Chest workout tips

BornIn84

Hi guys,

I do a 5 day workout, concentrating on 1-2 muscle groups per session.

I feel though, that my chest is not getting enough of a work out.

It doesnt feel as "pumped" as they say, as my arms after a chest day workout.

My current chest exercises are as follows:

Dumbell press - 3-4 sets with 11-12 reps per set : weight 17.5 kg in each hand.

Incline Dumbell press - 3-4 sets with 11-12 reps per set : weight 17.5 kg in each hand.

Barbell press - 3 sets - 15 Kg weight on each side of the bar

I had quite a fatty chest before working out and really wanna tone in up so i can feel less self concious in t-shirts if im honest. Don't get me wrong, i'm quite fit looking and in good shape (happy with shoulders,arms, abs, legs etc).

Any tips on getting the best out of my chest workout for best toning? (other exercises etc.)?

Much appreciated.

Thanks.

FearDark

I may be flamed for offering my 2c because I'm new to this forum but I'll tell you what works for me OP.

I do less reps, I try for 8, you should be failing on the 7th or 8th.

I do more sets. In that workout you posted thats 11 sets, in my opinion thats not enough, its far from it. I aim for 4-5 sets of each excercise and I do a lot more excercises too. Because I have a five day split it means I can concentrate more and therefore give more time to each body part. I aim for 30 sets in total.

Toning: It's not really a thing, what you want is more muscle mass. More weight, less reps, slower deliberate movement. Explode on the way up and control on the way down.

I notice you are doing barbell press AND dumbell press, not nesseciraly the same thing but both excercises are VERY similar. I would just do one of these.

I'll give you an example of my chest workout.

Bench press: 4-5 sets x 8 reps of 120kg+

Incline dumbbell press: 4-5 sets x 12 reps of 32.5 - 37.5kg

Flys: 4-5 sets x 8 reps of 28kg+

Cable crossovers: 4 sets x 8

Close grip bench press: 4 sets x8 of 30kg

Weighted dips (lean forward) 4 sets x to failure.

Pressups!!!! 2-3 sets of pressups to failure, whether you can get 20 or 5 definitely throw these in right at the end, even when I feel like my chest isn't hopping off me after a workout I promise you it is afer a few sets of these to failure.

This workout works for me, it may not work for everyone. I'm open to criticism and improvements to this also as I'm always looking to learn.

armstodiefor

keep smashing the weights its just bodyfat do more cardio and look into eating less than maintenace calories high protein high fat and low carbs brah

colman1212

People can tell you to try this program and that program to develop your chest but I think the most important thing of all is the mind muscle connection when training chest. Kai Greene talks about it in one of his videos which I have linked below.

The truth is you can be benching every bloody day but you might not be ever hitting your chest properly. You may be benching with your triceps and with your shoulders. Its not about trying to lift a big weight, its about trying to hit a particular muscle group again and again. You should be thinking about where it hits you every rep you train. Drop back the weight focus on form and think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nXSIqyw1lc

Zombienosh

tbh when you mention toning, its more like body fat issue. So specific area targeting might not be the answer exactly.
but anyways, area specific, I'd recommend throwing in some dips and dip variations.

JJayoo

All the pressing in the world won't mean sh1t if you are not taking in enough calories/protein.

tmc86

I found that a decline press with either dumbells or barbell made a notable difference in helping chest strength and definition and when combined with cable cross overs or a cable decline press

colman1212

tmc86 wrote: »

I found that a decline press with either dumbells or barbell made a notable difference in helping chest strength and definition and when combined with cable cross overs or a cable decline press

Dorian Yates considers the decline bench to be much better than flat or incline bench for building chest actually..

RidleyRider

When I train chest I usually do incline, flat and decline so I don't have any issues with hitting everywhere on the chest.

For example I'll do my smolov training(flat), then incline DB press(incline) and then decline bench press.

NinjaK

Sounds to me you arnt lifting enough weight

hefferboi

I was the same until I started doing sets of dumbbell flys (flat and incline) along with my other exercises.

deadlybuzzman

NinjaK wrote: »

Sounds to me you arnt lifting enough weight

this...you want to be adding weight every session, in time the amount of sets you're doing will probably hold back progress so feel free to cut back drastically.
FYI My benching is waaay below where I'd like it to be but once I realised less volume = more progress things started moving.
The Starting Strength programme might be worth looking into too.

willmunny1990

Look into switching your workout. Training chest once a week isn't that optimal.

A full body or upper/lower split are far more effective for hypertrophy.
Hitting a muscle twice/three times a week is the way to go.

Try this upper/lower:
http://www.jcdfitness.com/2009/01/lyle-mcdonalds-bulking-routine/

or this fullbody workout :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feY6vi6ORXo

NinjaK

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

this...you want to be adding weight every session, in time the amount of sets you're doing will probably hold back progress so feel free to cut back drastically.
FYI My benching is waaay below where I'd like it to be but once I realised less volume = more progress things started moving.
The Starting Strength programme might be worth looking into too.

every session? if I did this id be lifting 500kg dumbells! I just lift enough weight so Im going to failure on the 8th to 10th rep

deadlybuzzman

NinjaK wrote: »

every session? if I did this id be lifting 500kg dumbells! I just lift enough weight so Im going to failure on the 8th to 10th rep

The easiest lift to increase the weight on in a nice smooth plan is on the bench press, if you add 2 1/2 kg per session particularly if you're benching twice per week very soon those increases add up and you're pushing much heavier weights.
The more weight you have to move per rep the less reps and sets you need to do. Have a look at the training logs on here or on other forums and you can see that for yourself