Chest lagging behind Shoulders and Tris. Question on this. (Pics attached)

[dan991]

Okay.. I'll jump in on this one as I'm pretty good at finding routines that cause vagina's to hurt for even the most swole cat in the gym. First off- put down the dumbbells and forget the bench. That's easy and you need some trickery involved with your boobies to get them to grow.....

Chest Routine based on pics:

#1 Push Up Split: These are standard push ups. Do as many as you can (to failure) and when you can barely do one more; drop your knees and do them like a chick would (knees on the ground). This will pre-exhaust all other muscles and when you drop your knees you will REALLY feel this in your chest as your pectorals have no choice but to take over completely to do the additonal reps. You want to do the knee push up's to failure also.

#2: Free Motion Dual Cable Cross Machine (google it). Set both arms down about 2-3 clicks from very bottom setting. You want the machine to look like an upside down V. Put 20-30 lbs on the machine, grab both handles and walk forward 2 feet. By now you should be facing away from the machine with handles in both arms; arms by your side (hips). Bend your knee's just a little tiny bit so they are not locked. Arms straight- lift up and in at the same time. Essentially, you are making an upside down V with your arms so they meet in front of you chest level. This is gonna hurt your boobies (not in a bad way).. word to the wise; start VERY low in weight. The biggest guys in the gym have a hard time with this exercise.. not kidding. Based on your pics- I'll be surprised if you can do 16-20 reps with 30 lbs total on the machine.

#3: Dips: Self explanatory. No dip machine assistance; your body weight to failure.

Actual Work Out (in order)

Push Up Split- 2 x failure
Free Motion Machine- 2 x 16 (16 should be failure, adjust weight accordingly starting at 30 lbs)
Dips- 2 x failure

Do one set of push up, then to free motion, to dips. Repeat twice.

Now, here's the fun part; NO REST. Your rest should be the time it takes to get from one work out area to the next; that's it. Let me know if you have any questions. If you don't have a free motion machine at your gym let me know and I can give you another way to do the same thing. You will not like this work out; but you'll see a lot of chest growth quickly. Promise.

[Blackmambar]

Okay.. I'll jump in on this one as I'm pretty good at finding routines that cause vagina's to hurt for even the most swole cat in the gym. First off- put down the dumbbells and forget the bench. That's easy and you need some trickery involved with your boobies to get them to grow.....

Chest Routine based on pics:

#1 Push Up Split: These are standard push ups. Do as many as you can (to failure) and when you can barely do one more; drop your knees and do them like a chick would (knees on the ground). This will pre-exhaust all other muscles and when you drop your knees you will REALLY feel this in your chest as your pectorals have no choice but to take over completely to do the additonal reps. You want to do the knee push up's to failure also.

#2: Free Motion Dual Cable Cross Machine (google it). Set both arms down about 2-3 clicks from very bottom setting. You want the machine to look like an upside down V. Put 20-30 lbs on the machine, grab both handles and walk forward 2 feet. By now you should be facing away from the machine with handles in both arms; arms by your side (hips). Bend your knee's just a little tiny bit so they are not locked. Arms straight- lift up and in at the same time. Essentially, you are making an upside down V with your arms so they meet in front of you chest level. This is gonna hurt your boobies (not in a bad way).. word to the wise; start VERY low in weight. The biggest guys in the gym have a hard time with this exercise.. not kidding. Based on your pics- I'll be surprised if you can do 16-20 reps with 30 lbs total on the machine.

#3: Dips: Self explanatory. No dip machine assistance; your body weight to failure.

Actual Work Out (in order)

Push Up Split- 2 x failure
Free Motion Machine- 2 x 16 (16 should be failure, adjust weight accordingly starting at 30 lbs)
Dips- 2 x failure

Do one set of push up, then to free motion, to dips. Repeat twice.

Now, here's the fun part; NO REST. Your rest should be the time it takes to get from one work out area to the next; that's it. Let me know if you have any questions. If you don't have a free motion machine at your gym let me know and I can give you another way to do the same thing. You will not like this work out; but you'll see a lot of chest growth quickly. Promise.

