# struggling to gain on chest HELP PLEASE!!



## H U N T E R (Nov 12, 2012)

Hi guys been back training now for about 6 month after a long spell of due to personal reasons. I need a bit of advice or help with training chest as I cant seem to get it to grow. When training it I do flat bench and Incline bench 3x8-12 then cable crossovers upwards and downwards. When training it it really don't feel it on my chest atol I feel it more on my arms and shoulders anyone ever had this before and know what to do or how to change it?


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## 00alawre (Feb 23, 2014)

Could try using suicide grip for chest pressing moves, that helped me target it more. Also could try swapping cable flys out for dbell flys, I find I feel those more in the chest.


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## essexboy (Sep 7, 2008)

Stop all that cable nonsense firstly.Focus on 4/5 big movements.You dont need specific isolation execises.Chins, dips OHP deads,Squats.As you gain strength and size, your chest will develop(within the confines of your genes)Think of your musculature as one whole muscle.Not a collection of individual ones.The body grows(or doesnt) as a whole generally.So focus on big compound movements to activate as many muscles as possible.


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## mrwright (Oct 22, 2013)

Dem squat chest gains

Lower weight and focus on chest make sure elbows point down rather than out and pause on chest


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## Jamieson (Jul 11, 2014)

H U N T E R said:


> Hi guys been back training now for about 6 month after a long spell of due to personal reasons. I need a bit of advice or help with training chest as I cant seem to get it to grow. When training it I do flat bench and Incline bench 3x8-12 then cable crossovers upwards and downwards. When training it it really don't feel it on my chest atol I feel it more on my arms and shoulders anyone ever had this before and know what to do or how to change it?


There could be a number of reasons why your chest isn't growing, i.e., poor form, low intensity of effort, high BF% so you can't see any growth, not enough recovery time, etc etc, so it's hard to say for sure what will correct the situation. I'd definitely drop the cable Xovers though and stick with getting stronger on presses and dips. Strength and size are not mutually exclusive so if you get stronger (using good form of course) then you will grow.

If you're natty I'd switched to training whole body 2 or 3 times a week and drop the volume way down, i.e., only 1 working set of 1 or 2 exercises per body part, but with each one taken to MMF. I'd also recommend using a slow rep speed to really focus on the working muscles and to allow for greater force generation, something like a 4 second positive and 8 second negative would do the trick, with the aim being to do between 4-6 reps per working set which would give a TUL of 48-72 seconds per set.

Also, retract your scapula on all chest movements, it makes a huge difference and throws all the emphasise on the chest and off the delts/tris. There are plenty of vids on Youtube about scapula retraction so you can see how it's done properly.

Anyway, bets of luck!

J.


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## Prince Adam (Mar 17, 2012)

Heavy bench 3x5 controlled on way down, half second pause at bottom, push up quick as possible.

Lee Priest dips 4x8 Weighted.


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## H U N T E R (Nov 12, 2012)

essexboy said:


> Stop all that cable nonsense firstly.Focus on 4/5 big movements.You dont need specific isolation execises.Chins, dips OHP deads,Squats.As you gain strength and size, your chest will develop(within the confines of your genes)Think of your musculature as one whole muscle.Not a collection of individual ones.The body grows(or doesnt) as a whole generally.So focus on big compound movements to activate as many muscles as possible.


so what should I be doing on chest day then? Or are you saying I should start doing a push pull legs kind of split and focus on the movements you have stated?


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## Mingster (Mar 25, 2011)

Bench. Dips - feet held out in front of the body. Flyes.


