chest wont grow!

[americanoak]

Ok so I have been working out for a few years and all of my body parts are pretty close to proportions and stuff, but when it comes to my chest it looks like i have only worked it out once or twice in my life time... I have a good sized outer chest, i have good seperation in the upper middle and then when it comes to my lower middle chest there is nothing there. There is juts a triangle of muscle mass missing and overall my chest is just pretty bad... my gf asked me why i even work it out because it NEVER grows.

I have benched 295 for 2 reps and 225 for 16 reps, so im not weak, my chest just doesnt seem to respond to my training... any suggestions?

[JinNtonic]

I changed up to more incline bench with dumbbell flys and my chest improved.

Do you use a wide grip?

[americanoak]

yes, my pinkeys touch the two rings around the barbell when you put ur arms up to the bar

[JinNtonic]

My index finger touches that ring bro. I think you can go wider.

[americanoak]

I also do dumbbell chest press, 115lbs for 4 reps 110 for a couple reps (not sure how many) and have gotten 100 about 12 times, so i dont think the inch difference between my pinky and my index finger is the reason why my chest wont grow. I used to not go down all the way with the dumbbells, but I have been doing them right for quite a while and no improvment

[JinNtonic]

about 4 inch diff from pinky to index. Just trying to help bro.

[americanoak]

I know what you mean, ill try that out. But i have been working out my chest for years, can do heavier weights than a lot of people i have trained with, and yet their chest just is much much better than mine...

people that dont even workout have a chest close ot mine, it is very sad for me

[JinNtonic]

You look ripped up in your avy... I would try wider grip, slow good form. Maybe you just need to change it up a bit.

[LatissimusaurousRex]

A lot of people will choose a wider grip thinking it hits their chest better, but in reality you're just putting more stress on your ligaments in your shoulders, stick with slightly wider than shoulder width.

Hey Americanoak i got the same problem except vice versa, im not as powerful but I can make my chest pretty eye popping. I would reccomend starting your chest workout with something thats not Flat bench. I actually usually start chest with incline, its a harder muscle to develop so I wanna go big on it ya know. So switch it up try incline or decline, dumbells or barbells, just find out what works for you. Maybe switching it up everytime is what will get your chest to grow you never know, you gotta learn how YOUR body responds. Try pre-exhausting doing your flies and cable crossovers first. Do some supersets or tri sets or giant sets. I assure you there's always SOMETHING you haven't tried.

[americanoak]

its just rly frustraiting..
i mean, im obv increasing my strength because i am benching 225 16 times... just my chest wont show it. I will try to do incline, but if even if i start with flat i dont know how i can get to the weight im doing while seeing absolutly no improvment in muscle size

[americanoak]

anyone else

[DetroitCity]

You seem to be more concerned about strength .. i'd concentrate more on working the muscle with good form, slower more concentrated reps .. and definitely try incline bench first for a bit

[JBarron]

I agree with the above.

Try doing some dropsets and really concentrate on hitting what ever particular muscle your working, go till failure. I've noticed this helps me put size on certain muscle groups.

[MotoLifter]

try declines. i remember seeing test results that showed declines stimulated more muscle than flat or incline. also try switching up the exercises, muscle confusion always helps me with laggin muscle groups.


Moto

[Dog-Slime]

Decline dumbells should be your main exercise. Also remember that the chest is not a huge muscle so keep the sets and excercises kinda low. A LOT of people I know who cant grow their chest well are overtraining it.

[Teufel_Hunden]

You say you can bench 225 16 times. I never rep anyt weight that many times. IMO your chest will never grow doing that many reps. This is my chest workout,

Flat BB
135 x 8
225 x 8
245 x 6
265 x 4
280 x 4

Incline DB
90 x 8
90 x 8
90 x 8

Cable Flys
30 x 8
35 x 8
35 x 8

And thats it. Every other week I switch the incline DB with decline BB, and the flys I switch up the angle (low, medium, high). This routine works really well for me. I'm a firm believer that in order to make the muscle grow you need to lift heavy with low reps. Just my 0.2

[6ft5]

My chest isn't the strong point on me but it usualy looks pretty big. I'd start w decline bb presses. Reps 12,10,8,6 spoter on 8 and 6- 2 past falure w hella negtive. Need more range of motion probly use fat db presses saa, and real deep flys. Look up arnolds workouts. Its pretty fly! Lol

[cobra305]

I had trouble with my chest development and switched flatbench to the end of the workout after decline and incline and it help me out. You may also want to try weighted dips to failure at the end of your routine.

[americanoak]

You say you can bench 225 16 times. I never rep anyt weight that many times. IMO your chest will never grow doing that many reps. This is my chest workout,

Flat BB
135 x 8
225 x 8
245 x 6
265 x 4
280 x 4

Incline DB
90 x 8
90 x 8
90 x 8

Cable Flys
30 x 8
35 x 8
35 x 8

And thats it. Every other week I switch the incline DB with decline BB, and the flys I switch up the angle (low, medium, high). This routine works really well for me. I'm a firm believer that in order to make the muscle grow you need to lift heavy with low reps. Just my 0.2

for most of my body parts I do between 10 and 15 reps. For chest I usually get between 6-15, depending on the weight and number of the set. However, even with the rest of my body going near the 15 rep range it has still responded very well.

I will try to start with decline and incline stuff for a while, hopfully this works.

As for the arnold workouts, I go deep on my fly's and have read arnold modern ensyclopedia to bodybuilding and have seen him in pumping iron a not-exaggerated number of around 35 times so the way i preform my flys are pretty similar to him. I actually just watched Herculese in NY, his first movie (before pumping iron) he was a monster in this lol acting was not very good though...

[Swifto]

Incline and decline.