Hey buddy, thanks for all the info...

I'll be honest with you... I have a thing about lifting light and free wieght excercises and high reps (with some exceptions such as dips and pull ups).
I only like to train heavy and with rest in between each set to maximise my lifts (maybe this is my problem?).
I know its probably not the best attitude to have, but I cant force myself to do excercises that I dont enjoy... know what I mean?

[dan991]

Hey buddy, thanks for all the info...

I'll be honest with you... I have a thing about lifting light and free wieght excercises and high reps (with some exceptions such as dips and pull ups).
I only like to train heavy and with rest in between each set to maximise my lifts (maybe this is my problem?).
I know its probably not the best attitude to have, but I cant force myself to do excercises that I dont enjoy... know what I mean?

Okay... but what are you training? You said you wanted to train your chest. Reality is- some people have stronger muscles in areas other than what you intend to train. You can do a bench press (of any kind) for example and 80% of it can be shoulders, 5% triceps, and 15% chest. As much as we want to believe that putting 315 on the bench and banging out 4 sets of 6 reps is gonna get you mass; its case by case. The routine I'm giving you pre-exhausts all other muscles so your body has nothing to rely on other than you pectorals. That's what you wanted to build right?

[Blackmambar]

Okay... but what are you training? You said you wanted to train your chest. Reality is- some people have stronger muscles in areas other than what you intend to train. You can do a bench press (of any kind) for example and 80% of it can be shoulders, 5% triceps, and 15% chest. As much as we want to believe that putting 315 on the bench and banging out 4 sets of 6 reps is gonna get you mass; its case by case. The routine I'm giving you pre-exhausts all other muscles so your body has nothing to rely on other than you pectorals. That's what you wanted to build right?

What you saying makes perfect sense... I definitely believe that exercising through bench is exactly how you say "You can do a bench press (of any kind) for example and 80% of it can be shoulders, 5% triceps, and 15% chest".

However, I feel doing 30-40 pushup to get to failure then a further 10 on the knees (for example) totaling 40-50 pushups in a set is overkill and probably to much strain and not efficient (that's just the image I have in my head).
Right now I'm thinking the ideal solution (for me) I have in mind is to use machines where I can still have the benefits of lifting heavy while being able to isolate the chest more with strict form...?

[dan991]

What you saying makes perfect sense... I definitely believe that exercising through bench is exactly how you say "You can do a bench press (of any kind) for example and 80% of it can be shoulders, 5% triceps, and 15% chest".

However, I feel doing 30-40 pushup to get to failure then a further 10 on the knees (for example) totaling 40-50 pushups in a set is overkill and probably to much strain and not efficient (that's just the image I have in my head).
Right now I'm thinking the ideal solution (for me) I have in mind is to use machines where I can still have the benefits of lifting heavy while being able to isolate the chest more with strict form...?

That's where I think the common misconception is; how much weight is enough to build mass. If you think about it, its almost impossible without pre-fatigue to hit your chest directly. If you could completely isolate just your chest- how much weight do you think your pectorals can actually take? Its probably less than 30% of the weight you are moving in a bench press.

Failure of a muscle is what's going to force it to grow. You have to get to failure every set or you are cheating yourself in the work out. Doing 6-8 reps and still being able to bang out additional reps is counter productive to what you are trying to accomplish. I think your under estimating the power of a push up. If you can do 30-40 push ups, and then failure is only an additional 10 when you drop to your knees; that shows you in itself that your chest is not only weak, but how much you are using all those secondary muscles (delts, tri's, etc) in lifting which is what is stopping you from getting the chest you want. Doing 10 push up's of your own weight completely relying on your pectoral's is "heavy" to your body- otherwise you'd be able to do a lot more than 10. The ideology behind "6-8 reps" for mass building is that you should reach complete failure at the end of the set to force growth. There's nothing that says you need to have 4 plates on a machine, or what the amount of weight it takes for that to occur. Even if you say screw the push up's; you still need to pre-exhaust your shoulders and tri's before you get on any machine or you still aren't going to get your pectorals to failure and force the growth you want. The easiest way to do that will be a standard bench press with light weight and high reps. then immediately move to the machine and take your chest to failure.

