Lose the barbell flat bench?

[DeniZen]

A general question about flat barbell bench....I'm an old newbie. I'm working on a lagging upper chest and have added more volume and exercises for that area. However I'm concerned about over training. I'm talking about 12 sets in the 8-12 rep range right now, plus two warmup sets on the barbell work.

So I was thinking about deleting flat barbell bench from my routine for a few weeks/months. Would I see any less general chest development? btw I workout alone at home, no machines just dumbbells and barbells.

Thanks!

[Bigd89]

Sweet jesus...12 sets on chest? You guys are hardcore. On chest I only do 7-8 sets.

[DeniZen]

Sweet jesus...12 sets on chest? You guys are hardcore. On chest I only do 7-8 sets.

yes it is too much. Only did it twice. That is my question...I need to get rid of something. I forgot to mention I have two flat bench exercises...DB and BB. Losing them would leave 6 sets. Geez I don't know what to do. Maybe keep all the exercises and just do 2 sets of each.????????????

[Twist]

If you have a lagging upper chest then try not doing ANY upper chest exercises for a while. THis is something I have struggled with for a while and the best way I have found is to bring up my middle and lower chest and this fills in my upper chest. I see a lot of guys training upper chest harder and harder but if you don't have the attachment sites it won't do anything. The best thing to do is make the middle chest fill in the upper portion. The lower chest should be large enough to support this.

My chest workout
Flat Db press 16-20 rep warmup, 6-10,6-10,6-10, 16
Decline DB press 16 rep warmup, 6-10, 6-10, 6 drop 16
Flat flyes 16, 16, 16

1 month do DB then next month do BB

[ray0414]

i normally do a few sets of incline dumbell before any barbells just to get warmed up, then incline barbell, then flat barbell, then flies either with cables or with dumbells. has gotten me pretty nice boobs for being under 170.

[Braveone]

I don't think 12 sets is out of the question for back, chest or legs. Those are big muscle groups that need big stimulation. I train westside for meets and on max effort day with assistance work my workout might approach 25 sets, half is direct chest work.

[M302_Imola]

You are probably fine w/ the 12 sets as long as you are getting proper nutrition. I do think doing BB and DB flat in the same workout is overkill! You also need to change up your exercises...start w/ flat BB press followed by DB incline press one week and then the next week start with incline BB press followed by DB flat press. I am a firm believer in weighted dips (make sure you lean over to recruit mostly chest). Incline DB flyes are also a favorite...my upper chest is one of my strong points (luckily)!

[stpete]

Agree w/ Braveone and M302Imola. I always do 12 sets, and i quit doing flat bb's 2 years ago.