Use rest pause and static hold at the end of the final set, or negtives if you have a partner.

[6ft5]

a training partner will help u grow. Genetics are a bitch.

["DIRTY D" SANCHEZ]

Dumbelss, fly's, incline, decline, and also close grip bench works a lot of tri's but it also works inner chest and causes you to flex you pecs on each rep



"dirty d"

[crazypat123]

incline

[LatissimusaurousRex]

Here's another idea, it's very psychologically challenging though...

You don't work your chest out for like 2-4 weeks. Then hit it hard. Then watch it grow.

[DaBullet]

I use to have the same problem man took a long time before I had my chest pop out, throw some miracle grow on that motherf^@ker!! haha lol just kidding man.

[Hate Being Small]

i much prefer decline ive seen pretty good improvments and ive only been doing decline bench for 4 months but good luck whatever u do

[Twist]

post up your routine.

[americanoak]

my chest routine changes alot.. i dont have anything wirtten down for when i workout but this is a usual one:

warm up: some pushups or do about 50 reps of the 45lb bar, then ill do another set with just 45's on each side for about 15 to 20 reps

Flat BB Press
1: 185x15
2: 205x10-15
3: 225x8-12
4: 205x8-12
5: 185x6-12

Incline DB Press:
1: 70x8-15
2: 70x8-15
3: 65x8-15
4: 55x8-15

sometimes i hit incline harder than others, but im usually pretty dead after I hit flat, I can do incline DB press for 100lbs, but i drop the weight after my first exercise.

DB Flys:
1: 40x10-15
2: 50x8-12
3: 55x8-10
4: 35x8-15

it doesnt always look like this and if i start off with flat DB Press instead itll look like this:

1: 60x12-15
2: 80x8-12
3: 100x8-12
4: 90x6-10


After I finish chest I usually do push ups and i usually add in a set of cable flys just to get that extra squeeze feeling, or sometimes i just to cable flys instead of DB

["DIRTY D" SANCHEZ]

Have you tried the 5x5 routine yet? It was what gave me a push through my size and strength with bench. There are also people who say that only going down a little past a 90 degree angle with elbows and stopping it then pushing up can cause a flex to the muscles that cause them to start growing again... Just a thought. I know that it doesn't seem beneficial to only go down part of the way, but it did work for me. There gives no resting point ya know?

I'd maybe try the 5x5 routine with weights you can barely get the last reps with

"dirty d"

[americanoak]

dirty d wanna give me a sample 5x5 routine? not exactly sure what that is? or by that name anyway

[Dog-Slime]

dirty d wanna give me a sample 5x5 routine? not exactly sure what that is? or by that name anyway

Its self explanatory really 5 sets 5 reps. It is somewhat of a cross between power lifting and muscle building. Useful for myself to blast past those points where I seem to get stuck on a certain weight or just to switch things up every now and again.

[americanoak]

thats the whole workout? or you do that for each exercise
im guessing each exercise

[jc95605]

My index finger touches that ring bro. I think you can go wider.

Me too. I think your grip is too close try going wider. Also for your lower chest i found that lower cable crossovers did really good for shaping. You should notice a big difference in about a month

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSc9J...g0g&playnext=1

[jc95605]

Have you tried the 5x5 routine yet? It was what gave me a push through my size and strength with bench. There are also people who say that only going down a little past a 90 degree angle with elbows and stopping it then pushing up can cause a flex to the muscles that cause them to start growing again... Just a thought. I know that it doesn't seem beneficial to only go down part of the way, but it did work for me. There gives no resting point ya know?

I'd maybe try the 5x5 routine with weights you can barely get the last reps with

"dirty d"

I'm curious to know your workout with 5x5 too. Right now i'm doing 5x5 with flat, incline, and decline and i think thats a lil excessive. Do you only do 5x5 once a week? Let us know.

[Dog-Slime]

I personally only do 5x5 on one type bench press (decline, flat, or incline as I alternate). Then do a normal 6-8 reps for which ever other press I am doing that day. To the op try lowering your reps. 12-15 is better for toning and 6-8 is better for mass.

[americanoak]

i did those lower cables the other day and felt great, im just gonna keep tring to change things up and see how it goes

thanks everyone

[jc95605]

A little off topic but whats your ab program americanoak. You could pm it to me if you want.

[Damienm05]

my chest routine changes alot.. i dont have anything wirtten down for when i workout but this is a usual one:

warm up: some pushups or do about 50 reps of the 45lb bar, then ill do another set with just 45's on each side for about 15 to 20 reps

Flat BB Press
1: 185x15
2: 205x10-15
3: 225x8-12
4: 205x8-12
5: 185x6-12

Incline DB Press:
1: 70x8-15
2: 70x8-15
3: 65x8-15
4: 55x8-15

sometimes i hit incline harder than others, but im usually pretty dead after I hit flat, I can do incline DB press for 100lbs, but i drop the weight after my first exercise.

DB Flys:
1: 40x10-15
2: 50x8-12
3: 55x8-10
4: 35x8-15

it doesnt always look like this and if i start off with flat DB Press instead itll look like this:

1: 60x12-15
2: 80x8-12
3: 100x8-12
4: 90x6-10


After I finish chest I usually do push ups and i usually add in a set of cable flys just to get that extra squeeze feeling, or sometimes i just to cable flys instead of DB

I'd focus more on 10-6 as your target rep range and do a few less sets while focusing on a slow controlled press. You'll gain.

[jc95605]

How long have you been doing this Damien. Have you had good size and strength gains from it?

[oldschoolfitness]

in your avatar your chest looks good man. you're pretty strong. i would suggest to lower # reps and go heavy similar to a powerlifter. good luck