• 👋Hello, please SIGN-UP FOR A FREE account and become a member of our community!
    You will then be able to start threads, post comments and send messages to other members. Thanks!
  • 💪IronMag Labs® 30% Off Easter Sale👉www.ironmaglabs.com Coupon code: EASTER30🐰

what has worked for you to gain size in your chest?

curttag

Registered
Joined
Jun 19, 2012
Messages
657
Reaction score
37
Points
28
Location
midwest
Get Shredded!
as title reads. i have tried heavy weight low reps, pyramids, high rep lower weight, and german volume. extremely hard gainer in my chest. what seems to work best is german volume training. but still not getting the best results. usually so fatigued after the first 10 reps its hard to get another exercise in with another 10 reps. just looking for some advice bros. thanks in advance
 
Sounds like something to shock the pecs is in order. One way I have used to great effect is the old pre-exhaust training made popular my Mike Mentzer. Chose an isolation movement and do this first to total falure with forced reps at the end say 8-10 reps maybe the pec deck for example, then with no rest go to a compound movement and go to falure on this also with a couple forced reps at the end. 2 super sets like this and your pecs will be begging for mercy. Hold nothing back for more sets but all out effort. Another method I love is fst-7 sets at the end . We all have our fav shock tactics but these are two of my fav's. Then it's lots of clean food and rest.
 
i'm lacking in upper/outer chest, i've been doing wide grip bp with at least a slight incline as suggested here.
 
Drop sets work great for me (hard gainer as well), I only do them on the last set of the exercise. Also, my chest took off when I decreased the total amount of sets I was doing for chest to 12 sets total (usually 4 different exercises for 3 sets, with 2 drop sets at the end of each exercise decreasing the weight by 25% each drop).
 
my chest is actually big for my size...how? idfk...but a typical workout for me looks like this...

light weight high rep pec deck for bloodflow

incline DB - 70lb for 15, 100lb for 10, 100lb til failure, drop set down to 60 failure

decline DB - 70lb for 15, again for 15, and again for 15

incline DB flys - 40lb for 15, 55lb for 12, 70lb for 8, drop set down to 35

flat bench barbell - 95lbs 8 sets of 8 reps, 10 second break between each set for exhaustion.

i love dumbells, i love drop setting, and i love volume at the end. i dont do every workout this way obviously, but its really my favorite for how to train. sometimes i utilize cable flys, sometimes hammer strength machines, sometimes decline barbell, but my shoulder on the left sucks, makes it hard to use barbells, and dumbells have built me.
 
Doing static presses with dumbbells at the end of your bench sets. Grab the dumbbells do a fly hold the weight at the bottom for 15-30 seconds. Then bring it up. Doa few reps untill your training partner needs to assist on bringing the dumbbells up. This will shock you chest into growth if you completely exhaust you chest muscles this way. Just keep in mind you will in no way be able to bench as much each set, unless you take extra long breaks in between sets.

Try it and see how it works, guarantee you'll love it. Although it hurts like a bitch.
 
Doing static presses with dumbbells at the end of your bench sets. Grab the dumbbells do a fly hold the weight at the bottom for 15-30 seconds. Then bring it up. Doa few reps untill your training partner needs to assist on bringing the dumbbells up. This will shock you chest into growth if you completely exhaust you chest muscles this way. Just keep in mind you will in no way be able to bench as much each set, unless you take extra long breaks in between sets.

Try it and see how it works, guarantee you'll love it. Although it hurts like a bitch.

Tried and you are 100% right walnut im pretty sore next day
 
i changed my routine to start with incline db press and focus on incline exercises first and saw good results
 
i'll second that flyes & bench superset-- i got that idea from Mike Mentzer & it worked great while using it. i'm actually gonna start doing it again - my chest size is lacking severely
 
I'll take a different approach here and say that once I got my back stronger, my bench took off.
 
I decreased the amount of sets and bam i started to grow again. Be careful that your not overtraining also.
 
Sorry didn't read entire thread but 5x5 helped strength and size bench incline decline pec deck i also like switching it up w barbells
 
i'm lacking in upper/outer chest, i've been doing wide grip bp with at least a slight incline as suggested here.
FYI the more you widen your grip the less range of motion your pecs recieve and the more damage you'll do to your shoulder joints. Forearms should be paralell to each other at the bottom of your eccentric contraction. That might be what you're doing. However, like differentiating between a close grip bench press and a regular bench press, a wide grip bench would lead me to believe you're exaggerating your grip hoping for more benefit. Ultimately you get less concentric contraction and bad shoulders.
 
flex365,
good info....you might be right. I'm gonna try the what Walnut recommended with the static dumbbell presses @ the end of my chest wo
 
i'm lacking in upper/outer chest, i've been doing wide grip bp with at least a slight incline as suggested here.

I have been doing inclined flys. That really has thickened up my outer and upper chest. I like to do it on the fly machine. Lower the seat all the way down and grab up high on the bars. You'll see some good results!
 
Get Shredded!
i'm lacking in upper/outer chest, i've been doing wide grip bp with at least a slight incline as suggested here.

Usually the weak bench or small chests I've seen were from too narrow of a grip. I wouldn't recommend a wide grip, just normal. Normal is when going down your elbow is at about a 45° angle from the body. Not straight out or against the body.
 
Back
Top