Chest training. Please comment.

[viva_hate]

The thing is that while I am making good progress I still feel that my pecs could be more...well meaty.

I train my chest once a week, bench press, incline with dumbells and I train hard. Yesterday I was checking out Glenn Danzig´s routine and he trains or did train chest twice a week. I like the way he looked and his physique is a huge motivator.

Anyway, I thought I could throw in one extra workout that only focuses on the chest. If I do this that means I will do chest training every fourth or fifth day. Of course if I don't recover then I have to come up with something else.

Anyone have any thoughts? Has somebody tried something similar?

[Marcina]

If you really wanna hit your pecs do 3 different exercises, 3 sets each, aiming for 12-15 reps. I did this and got a really good workout.

 

Try doing some bench presses, bench incline flyes, and push-ups. If you know more, add them for sure!

[joninvegaz]

it really depends on how quickly your body recovers, but two chest workouts, even two upper body workouts, a week should be feasible, as long as you get enough food and sleep. at school we've been following almost exactly what you described, except with closegrip and flys added, and it seems to work well.

[Lean and Green]

Currently, I am training chest on Mondays and Fridays and I am going super heavy. I am doing that for about 7 1/2 weeks and then I am going to rest it up a bit and not train chest as often and focus on something else.

 

I have done it this way before and I like how it feels. 4 days should be enough for your pectorals to recover, no matter how hard you hit it.

[thendanisays]

agreed. if you're not recovered after the fourth or fifth day, you're probably going too hard and are on your way to injuring yourself. if you're training with proper form and using a weight that's challenging, but doable, four or five days should be more than enough recovery time.

[adamx]

I say give it a try.. You'll find out soon enough if you can handle it

 

I workout 3x week, alternating chest and shoulders. So i'll hit my chest twice/shoulders once this week, next week i'll hit shoulders twice and chest once. I'm making nice gains for now, and until that changes, its staying the same

[Aaron]

I go 2x a week. Incline and flat bench. 2sets flat and 1set incline on a light day, heavy day I go 3 flat and 2 incline. As many reps as I can push out. Usually 12-10-8 flat and 8-6 incline.

 

Could also add some dips (plus dip belt if need be).

[adamx]

 

Could also add some dips (plus dip belt if need be).

 

oh man! weighted dips FTW! they blassst my shoulders and chest. I'm doing max dips next week

[viva_hate]

Thanks everyone.

I am not injury prone, I have always been very focused on the form to avoid all potential injuries and have survived well. My shoulders have given me some grief lately, but I am pretty sure that those fancy machines are to blame.

I am throwing in some extra bench stuff and military presses that I have kinda neglected.

Let's get big.

[slavetothegrind]

oh, i agree with aaron. weighted dips work out pretty good for me. i stick to a twice a week work out now making sure i get enough recovery in between.

[Richard]

I think a big part of it depends on the reps you're aiming for, if you want to increase size, you need to be lifting heavy (low reps), pushing your limits

[adamx]

I think a big part of it depends on the reps you're aiming for, if you want to increase size, you need to be lifting heavy (low reps), pushing your limits

 

You'll get big lifting heavy with 8-12 reps. Low reps (5 or less) are more for strength, not muscle growth.

[Richard]

I'm not sure how many reps viva_hate is doing, I think 8-12 is fine, some people do like 15 or 20 even, and I wouldn't recommend that

[adamx]

I'm not sure how many reps viva_hate is doing, I think 8-12 is fine, some people do like 15 or 20 even, and I wouldn't recommend that

 

20 reps has its place. I haven't tried 20 rep squats yet.. Probably will give it a go this summer.

[VeganEssentials]

I think a big part of it depends on the reps you're aiming for, if you want to increase size, you need to be lifting heavy (low reps), pushing your limits

 

You'll get big lifting heavy with 8-12 reps. Low reps (5 or less) are more for strength, not muscle growth.

 

That's what they say, but I put on the most size and strength doing mostly sets of 1-5 reps over the course of a year. Can't argue with a 15 lb. gain in size!

 

It's funny, because I do a lot more moderate-to-high rep sets now, and I'm not gaining any weight even with eating enough that I should be adding a bit of size. Different things work for different people, so you never know if you're going to respond best to low-rep sets until you give them a try!

[viva_hate]

I'm not sure how many reps viva_hate is doing, I think 8-12 is fine, some people do like 15 or 20 even, and I wouldn't recommend that

Since I threw that second chest day in, I divide them pretty much like this:

Chest day 1: 3 sets 4-6 reps on flat bench

Chest day 2: 4 sets 5-7 reps with dbs on incline

 

I am always monitoring my work outs and quite likely going to change that day one into 2 sets of 4-6 reps and 2 sets of 8-10 reps.

[Octopussoir]

Heres a sample of something I do:

 

incline db chest:

40lbx20reps

60x15repsx3sets

80x10repsx3sets

100x5repsx3 sets

20lbx1minute

 

flat db chest:

60x10x3sets

80x10x3sets

100x5x3sets

40lbx1minute

 

flat flyes:

20x30reps

40x10repsx3sets

10x50-75reps

 

cable press

cable flye

pushups (varied hand placements)

and typically a few other things.

 

Just trying to give this as an example of something I personally do.

[DaN]

I warmup with 2 sets of 10 doing the fly (with a easyish weight) just to get the area up & running.Then I do 2 sets of 10 on the bench press, go as hard as you can.Then I do 10 reps of the incline dumbell, again hard as I can.

 

I do that once a week on the same day & every time I come back to the exercise I can lift more than the last time, & the chest just keeps growing