overtraining or undertraining?

[yaston2003]

I have been doing this new workout split for a 6 weeks now, have been great results and strength gains for all my body parts, except my chest. The current slip i'm doing is
day1: legs and abs
day2: chest and shoulders
day 3: rest
day 4: back, bicep, and tricep
day 5: reapeat
day6 and day 7 rest.

I'm currently doing a bulking cycel of deca, dbol and test E, taking in around 4000-4500 calories
Like i said strenght and mass gains have been great for all body parts except for chest.

This is what I'm doing for chest
5 sets of 12 reps of barbell flat bench
5 sets of 12 reps of incline dumbbell
5 sets of 12 reps of dumbbell flys
I usually hit failure right at the 12 reps. My chest is usually sore for a day or two. Now am I overtraining or undertraining? ANy advice or help will be nice. thanks

[_Tiger_]

I would do one day on, one day off in your training, and dont fail at 12, fail at 6 - 8

[Zapp]

day1: shoulders and abs. day2: chest and calves day3: bi's, tri's and abs day4: quads and hamstrings day5: back and calves. This routine has made a huge difference for me.

[yaston2003]

I dont really want to change my whole routine, cause i'm making good progress on everything else except chest. JUst wanted some advice on why i'm not making good pogress on chest, meaning strength and mass gains. SHould i change my reps, sets or chest excercise. ALso when doing bench should i bring the weight all the way down to my chest? thanks

[stayinstacked]

if the 5 sets of 12 are all work sets and not warmups, then yeah, you may be overtraining. Also, I dont understand your schedule, says day 5;repeat, but days 6 and 7 off??? Repeat what, the legs and abs, then followed by 2 days off? I'm not following ya

[yaston2003]

my schedule is that I allways rest on weds, sats, and sunday. Yes i do repeat legs and abs, and then on the following monday i do chest and shoulders, SO each week i'm either hitting legs/abs or chest/ shoulders or back/bis/tris twice a week. so what would be a normal amount of sets?

[stayinstacked]

Sometimes its tough not overtraining when you get caught up in the enthusiasm of a cycle. But I seriously think its whats holding you back. I would do 2 warm ups for your first set of chest, then 3 work sets your first exercise(so 5 sets total). Then just 3 good all out work sets your other chest exercises. I dont feel its necessary to warm up on ALL of my different exercises for chest, mainly just the first couple sets. I'd def lower the rep scheme to 6-8 for growth. A suficient chest workout would be 10 or 11 sets max for me.

[WildCh1ld]

Sometimes its tough not overtraining when you get caught up in the enthusiasm of a cycle. But I seriously think its whats holding you back. I would do 2 warm ups for your first set of chest, then 3 work sets your first exercise(so 5 sets total). Then just 3 good all out work sets your other chest exercises. I dont feel its necessary to warm up on ALL of my different exercises for chest, mainly just the first couple sets. I'd def lower the rep scheme to 6-8 for growth. A suficient chest workout would be 10 or 11 sets max for me.

This is exactly what I do...

[yaston2003]

I will try your advice. Should I train to failure? Also when doing barbell bench, should I bring the bar down to my chest?

[S.P.G]

I have been doing this new workout split for a 6 weeks now, have been great results and strength gains for all my body parts, except my chest. The current slip i'm doing is
day1: legs and abs
day2: chest and shoulders
day 3: rest
day 4: back, bicep, and tricep
day 5: reapeat
day6 and day 7 rest.

I'm currently doing a bulking cycel of deca, dbol and test E, taking in around 4000-4500 calories
Like i said strenght and mass gains have been great for all body parts except for chest.

This is what I'm doing for chest
5 sets of 12 reps of barbell flat bench
5 sets of 12 reps of incline dumbbell
5 sets of 12 reps of dumbbell flys
I usually hit failure right at the 12 reps. My chest is usually sore for a day or two. Now am I overtraining or undertraining? ANy advice or help will be nice. thanks

That doesn’t look to bad as you are on the gear,, good to see that you are minimizing overlapping of body parts by grouping then together. You could do the same with a 3 day a week split, but you could probably get away with it because of the juice, what I would recommend is mixing up reps a bit, you only doing sets of 12..and insure that you are doing the correct exercises..