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## H U N T E R (Nov 12, 2012)

Jamieson said:


> There could be a number of reasons why your chest isn't growing, i.e., poor form, low intensity of effort, high BF% so you can't see any growth, not enough recovery time, etc etc, so it's hard to say for sure what will correct the situation. I'd definitely drop the cable Xovers though and stick with getting stronger on presses and dips. Strength and size are not mutually exclusive so if you get stronger (using good form of course) then you will grow.
> 
> If you're natty I'd switched to training whole body 2 or 3 times a week and drop the volume way down, i.e., only 1 working set of 1 or 2 exercises per body part, but with each one taken to MMF. I'd also recommend using a slow rep speed to really focus on the working muscles and to allow for greater force generation, something like a 4 second positive and 8 second negative would do the trick, with the aim being to do between 4-6 reps per working set which would give a TUL of 48-72 seconds per set.
> 
> ...


Thabks for the reply mate!my bf is sitting about 15% atm and currently on a calorie deficit off 500 call per day to try cut up slightly so this may be a factor as you have said. I will watch a few videos on scapula retraction and give it a bash with a slow decline on my pressing just drop my weight down and bite the ego bullet!


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## H U N T E R (Nov 12, 2012)

Mingster said:


> Bench. Dips - feet held out in front of the body. Flyes.


I've never seen anyone do dips with feet out in front always tucked up behind at butt lol


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## Mingster (Mar 25, 2011)

H U N T E R said:


> I've never seen anyone do dips with feet out in front always tucked up behind at butt lol


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## H U N T E R (Nov 12, 2012)

Prince Adam said:


> Heavy bench 3x5 controlled on way down, half second pause at bottom, push up quick as possible.
> 
> Lee Priest dips 4x8 Weighted.


ill have a look to see what they dips are like buddy cheers!


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## H U N T E R (Nov 12, 2012)

Mingster said:


>


Gracias


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## vtec_yo (Nov 30, 2011)

Decline bench


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## essexboy (Sep 7, 2008)

H U N T E R said:


> so what should I be doing on chest day then? Or are you saying I should start doing a push pull legs kind of split and focus on the movements you have stated?


My point was that we all have lagging bodyparts.Keep on training them.However realise that the body grows best as a whole.If you use compound movements, it will stimulate "overall" growth.Your chest will likely respond more if the surrounding muscles are being worked hard.

Personally,im not a fan of split routines.Full body workouts, with extra rest days,I have found more effective.If you must split it up,focus on the big movements.


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## DiscSupps (Oct 26, 2012)

H U N T E R said:


> Hi guys been back training now for about 6 month after a long spell of due to personal reasons. I need a bit of advice or help with training chest as I cant seem to get it to grow. When training it I do flat bench and Incline bench 3x8-12 then cable crossovers upwards and downwards. When training it it really don't feel it on my chest atol I feel it more on my arms and shoulders anyone ever had this before and know what to do or how to change it?


Try using dumbbells instead of barbells, this might help you. Also agree with changing up the grips when you press  Scott


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## H U N T E R (Nov 12, 2012)

essexboy said:


> My point was that we all have lagging bodyparts.Keep on training them.However realise that the body grows best as a whole.If you use compound movements, it will stimulate "overall" growth.Your chest will likely respond more if the surrounding muscles are being worked hard.
> 
> Personally,im not a fan of split routines.Full body workouts, with extra rest days,I have found more effective.If you must split it up,focus on the big movements.


I get you now mate I'll try do more compound movements as a pose to Flyes etc


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## armor king (Sep 29, 2013)

00alawre said:


> Could try using suicide grip for chest pressing moves, that helped me target it more. Also could try swapping cable flys out for dbell flys, I find I feel those more in the chest.


God no you should never advice to use death grip on bench press on anyone. The bar can easly slip and land right on your neck. Its called death grip for a reason because you can die lol


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## 00alawre (Feb 23, 2014)

armor king said:


> God no you should never advice to use death grip on bench press on anyone. The bar can easly slip and land right on your neck. Its called death grip for a reason because you can die lol


Yeah well obviously make sure you have a spotter lol but there is no real problem with it. Even the big guys at the top use it


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## H U N T E R (Nov 12, 2012)

TommyBananas said:


> Increased frequency.
> 
> At least 2x a week benching. Pause reps too imo.


ill hit it twice a week was thinking of this last night!

pause reps meaning pausing at the bottom of the rep like with the bar just slightly off the chest?


