.

[safcpaul]

Weighted push ups are great but don't do it with a backpack. The correct way is to put the weight on the upper part of your lower back. When you place the weight too high up on the back you're taking away one of the main benefits of the push up, which is allowing your scapula to move freely

[Casca]

You say you can do 70 push ups. Ya, I don't really know what that means without seeing you doing it. When I was doing crap form push ups, sets of 50 (no where near failure) was easy.

Then I started doing all the way down, all the way up to a full scapular protraction at a controlled pace. Don't go fast like you are trying to get your rep count over with. You don't have to purposely go slow, but going slow will make it more difficult. Go at a controlled tempo where you notice your form. I just started doing sets of 15 of those (I was doing just 10 reps per set for a while), although I am not really worried about that, it was a tool to get me back into planche progression, which is why I really focused on scapula protraction.

Nearly everyone I see at the gym doing push ups are like cross-fitters doing kipping pull ups. "Hey, lets make this movement to build muscle as easy as possible so we can do more reps." I see guys 1/4 repping push ups and adding weight, to do weighted push ups when they aren't even doing a correct form push ups that would crush them without added weight lol. Why not just actually do a push up before adding weight?

Sorry OP, I am too inebriated to give a useful response, just a rant.

[Xpiro]

Weighted push ups are great but don't do it with a backpack. The correct way is to put the weight on the upper part of your lower back. When you place the weight too high up on the back you're taking away one of the main benefits of the push up, which is allowing your scapula to move freely

I don’t have trouble manipulating my scapula with a backpack higher than lower, and I find that the latter puts too much stress on my low back. Grated, the pack is large enough to cover the majority of my back anyway so I have little control over where it sits. I just can’t have it too tight, which I guess necessitates a little extra balancing act.

[GrouchyUSMC]

Backpack weighted push-ups with handles. Got better results with them than with bench press, and I don’t foresee myself going back any time soon.

If your backpack has a hip belt so it stays in the right position, you can elevate your feet and make them even more difficult.

[Garage Rat]

Make yourself some dip bars from 2x4's or plumbing pipe.
Dips are great and can be loaded easily.
Do a search for DIY plans for dip bars.

You can certainly make your pushups harder in various ways and if your really targeting chest a wide grip elbows out position is best IMO.
If though you have a shoulder issue these may not be for you.
Also i sometimes use a mini band doubled up around my back and through my hands for extra resistance.
If you have chain links(i do for powerlifting)you can drape them around your neck for extra resistance.

[Casca]

Make yourself some dip bars from 2x4's or plumbing pipe.
Dips are great and can be loaded easily.
Do a search for DIY plans for dip bars.

Another option is to get Olympic rings, so long as you have rafters or something to hang em on. Although initially it will be very difficult till you learn how to stabilize on rings. But that's a good thing, it'll make you stronger.

You can certainly make your pushups harder in various ways and if your really targeting chest a wide grip elbows out position is best IMO.
If though you have a shoulder issue these may not be for you.

Even if no shoulder issue currently, this can cause shoulder issues in lots of people. It may take months or years or maybe they are one of the few that won't have any problems. In the calisthenics community, it's always recommended to never flare elbows out. You can do a pretty wide hand position without flaring the elbows out.