[yannick32]

The very best way is to listen to your body, i train 5-6 times a week i dont go heavy i got some damn posture rehab exercices to do but can also train my whole body.

I do 4 sets of 15 reps with 30 seconds rest between sets, and i finish it off with 20-30 minutes of cardio usually stairmaster which works best for me.

Split goes like this

Chest, triceps

back biceps

delts

legs

I can train four days in a row then feel i need a break i take it, then i can train 2 days in a row and take 2 days break.

Everybody is different and this is why your question is quit hard to answer.

[yaston2003]

i guess what i'm doing now is not working for chest, so i'll keep everything else the same anc change my chest day. I may go lower in reps and lower in sets and see what kind of results i get in two weeks.

[yaston2003]

also should i bring the bar down to my chest when doing bench or stop at about 5 inches above my chest?

[dr.shred]

no variety bro, mix up the rep/set schemes.

[G-Force]

no variety bro, mix up the rep/set schemes.

just what i was gonna say

if your bulking you wana keep your reps below 10 unless your warming up
10,8,6,4 always works for me when bulking

you could add a back-off set to that too, which i like to do for an extra pump
so it would go 10, 8, 6, 4, 12

i dont think your over-training by the way although if i was you i would have a rest day after legs

i cant even get out of bed after leg day let alone make it to the gym
so feck knows how you manage it

[RJstrong]

I would suggest doing more sets in the 4-6 rep range... or even some sets of heavy triples.

[yaston2003]

thanks for everyone for replying and helping. I will change my rep in the 4-8 range, and increase weight every week.
Just one more question,
"When doing barbell bench, should i bring the bar all the way down to my chest?"

[gio86]

NO...this causes you to cheat as some people bounse the bar on their chest and loose control and resistance...also it can be a bit to much of a stress on your shoulders.

[gio86]

you do want as much range of motin though

[needmorestrength]

Dont switch your routine as suggested, legs at the start of the week IMO is the best! Only you can answer if your overtraining as everyone is different, although its very hard to determine during a cycle. Personally I hit 12 sets for chest MAX! I will give you some personal cristicism, I was injured because I was bulking and lowered my reps to 4-6. My advice is stay at 8 or more! Its hard to tell if your injured when your on but when you come off you will know! Going below 6 is A LOT of stress on your tendons and joints even though your on deca! Personally I would add Triceps WITH chest! Giver shoulders their own day aka
Day1: Legs
Day2 : Chest/Tri
Day3: Rest
Day4: Back (including rear delts)/Bi's
Day5: Rest
Day 6: Shoulders
Depending on how you feel, start over on day 7 or take another rest day!!!

[needmorestrength]

thanks for everyone for replying and helping. I will change my rep in the 4-8 range, and increase weight every week.
Just one more question,
"When doing barbell bench, should i bring the bar all the way down to my chest?"

Pause a little ways off from your chest! 1/2 to 1 inch

[G-Force]

legs at the start of the week is fine but imo you need a day off after l

if you are training with heavy squats, hacks and leg presses as you should be if you are bulking, there is no way you can perform to the best of your ability the next day at the gym - squats are one of the most demanding exercise available and have a real effect on your whole central nervous system

your cns needs a day to recover before you can even think about picking up the weights again
i have 2 days off after legs

[yaston2003]

My legs are the best part of my body. They are huge and very strong and yes I'm doing heavy squats and leg presses on leg day. My legs recover fairly quickly.
I guess fromt the census here, I should lower my reps to 6-8 and maybe my sets also. SO here is my new chest workout plan:
3 sets of 5-8 flat bench
3 sets of 5-8 incline bench
3 sets of 5-8 flys
3 sets of 5-8 weighted dips
For variety (as Dr. Shred suggested i needed) I will switch between barbell and dumbbell each week for flat and incline. And switch between dumbbell and cables for flys and switch between decline and dips.

