No chest gain

FearlessRobb

ive mixed out my routine every few weeks and on every exercise out of 50 or so over the week has a gain for about 2-3 months straight every week except 1.

Bench press. no idea why i cant seem to get my chest stronger. Ive added exercises to my chest routine. tried adding a little extra 1/2 way into the week. no matter what i do i cant break were im at for the last 2 months (8-10 chest/tricep days) everything else has gains but chest.

Any ideas on what i can do to work on that would be appreciated.

Wilbur_NOLA

Please tell us your chest routine.

vorgas

Not sure what lifting program you're doing. If you are doing reps (3x10, 5x5, or more), try lifting for strength. Look into something like Wendler's 5-3-1.

If you have a spotter, do heavy negatives. Basically more weight than you can lift. Have the spotter help you lift it up, then you slowly lower it down. Very slowly. Under control.

Watch a couple videos on form and make sure your technique is solid. Getting leg drive, arched back, squeezing your shoulder blades together, breaking the bar. Basically, if you're not wildly uncomfortable on the bench, you're doing it wrong. Elite FS and Mark Rippetoe both have some good tutorials out there.

Also, are you eating at a deficit? It is pretty much impossible to add mass at a deficit. Any gains you will get are from neuro adaptation. And you may be at your limit there. If you are, try bulking for a few weeks.

You can also try drop sets to failure. Just make sure you have a good spotter or better yet a squat rack to catch the bar. Do as many reps as you can at your max. Unload a plate per side (or swap 45s down to 25s). Do as many as you can. Repeat over and over until you're at the bar.

kapoorpk

Watch a couple of videos on how to first perform the most important exercise for chest, the bench press. I would not get too caught up complicating it too much in inclines, declines etc. FORM is usually the main culprit. Correcting it usually will fix the problem.

Other factors - if you are looking for growth, it implies you are looking for muscle growth. If so, you should be doing about 3 sets of 10-12 reps of bench press and one more chest exercise, e.g. cable cross over with the same number of sets/reps.

Use SMITH MACHINE for bench press. You can load heavier weights (but enough so you can do 10-12 reps x 3 sets) than using dumbbells, plus in the beginning you can build muscle strength without worrying about balance. Like learning how to ride a back with support wheels.

Do it at least 2-3 days apart again, hitting chest twice a week. It will grow.

Good luck!

steve0820

I agree with Vorgas. A bit hard to tell without knowing the routine you're on, but here are things that helped me.

1) Form (critical)
2) Nutrition (Eat big / lift big)
3) High sets / low reps
4) Pause reps and Drop sets
5) Tricep work (Especially dips)
6) Less is more. If you want to increase bench, you gotta bench. Don't spend to much time on BB exercises (incline, flyes, cables, ect...)

kapoorpk

I agree with what Steve said, except when building muscle mass at a cellular level higher reps do the trick more so than low rep heavier weight. Don't you think steve? That would build strength, not size necessarily? Hypertrophy needs more reps - i.e. more muscle growth as in mass.

Strength building - do less reps more weight
Muscle mass building - more reps less weight

la_te_ra_lus

Film yourself from the side...then evaluate and make adjustments if its a form issue... If form is good then the weights will progress it took me a good 6-8 months to finally see good results after fixing small form issues.

ninerbuff

I personally believe that high volume training puts on size if that's what you're looking for. 16 sets per body part (that's like 4 exercises and 4 sets for each) keeping the reps between 8-12 with as much as you can handle with good form.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

steve0820

I agree with what Steve said, except when building muscle mass at a cellular level higher reps do the trick more so than low rep heavier weight. Don't you think steve? That would build strength, not size necessarily? Hypertrophy needs more reps - i.e. more muscle growth as in mass.

Strength building - do less reps more weight
Muscle mass building - more reps less weight

Yup I agree. I was just assuming he meant strength by reading his post, but he could also easily mean size/mass. So that's my fault for assuming.

Wilbur_NOLA

I agree with what Steve said, except when building muscle mass at a cellular level higher reps do the trick more so than low rep heavier weight. Don't you think steve? That would build strength, not size necessarily? Hypertrophy needs more reps - i.e. more muscle growth as in mass.

Strength building - do less reps more weight
Muscle mass building - more reps less weight

Yup I agree. I was just assuming he meant strength by reading his post, but he could also easily mean size/mass. So that's my fault for assuming.

I will respectfully disagree. That is like telling someone they can get lean just by doing workouts consiting of 20 sets for 12-15 reps per set. High reps won't make you lean, a proper cut diet does. You are more likely to build muscle mass with progressive resistance (trying to get one more rep or lift slightly more every week/month the best you can) and a proper bulk diet that puts you in a caloric surplus.

