Lagging chest/help

**ScottyShotty** · 10-31-2005, 05:19 AM

My chest grows the slowest and I cant seem to catch up. I've tryed high reps, low reps, every exercise, pre-exhaustiong, etc. The only exercise I feel the pecs really burn is the pec-dec(unfortunately).I have pretty long arms and I've heard guys say tuck your shoulder blades under when benching, etc.
Any suggestions. I havent tryed too many serious super-sets-maybe I'll try that.

**Flexor** · 10-31-2005, 08:00 AM

There are loads of posts on this...

The problem with your small chest is genetics. Lots of people have this problem including myself and there is nothing that can be done other than what you are doing. You just need flat bench, some incline, dips, maybe some decline and perhaps some flyes. Emphasise the eccentric lowering to about 3 seconds and explode powerfully on the concentric. Make sure you get loads of blood into the chest and get a good stretch and peak contraction.

The thing about scapulae retraction when benching is that you aren't stretching the pecs to the full range. Scapulae protraction is performed by the pecs, serratus anterior and pec minor, NOT the front delts, so why would you want to retract? The anterior delts are used in benching whatever you do.

The only real reason for scapulae retraction is for extra stability during very heavy presses for low reps...

http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Sc...ml#anchor70306

**znak** · 10-31-2005, 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by ScottyShotty

My chest grows the slowest and I cant seem to catch up. I've tryed high reps, low reps, every exercise, pre-exhaustiong, etc. The only exercise I feel the pecs really burn is the pec-dec(unfortunately).I have pretty long arms and I've heard guys say tuck your shoulder blades under when benching, etc.
Any suggestions. I havent tryed too many serious super-sets-maybe I'll try that.

Do heavy negatives. Put 110 - 120% of you one rep max on the bar and lower it to your chest. Your partner helps to press it back up and you lower it down again. When I plateau, it works everytime. It also adds weight to your bench like nothing you can imagine.

I normally pyramid up to 90% 1RM with reps of 2-3, then do 6-8 reps at 110% for a couple sets and then 4-6 reps for a couple sets at 120%. You really have to be warm, cause your tendons are really taking a load.

You also really need to have a partner you can trust though, because you are intentially putting more weight on the bar than you can lift.

My bench when from 220 lbs for one rep to 300 lbs for six reps in one year. I did negatives for about 50% of my work outs last year. They really do work.