My last question is "SHould I take each exercise set to failure or just the last exercise set to failure.
thanks

[_Tiger_]

Yaston, I was wondering if you might be a "Shoulder Bench presser" like myself, I have a hard time not incorporating my shoulders to lift what i'm trying to with my chest. if this is a problem, try cable crossovers, those really seem to squeeze your pecs, pec dec flys are good too

[yaston2003]

Tiger, at times I'm a shoulder bench presser, especially when doing incline dumbbell, my shoulders start to hurt before my chest does. I just then slow down my movement and concentrate more on using my pec, but I will try cable crossovers.

[yaston2003]

SHould I take each exercise set to failure or just the last exercise set to failure.
Also does cable crossovers and dips work the same chest area, and which one of the two is better for inn chest development. thanks

[yaston2003]

bump

[HOLLYWOOD]

day1: shoulders and abs. day2: chest and calves day3: bi's, tri's and abs day4: quads and hamstrings day5: back and calves. This routine has made a huge difference for me.

nope, if your chest is suffering then shoudler day before chest day is a bad idea, your anterioor delt will not be able to recover within 24hours. your shoulders will fail before your chest will, leaving your chest unstimulated

[HOLLYWOOD]

I have been doing this new workout split for a 6 weeks now, have been great results and strength gains for all my body parts, except my chest. The current slip i'm doing is
day1: legs and abs
day2: chest and shoulders
day 3: rest
day 4: back, bicep, and tricep
day 5: reapeat
day6 and day 7 rest.

I'm currently doing a bulking cycel of deca, dbol and test E, taking in around 4000-4500 calories
Like i said strenght and mass gains have been great for all body parts except for chest.

This is what I'm doing for chest
5 sets of 12 reps of barbell flat bench
5 sets of 12 reps of incline dumbbell
5 sets of 12 reps of dumbbell flys
I usually hit failure right at the 12 reps. My chest is usually sore for a day or two. Now am I overtraining or undertraining? ANy advice or help will be nice. thanks

put your chest day first of the week, bring the reps down to 4-8 and knock the sets down to like 12, try either incline or flat db's or bar first and the dips, and that should be all you need, if you can still do more after that then you're not hitting it hard enough and you'll have to re-evaluate your training intensity

[yaston2003]

Hey Hollywood, what do you think of this new routine?
3 sets of 5-8 flat bench
3 sets of 5-8 incline bench
3 sets of 5-8 flys
3 sets of 5-8 weighted dips
and should i bring each set to failure or just the last set to failure for each exercise.

[yaston2003]

Also Hollywood, which is better for inner chest development, cable crossovers or dips? thanks

[HOLLYWOOD]

dips before fly, yes each sets to failure, 12 sets total to failure not including warm-ups! what are your stats?

[HOLLYWOOD]

Also Hollywood, which is better for inner chest development, cable crossovers or dips? thanks

in my experience there wasnt really any specific exericses that really helped with inner chest developemnt what really helped with me was just building up my chest and it just filled out all over, flyes tho may help with that! but do them last compound movements should be your priority

[yaston2003]

5'8
age: 24
210
14-18 % body fat
Most of muscle and mass is in the legs

[yaston2003]

Also, cause i want to work my inner chest, should i do cable crossovers instead of dumbbell flys or would the dips be enough. thanks

[HOLLYWOOD]

ya 12 sets should be good, the reason why i ask is becouse if you're an ectomorph 12 heavy sets might be too much for the CNS.

[yaston2003]

Thanks Hollywood for your input

[HOLLYWOOD]

Also, cause i want to work my inner chest, should i do cable crossovers instead of dumbbell flys or would the dips be enough. thanks

stick to free weights bro! keep the dips and flyes in there but flyes last

[yaston2003]

thanks for everyones input. I will keep you updated and let everyone know if this works or not

[jserret1987]

idk what do you guys think....
Day.1-chest and triceps
Day.2-back and calfs
Day.3-quads and hamstrings
Day.4-shoulders and traps
Day.5-Biceps...
I do Abs ed exept wednesdays unless i do heavy ab workout....
Current Gear--- Trenbalone 100mg ed & Testoviron 250 Currently at 1000mg this and next week then ill taper down 2weeks 750 2weeks 500 and 3weeks 250 ( no Gyno my body handle test extremley well!!!)

20yrs old
196lbs
6'
body fat% 10