I've tracked workouts where I've done high rep/low weight and low rep/high weight and my success with either had more to do with my diet than it did my rep/weight ranges. In fact, I started a cut diet last year where all of my workouts consisted of mostly 12 sets per body part (5 workouts a week around 45 min each) and no more than 6-8 reps per set. I achieved some of the best results I have ever had, getting my bf to 10% for the first time since high school, using low reps and higher weight AND a good cut diet tracking macros.

Like I said earlier, it would be easier to answer the OP's question if they provided their current routine and diet.

Lofteren

The first thing that i noticed was a fundamental problem with your philosophy of the bench press. The way that you "think" about an exercise can effect the way that your upper motor neurons fire. Because of this, thinking of the bench press as a chest exercise can potentially limit your progress because it really isn't a chest exercise at all, it is mostly a front delt and tricep exercise with the pecs and lats playing more of a supportive role. With all of this aside, there are really only 3 things you need to do to increase your bench:

1) Gain weight

2) Swap to an appropriate and proven strength training program

3) Learn how to bench properly. Watch the "So you think you can bench" video series by Dave Tate on Youtube. While you're at it, watch "So you think you can squat" and "So you think you can deadlift"

steve0820

I agree with what Steve said, except when building muscle mass at a cellular level higher reps do the trick more so than low rep heavier weight. Don't you think steve? That would build strength, not size necessarily? Hypertrophy needs more reps - i.e. more muscle growth as in mass.

Strength building - do less reps more weight
Muscle mass building - more reps less weight

Yup I agree. I was just assuming he meant strength by reading his post, but he could also easily mean size/mass. So that's my fault for assuming.

I will respectfully disagree. That is like telling someone they can get lean just by doing workouts consiting of 20 sets for 12-15 reps per set. High reps won't make you lean, a proper cut diet does. You are more likely to build muscle mass with progressive resistance (trying to get one more rep or lift slightly more every week/month the best you can) and a proper bulk diet that puts you in a caloric surplus.

I've tracked workouts where I've done high rep/low weight and low rep/high weight and my success with either had more to do with my diet than it did my rep/weight ranges. In fact, I started a cut diet last year where all of my workouts consisted of mostly 12 sets per body part (5 workouts a week around 45 min each) and no more than 6-8 reps per set. I achieved some of the best results I have ever had, getting my bf to 10% for the first time since high school, using low reps and higher weight AND a good cut diet tracking macros.

Like I said earlier, it would be easier to answer the OP's question if they provided their current routine and diet.

I agree that gaining mass or getting lean really has to do with nutrition and you can achieve it with different variants of weight training. My original post was more geared towards increasing the bench. I've done both a BB style training and a power\BB training, In my experience, I've gained more mass with a low rep, high weight routine. Both achieved the results I was looking for, one just faster then the other.

steve0820

The first thing that i noticed was a fundamental problem with your philosophy of the bench press. The way that you "think" about an exercise can effect the way that your upper motor neurons fire. Because of this, thinking of the bench press as a chest exercise can potentially limit your progress because it really isn't a chest exercise at all, it is mostly a front delt and tricep exercise with the pecs and lats playing more of a supportive role. With all of this aside, there are really only 3 things you need to do to increase your bench:

1) Gain weight

2) Swap to an appropriate and proven strength training program

3) Learn how to bench properly. Watch the "So you think you can bench" video series by Dave Tate on Youtube. While you're at it, watch "So you think you can squat" and "So you think you can deadlift"

Fantastic series!! One of the best out there, can't recommend it enough.

kapoorpk

I agree with what Steve said, except when building muscle mass at a cellular level higher reps do the trick more so than low rep heavier weight. Don't you think steve? That would build strength, not size necessarily? Hypertrophy needs more reps - i.e. more muscle growth as in mass.

Strength building - do less reps more weight
Muscle mass building - more reps less weight

Yup I agree. I was just assuming he meant strength by reading his post, but he could also easily mean size/mass. So that's my fault for assuming.

I will respectfully disagree. That is like telling someone they can get lean just by doing workouts consiting of 20 sets for 12-15 reps per set. High reps won't make you lean, a proper cut diet does. You are more likely to build muscle mass with progressive resistance (trying to get one more rep or lift slightly more every week/month the best you can) and a proper bulk diet that puts you in a caloric surplus.

I've tracked workouts where I've done high rep/low weight and low rep/high weight and my success with either had more to do with my diet than it did my rep/weight ranges. In fact, I started a cut diet last year where all of my workouts consisted of mostly 12 sets per body part (5 workouts a week around 45 min each) and no more than 6-8 reps per set. I achieved some of the best results I have ever had, getting my bf to 10% for the first time since high school, using low reps and higher weight AND a good cut diet tracking macros.

Like I said earlier, it would be easier to answer the OP's question if they provided their current routine and diet.

Its also like not understanding the scope of the question. You think we don't know the whole story holistically? We are just trying to answer the very narrow question that he is asking. Let's not preach the choir.