Small chest...once or twice a week? Critique my chest routine please.

[bigwillster]

Okay I'm on my 2nd week of my cycle and everything seems to be growing except my chest. I'm only doing chest once a week but I'm thinking of hitting it twice. Here's my chest routine. Help will be appreciate. Note: I'm doing a bulking cycle.
Barbell incline 4 sets-6-8 reps
Dumbell incline 3 sets-4-6 reps
Dumbell flat 3 sets-4-6 reps
Weighted dips 3 sets-8-10 reps

I'm really lagging in upper chest and lower chest. Thanks for your help. BIGWIllster

[bigwillster]

Anyone?

[eagle66]

yeah id do
4 sets warm up with 12 then go 10 ,8 ,6 on each bench press exercise. also superset it with dumbell flies. so immediatly after each set of bench do flies same reps as you just benched.
another thing you can do is drop sets. for example dumbell press whatever weight you can 12 times then drop the weights and grab about half as much weight and do as many times as possible repeat with sets of 10 8 and 6. these are the workouts i alternate for chest and i have seen good results

[FromFleshtoSteel]

I've been doing this for the past 5 wks. and it's really been working well:

Flat Bench: 4 sets, pyramiding, 5-8 reps
Incline Bench or Dumbbells: 4 sets, pyramid, 5-8 reps
Decline Bench or Dumbbells: 4 sets, pyramid, 5-8 reps

I rotate the order of those, and if I do Incline Bench then I'll do Decline Dumbbells or vice versa. I find it's a nice change up and it helps me stretch it a bit more. I also do a negative at the end of my incline or flat set and that really hurts. Then I come home and do some wide stance push ups until I can't even lift myself off the floor. Usually sore for 2-3 days after that workout.... Good Luck

[bigwillster]

Thanks guys.

[Van Damme]

Well, I would say my best body part is my chest, as everyone always compliments it. Here is the workout I've done with great success:
BB Bench
DB Incline
DB Bench
Fly movement (either cable cross overs or pec deck)

I don't do BB Incline. I used to, but it is too hard on the shoulders! I do 3 sets, and shoot for around 6-8 on each, more on the DB and fly movements. I also sneak DB Decline as a sub for DB Bench sometimes, and I may add DB pullovers sometimes as well. Just remember, many studies have shown that flat bench works your entire chest, including your upper and lower chest. Anyway, hope that helps!

[kizer_soce]

My best strength gains (from which IMO comes size) came from working chest 2x a week. I do think that you can over do it so I would not recommend doing this for more than 6 weeks or so at a time. By the end of week 4 my shoulders where aching from so much bench work. But here is the routine.

I did chest on mondays and thursdays.
Monday:
Flat BB Bench, 3 warmups and then follow a HIT protocal and do one set to failure, 4-6 reps. That is it, you can't do a ton of volume if you want to work a muscle group twice a week.

Decline BB, same 1-2 warmups to test the weight then perform one all out set of 10-12 to complete failure.

Flyes same thing 1-2 warmups to test the work weight and then one set of 15+ to failure.

On this day I do like to rotate the exercises so I am not doing heavy flat bench all the time, sometimes I will do my flyes for the 4-6 set and flat for 15+, you get the idea. I also vary the exercises somewhat, I won't always do the same fly motion or alway choose to do decline sometimes I like to toss in DB's as well for some incline work. Basically keep the body guessing but keep the work simple.


Thursday:
Flat BB Bench 3 warm up sets then 3 sets to failure, shoot for 4-6 reps the first set, then 10-12 reps on the second set and 15+ on the third......you will have to drop the weight quite a bit when increasing the reps this much. I normally drop 40-50lbs between each set.

Low incline smith, only one or two warmups to test the weight and then 3 sets to failure in the same manner as mentioned in BP. 4-6, 10-12, 15+.

Fly motion, i tend to vary it from workout to work out sometimes pec deck, sometimes crossovers or db flyes, just as long as you put one in you are fine. Again same rep/set scheme. 3 sets 4-6, 10-12, 15+ all taking to failure.

I actually put on 60lbs on my bench (-4 reps) over a six week period of this program. This was done post cycle as well so it was without any androgenic aids (just clomid and arimidex ).

[bigwillster]

rIGHT ON! GREAT INFO. LOOKS LIKE I'LL BE CHANGING MY ROUTINE FOR A FEW WEEKS TO TRY IT OUT. THANKS BRO/

[Butch]

Hey Big, I used to lift twice a week as well (body part 2x a week). I was growing but not a the rate I wanted. So I switched about six months ago to once a week. Doing this I have gfrown a lot more than twice a week. Doing it twice a week I was hurting my shoulder.

As far as my routine is concerned...it is musch like VAn Damme's. I mix it up every once in awhile. But over all this work out is perfect. Give it a try.

[bigwillster]

Thanks for your input Butch. I guess it's a good idea to mix up the routine once ina whiole. thanks

[Darkknight442]

yo man try this:

Incline bench with dumbels
decline bench with dumbels
Flat bench with dumbels.
then i do pec decs
then i finish off with wide grip either flat or incline barbel presses..

each excersise is done in three to four sets of 8 to ten reps each.. it has worked alot for me.. If only i owuldn't skip days i think i would have a nice chest

[Tapout]

i do chest 1 x per week--mondays
i do flat bench
4 sets 12 rep range warm up
2 sets 8 rep range
3-4 sets 3-5 rep range
1 set 8 rep range
sometimes 1 set 12 rep range

thats 12 total sets counting warm ups for chest 1 x per week

it has made my chest huge and ive been training hard for 12 years and have done numerous workouts and this has worked the best

[Sickest Abs]

yeah my chest routine is:
flat bench press4 sets 8-10 reps
flat dumbell press 3 sets 8-10 reps
incline flyes: 4 sets 8-10
and
incline press 4 sets 8- 10

sometimes I do decline...not every chest day though

[kizer_soce]

I agree about variety but I had been training once a week for 3 years on chest and it was time to do something different. Upping the frequency worked wonders for strength and I have since got some size as well. I am trying a new workout that hits every body part every 3 days. It is long and complicated to explain and since it is unconventional most of you would disregard the philosophy entirely so I will not waste my time.

[hoss827]

Shock your muscles, change your routine up alot. I was having alotta trouble with my chest as well, and changing up my routine helped out like no other.