Good luck.

[Blackmambar]

Okay.. I'll jump in on this one as I'm pretty good at finding routines that cause vagina's to hurt for even the most swole cat in the gym. First off- put down the dumbbells and forget the bench. That's easy and you need some trickery involved with your boobies to get them to grow.....

Chest Routine based on pics:

#1 Push Up Split: These are standard push ups. Do as many as you can (to failure) and when you can barely do one more; drop your knees and do them like a chick would (knees on the ground). This will pre-exhaust all other muscles and when you drop your knees you will REALLY feel this in your chest as your pectorals have no choice but to take over completely to do the additonal reps. You want to do the knee push up's to failure also.

#2: Free Motion Dual Cable Cross Machine (google it). Set both arms down about 2-3 clicks from very bottom setting. You want the machine to look like an upside down V. Put 20-30 lbs on the machine, grab both handles and walk forward 2 feet. By now you should be facing away from the machine with handles in both arms; arms by your side (hips). Bend your knee's just a little tiny bit so they are not locked. Arms straight- lift up and in at the same time. Essentially, you are making an upside down V with your arms so they meet in front of you chest level. This is gonna hurt your boobies (not in a bad way).. word to the wise; start VERY low in weight. The biggest guys in the gym have a hard time with this exercise.. not kidding. Based on your pics- I'll be surprised if you can do 16-20 reps with 30 lbs total on the machine.

#3: Dips: Self explanatory. No dip machine assistance; your body weight to failure.

Actual Work Out (in order)

Push Up Split- 2 x failure
Free Motion Machine- 2 x 16 (16 should be failure, adjust weight accordingly starting at 30 lbs)
Dips- 2 x failure

Do one set of push up, then to free motion, to dips. Repeat twice.

Now, here's the fun part; NO REST. Your rest should be the time it takes to get from one work out area to the next; that's it. Let me know if you have any questions. If you don't have a free motion machine at your gym let me know and I can give you another way to do the same thing. You will not like this work out; but you'll see a lot of chest growth quickly. Promise.

Does anyone else have an opinion on the workout above, I am really tempted to give it a go, but I am a little afraid/skeptical about the high amount of reps involved and minimal rest time...

Also I fear the cable machine will always be taken when I need it while I'm running back and forth to different work out areas...

[dan991]

Does anyone else have an opinion on the workout above, I am really tempted to give it a go, but I am a little afraid/skeptical about the high amount of reps involved and minimal rest time...

Also I fear the cable machine will always be taken when I need it while I'm running back and forth to different work out areas...

In the thread started yesterday; you were talking about not being sure if you should cut or bulk. If you want to cut- high reps and no rest will help you achieve that as you're going to burn more calories. It also builds strength which will also add mass.

Well, lets see how weak your chest muscles really are. Go to the free motion machine and just do one set of #2. Can you do more than 20% of your body weight for 10-12 reps without cheating? If not- you really don't have much pectoral muscle and a majority of your previous routine was being done by secondary muscles. I've seen guys that can bench press 415 lbs not be able to do 50 lbs on this for 10 reps. They were big guys- just weak in the chest. Their "I'm huge" ego quickly deflated after that one, lol. That exercise removes the ability of your other muscles to be able to assist your chest. Try doing it and see where you are for chest strength completely isolated.

[kelkel]

Does anyone else have an opinion on the workout above, I am really tempted to give it a go, but I am a little afraid/skeptical about the high amount of reps involved and minimal rest time...

Also I fear the cable machine will always be taken when I need it while I'm running back and forth to different work out areas...

Just depends on your goals Dan. To me it appears to be more geared to fitness than building a maximum amount of muscle.