# Triceps Before Chest...



## J.Smith (Jul 7, 2011)

If your a delt/tri presser when doing chest...could you do says tri's first so then your chest will work harder when you train chest?

I find it very very hard to feel my chest working atall...only think i can feel it working on is cable crossovers...or the wide vince gironda neck press.

Tips?


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## Ginger Ben (Oct 5, 2010)

What chest exercises do you typically do in a session?


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## AK-26 (May 29, 2011)

i do it the other way round, i do chest first then triceps. reason for this is because if i do triceps first they become exhausted and then my chest workout suffers and as you said i don't feel it at all. when it comes to a chest workout i dont get the pumps i used to but i know i've done it well and do get the doms the next day. do you every find you can still lift the same weight and complete sets/reps after doing triceps first?


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## Matt 1 (May 8, 2010)

no, do chest first


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## J.Smith (Jul 7, 2011)

My routine is like this atm..

Decline Bench 3sets 6-12

Flat Dumbells 2sets 10-12

Incline Barbell 2sets 6-10

Cable Flies/Crossovers - 3sets 8-12

Gironda Neck Press - 1 set to failure around 15-20reps plus drop sets.


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## a.notherguy (Nov 17, 2008)

i think it depends on where you fail during your press.

i struggle most with the lock out so i would never train tris before chest


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## Ginger Ben (Oct 5, 2010)

J.Smith said:


> My routine is like this atm..
> 
> Decline Bench 3sets 6-12
> 
> ...


Try prioritising dumbbell work over bar's. I find they are much more effective for targetting the pecs.

For my chest and tris day I do

Inc DB press

Weighted Dips (upright to hit tris)

Some sort of barbell press, either decline or incline or maybe seated plate loaded chest press

superset skulls

superset tri rope extension

superset flat db flys

superset feet raised press ups

I find this hits both really well. The two main builders Inc DB and Weighted Dips are done first to get the most out of them and the rest are there to isolate and finish off. I'd never train my tris fully first before chest as I'd probably only be able to press about 60kg with fried tris which isn't going to help my chest at all.

Only time you'd do this I think is if your chest was really strong but your tris were lagging although I'm not sure how you'd get in to that scenario as tris are heavilly involved in most chest exercises.


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## Tomislav (Feb 19, 2012)

Chest first,but rather do some pre-exhust isolation for chest etc. dumbbell fly then go on bench. It's also good for hit chest good


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## Readyandwaiting (Mar 20, 2011)

No. Your triceps will giveo ut before chest has been sufficiently worked. Alway train chest first imo.

It's like training biceps before back shouldn't be done imo unless you have a great back and shyt arms. Depends which body part takes priority.


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## Breda (May 2, 2011)

Readyandwaiting said:


> No. Your triceps will giveo ut before chest has been sufficiently worked. Alway train chest first imo.
> 
> It's like training biceps before back shouldn't be done imo unless you have a great back and shyt arms. *Depends which body part takes priority*.


exactly


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## Readyandwaiting (Mar 20, 2011)

Also I would say you don't have to go full range of motion for chest i.e. stop a couple of inches from your chest on the negative phase of the movement. I find going all the way down puts too much stress on my shoulders.

I agree chest it hard to feel.

Incline smith press I find it great for upper chest.

Flat smith or falt barbell bench press good exercise also.

Dips and specific cable movements for lower chest.

I always manipulate the movement to feel it in the area I want to concentrate on.


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## J.Smith (Jul 7, 2011)

Pre exhausting the chest...is that an effective way?

So i could do say 4sets of cables or flyes first?

Then do soem dumbbell pressing?

Main thing i get confused with..say i can smash out 4sets of 12 on 45kg dumbbells....which i can...yet i dont feel my chest working...however if i go down to say 30kg i can feel my chest working more....yet which one will actually be more effective in building muscle?


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## Breda (May 2, 2011)

J.Smith said:


> Pre exhausting the chest...is that an effective way?
> 
> So i could do say 4sets of cables or flyes first?
> 
> ...


Pre exhausting is great mate

i did this for about 6 months when i felt my chest was lacking now i think its one of my best body parts


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## Ginger Ben (Oct 5, 2010)

J.Smith said:


> Pre exhausting the chest...is that an effective way?
> 
> So i could do say 4sets of cables or flyes first?
> 
> ...


