Rate my workout: Push day

allother94

45, m, intermediate lifter, 500 cal per day deficit, lifting 3x a week: back/bi, legs/shoulders, chest/tri

Am I doing enough on my chest/triceps day? All are 3 sets with 12, 10, 8 reps of increasing weight, last set to failure. Increasing weight when I hit all reps.

Exercises:
Bench press
Incline bench press
Skull crushers

Thanks!

JBanx256

To make sure I'm reading this correctly - you're doing a grand total of 9 sets for chest & tri's across an entire week?

Based on that reverse pyramid (referencing the reps/weight), I'm assuming your goal is hypertrophy?

If both of the above are correct, IMO your volume is WAY low.

Carlos_421

Agreed, volume is low if this is your only chest day and your goal is muscle growth.
For growth, you really want to shoot for 10-15 working sets per muscle, per week.
Right now, your chest is only getting 6 sets and tris are getting worked on 9 but only focused on for 3.

I'd increase each of these movements from 3 sets to 5 (not including warm up sets), using a working weight that gets you within a couple reps of failure at around 8-12 reps.
Then add in 3-5 sets of push-ups to failure and 3-5 sets of triceps dips (12ish reps with enough weight to get within a rep or two of failure) and this workout goes from a 4/10 to an 8/10.

Oh, and dips before skull crushers.

allother94

@Carlos_421 @JBanx256

Thanks! Can I do the dips on a separate day? I don’t have a dip station in my home gym…. Or does it all need to be in the same day?

JBanx256

allother94 wrote: »

@Carlos_421 @JBanx256

Thanks! Can I do the dips on a separate day? I don’t have a dip station in my home gym…. Or does it all need to be in the same day?

No reason why you couldn't do them separately. I train with more frequency as well (eg, muscle groups being more than 1x per week) so chest gets worked either 2 or 3x per week for me regardless.

allother94

JBanx256 wrote: »

allother94 wrote: »

@Carlos_421 @JBanx256

Thanks! Can I do the dips on a separate day? I don’t have a dip station in my home gym…. Or does it all need to be in the same day?

No reason why you couldn't do them separately. I train with more frequency as well (eg, muscle groups being more than 1x per week) so chest gets worked either 2 or 3x per week for me regardless.

Thanks!

Carlos_421

allother94 wrote: »

@Carlos_421 @JBanx256

Thanks! Can I do the dips on a separate day? I don’t have a dip station in my home gym…. Or does it all need to be in the same day?

They can (I personally hit everything but legs twice a week) but you could also just do something other than dips.
That was just an example.
Close grip bench would be just as good. Both are great overall triceps exercises that hit all three heads well.

allother94

Carlos_421 wrote: »

allother94 wrote: »

@Carlos_421 @JBanx256

Thanks! Can I do the dips on a separate day? I don’t have a dip station in my home gym…. Or does it all need to be in the same day?

They can (I personally hit everything but legs twice a week) but you could also just do something other than dips.
That was just an example.
Close grip bench would be just as good. Both are great overall triceps exercises that hit all three heads well.

Thanks!

ciaoder

I think it's beneficial if you can do one of the pressing exercises with dumbbells instead of the barbell. If it's a home gym situation (heavy dumbbells get expensive quick!) adding in some exercises with the bands will fire the stabilizers pretty good. A pec fly movement with a band is a good accessory move to those bench exercises too...imo superior to dumbbell fly.

allother94

kenlchrzanowski wrote: »

I think it's beneficial if you can do one of the pressing exercises with dumbbells instead of the barbell. If it's a home gym situation (heavy dumbbells get expensive quick!) adding in some exercises with the bands will fire the stabilizers pretty good. A pec fly movement with a band is a good accessory move to those bench exercises too...imo superior to dumbbell fly.

Thanks!