Building Chest muscle - Advice needed.

RossGeller wrote: »

I have 2 x 15KG dumbbells and a 10KG weight vest. I don't have a bench.

Would push ups with the weight vest be better or floor presses with the dumbbells for the chest? I also do the following,

Dumbbell curls (biceps)
Triceps extension (triceps)
Bent over row (back)
Shoulder press (shoulders)
Dumbbell squats/lunges (legs)

There are a lot of variables here. If you're a smaller person, and a novice or de-trained then those 15kg dumbbells and 10kg weight vest are potentially going to be adequate for a while if you used the right training protocols.

If you're actually already comparatively strong and have been training a while, then the dumbbells may be of limited use to you.

If you are a novice or untrained then rather than thinking about the chest specifically you are probably better approaching this from the point of view of just having in mind that you want to do a hypertrophy program with an upper body focus. From an aesthetic point of view I wouldn't underestimate the value of growing things like side delts and triceps if you want to create a bigger, more aesthetic upper body.

If your goals are genuinely upper body hypertrophy and really want to bias towards that then you're potentially you're going to be better served by a pretty traditional bodybuilding split that has you training four days a week. It's quite different to the type of whole body training or upper / lower splits that are generally recommended on this forum, but if that's all the equipment you have, and your goals are genuinely hypertrophy of the upper body and chest, then actually it's your best bet. Worth mentioning, however, that we might be able to answer a very different answer if you had access to a barbell / rack / full gym.

If you want to bias towards your chest then if you have a dedicated chest/triceps/shoulder day, for example, then lead out with as challenging a chest exercise as you can come up with. Could be tempo pushups in the weighted vest, feet elevated, for example. Then maybe follow that with more volume for the chest, but unweighted higher rep work, maybe sets of deficit push-ups or DB bench if they're heavy enough for it. Then could do something like seated DB overhead press. Finish off with side delt raises, dips and some other light high rep tricep exercise.

On another day I would slot in some more push-ups, maybe a variation like close grip push-ups.

You might have to make use of training methods to make your sets harder...

- Slow down the tempo dramatically to increase time under tension
- Use pre-exhaustion movements before your work sets... So for example if DB overhead pressing with what you have is too light, then pre-exhaust by doing several sets of DB side raises before you do those presses... Before you do your push-ups do some floor flyes and so on
- "Rest pause" sets, giant sets etc.

As far as exercise selection goes I just want to mention as well that DB floor pressing would be pretty much pointless for the chest, it's a tricep / lock-out movement best performed with weights that are heavy for you. Look at DB floor flyes, deficit push-ups, wide grip push-ups and potentially DB benching but again depends how strong you are whether or not that's in any way worthwhile.

Long post but actually I think in some ways these types of question are far more interesting to try to answer than the person who comes along, has access to a full gym, and says "I want to get strong / get big". There's a much more clear cut answer in that case than in cases like this.

RossGeller wrote: »

In terms of getting big would the exercises I'm doing be enough.

Push ups with weight vest
Dumbbell Curls
Tricep extensions
Bent over row
Shoulder press
Squats/Lunges

I'm working from home so I do a little bit everyday.

My diet is :
Breakfast - Muesli (low sugar brand)
Lunch - Carved Chicken slices on bap
Dinner - Beef with brown rice, peas
Before bed - Protein shake, Greek yogurt

I'm 5"11, 13stone with a beer belly. (I've cut out beer and sugary drinks/food since last Christmas, however my gut has barely gone down at all)

I would suggest adding pull ups if you can arrange somewhere to do them.

After that, I would throw in some side delt raises but your list is ok. Maybe some more push up variations, like close grip pushups and deficit push ups.

Not sure how you are making the bent over rows work if you only have those DBs but you could also look at inverted rows or table rows in lieu if you can figure out how to do them.

Whatever exercises you are doing, remember your goals mean you need to get a lot of time under tension so really slow the negative part of the movement. In general you should be in proximity to failure on a lot of your work, if hypertrophy is your goal. You don’t really want to be “tipping along”, training sub maximally and keeping reps in the tank.

To be honest though, if you’ve not been training and are getting back into it, or are otherwise building up from a low base, just get consistent with your training and get a bit of a foundation going. Dedicated hypertrophy training like the split I was talking about earlier may be OTT at this stage. If your weight is a concern try to make more positive food choices, iron out the big issues, and keep some cardio in there even if it’s just a 10-20 minute walk a day and a longer one or light run here and there.

D.Q wrote: »

I find with push ups and even dB bench press, I end up getting more of an arm workout than ever really activating my chest.

Pushups can be an excellent tricep exercise if done close or with a diamond hand position.

If you go wider with the hand position, and particularly if you do deficit pushups that allow you to go deep then they’ll hit your chest more.

On the DB bench, or benching in general, again at the bottom of the movement there is necessarily chest involvement. If you’re only feeling it in your triceps worth checking your range of motion.

The other possibility is your triceps are your weak point in both movements, I guess.