I'd say thats a form issue then. The 45's are probably too heavy for you to do with 100% perfect form therefore your shoulders are coming in to play too much. Try it with 40's and see how that compares.


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## Readyandwaiting (Mar 20, 2011)

Also just because you don't feel a burn etc in the specific area doesn't mean to say that area isn't being sufficiently worked.


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## J.Smith (Jul 7, 2011)

Thanks for the help guys.

Breda...

What did your pre exhaust workout look like?


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## Readyandwaiting (Mar 20, 2011)

Cable work is best for pre exhaust imo, dumbbell flyes tend to involve more of the shoulders for myself.


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## bowen86 (Mar 17, 2008)

Lord have mercy on you, chest>triceps.


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## Breda (May 2, 2011)

J.Smith said:


> Thanks for the help guys.
> 
> Breda...
> 
> What did your pre exhaust workout look like?


Pec dec/cross overs - 5 sets

Pull overs - 2 sets

press - bd or bb - 4 sets

dips - 4 sets


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## Beats (Jun 9, 2011)

Everytime to train chest I seem to hurt one of my shoulders lol any of you ever get that?


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## Breda (May 2, 2011)

Dizzee! said:


> Everytime to train chest I seem to hurt one of my shoulders lol any of you ever get that?


take your shoulders out of the movement by squeezing your shoulder blades together and sticking your chest out and warm up your sholders with some shoulder circles holding a 2.5kg disc


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## Beats (Jun 9, 2011)

Il try that mate cheers!


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## synthasize (Aug 15, 2009)

Pre-exhaustion really works. Try doing some light-ish cable flyes before getting on the bench and you should feel your chest and triceps start to fail at a more similar point. It may take a few sessions to 'calibrate' yourself as to how much to do on the chest isolation before hitting the bench, but I found after doing 3 sets or so of high rep cable flyes before the bench meant that I could actually feel my chest failing for once. It's a good method.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

I know this goes slightly against conventional wisdom but I don't always think compound lifts are always necessarily the way to target stubborn bodyparts - sometimes a persons individual biomechanics can mean that a particular muscle always dominates in similar multi joint exercises and another one always misses out on decent development... targeting the lacking muscle with isolation work can often help. Pre-exhaust is one way to do this, either as pre-exhaust super sets or just straight sets of isolations before straight sets of a compound exercise.

As for triceps before pecs, I wouldn't unless I was prioritising triceps over chest - for me the most effective strategy to bring up a weak muscle is to do it earliest in a session when freshest, and often even not on the same day as any other similar bodyparts (eg chest on a different day to front delts and triceps).


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## biglbs (Jan 26, 2012)

Dumbell flys for me first on this one,then bench and change your grip on barbel wide/narrow until you feel it in the chest.

You could alternate between the two also in superset fashion buddy!


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## J.Smith (Jul 7, 2011)

Thanks.

Im gonna try

4Sets Cable Crossovers to start

3 sets decline Dumbbells

3sets incline hammer stregth press

2 sets fly/press hybrid style movement

3sets Gironda wide grip neck press to finish (lighter weight and higher reps)


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## biglbs (Jan 26, 2012)

J.Smith said:


> Thanks.
> 
> Im gonna try
> 
> ...


Well took on board and good luck! :smartass:


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## aaronrugby (May 14, 2011)

do more sets...simple


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## flexipex_2009 (Jan 6, 2012)

Gironda neck press explain?


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## monsta (Jan 14, 2012)

No,no way, never in that order. Try pre exhaust on the peck deck or fly's .


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## johnny_lee (Jun 15, 2011)

AK-26 said:


> i do it the other way round, i do chest first then triceps. reason for this is because if i do triceps first they become exhausted and then my chest workout suffers and as you said i don't feel it at all. when it comes to a chest workout i dont get the pumps i used to but i know i've done it well and do get the doms the next day. do you every find you can still lift the same weight and complete sets/reps after doing triceps first?


agree always chest first for me aswell or i find i wont gt thr best out of the workout


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## xpower (Jul 28, 2009)

I train tris with back & bis with chest.

Hits bis/tris directly & indirectly then


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## harryalmighty (Nov 13, 2011)

chest first but you could try pre exhausting your chest with a few sets of cable flys first.


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