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## theBEAST2002 (Oct 16, 2011)

Flat Bench Press 5x5

CGBP 5x5

JM Press 5x15

Flat DB Press 5x10

TRX Press to failure (if you have one, if not then substitute for dips)


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## Chelsea (Sep 19, 2009)

H U N T E R said:


> Hi guys been back training now for about 6 month after a long spell of due to personal reasons. I need a bit of advice or help with training chest as I cant seem to get it to grow. When training it I do flat bench and Incline bench 3x8-12 then cable crossovers upwards and downwards. When training it it really don't feel it on my chest atol I feel it more on my arms and shoulders anyone ever had this before and know what to do or how to change it?


Havent read the other comments but first of all i would change up your rep range, so maybe increase weight as you go along and do 12,10,8 then a 20 rep drop set challenge.

Also the main thing for me with chest is super slow negatives, if you can count "one hundred, two hundred" slowly in your head and only then the weight just reaches your chest without touching or bouncing then you should make better progress, nail the form then increase weight very gradually.


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## curtisfisher (Nov 9, 2014)

I think you're concentrating too much on the exercises and not on the muscle. Don't worry about sets and reps and all the rest of that stuff. Get on the floor, do some push ups and work on contracting the chest muscles. Because who knows exactly how your form is but by the sound of it, it's probably not correct and you may even be using too much weight.


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## glen666 (Jun 25, 2010)

What worked for me was working more on time under tension, so for a incline dumbbell press lower the weigh down for 4 seconds then hold for 1 then power up for 1-2 seconds. Its much harder so weights might need to come down but I have seen decent growth on the short period of time ive been doing this.

I use this for all workouts now.


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## Verno (Apr 18, 2008)

Speak to emz90 he can put on a serious amount from 30 press ups!


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## Voltax (Mar 25, 2014)

DiscSupps said:


> Try using dumbbells instead of barbells, this might help you. Also agree with changing up the grips when you press  Scott


That's the most appropriate thing to do in my opinion, I had the same problem, whenever I did barbells I only felt my triceps, no chest at all, when I switched to dumbbells I could finally feel my chest working.


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## Big ape (May 5, 2011)

TommyBananas said:


> like dis


He got gym shark joggers tho


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## Tag (Jun 19, 2013)

Bench, flat and incline

Dumbbell flyes if needed

Dips as a finisher


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## meateon (Jan 14, 2015)

I used to struggle with the same problem, Try to slow it down so it is more controlled and get a really good squeeze, rather than stacking loads of weights on and jerking it up quick not getting much of a squeeze. It made a massive difference to me your pride has to go out of the window for a while but it did work. Do you concentrate one muscle group per workout or full upper body as this may also be a problem. some people tire themselves out, then move on to another muscle and do not get full potential out of it. I hope this helps.


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## simonthepieman (Jun 11, 2012)

H U N T E R said:


> Hi guys been back training now for about 6 month after a long spell of due to personal reasons. I need a bit of advice or help with training chest as I cant seem to get it to grow. When training it I do flat bench and Incline bench 3x8-12 then cable crossovers upwards and downwards. When training it it really don't feel it on my chest atol I feel it more on my arms and shoulders anyone ever had this before and know what to do or how to change it?


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## Jalex (Nov 16, 2014)

Bench more

OHP more

(Often)


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## 31205 (Jan 16, 2013)

Best thing I feel for chest is cables. I keep my hands open rather than closing my hands around the handles and when I get my hands together in the movement I press them against each other as hard as possible. Then when arms go back I let it stretch my chest as much as possible. Also drop sets when doing dumbbell presses **** my chest up.


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## eezy1 (Dec 14, 2010)

pre`exhausting with a fly movement before hitting your big press is defo something i`d recommend


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