Chest Training, Im Stuck...

[DesertRocker]

Hey, Ive seem to have hit like a strength block on my chest. I have tried switching my workout to so many different routines. My chest will grow, shrink, whatever, but my strength never changes.
My chest Days go on forever, I do:
Bench, Incline, Decline.
Dumbell flys at 3 angles, cable flys at 3 angles
Pullovers, Machine and Free weight.
Close Grip Bench
Thats the main stuff, I also do pushups, serratus training like dips n other minor stuff, I just try to keep it fresh.

I should also mention that in my desperation, my buddy whos made the 300 club and won some powerlifting comps back in the day(were not old so its not that far back) whos also my workout partner, said when he made all his main str gains. It was with his dad Maxin out like eod or so, I dont max out eod but I now bench eod and save inclines and all for chest day.

I have the Arnold bodybuilding bible, I love most of the workouts in it and its helped me everywhere cept my chest. I read in some mens magazine that some dude did tons of close-grip and wide-grip and used bench bands(haven tried this yet) and got his bench above like 600 naturally and he only weighs in at like 215 or something(I could be wrong, was a while back). Anyone ever run into a wall like this and find a foothold to get over it? I know strength comes with time, but I havent increased my bench since like the end of last summer. I think I might have actually lost some str but I dont record my stuff, i know i should, but i just dont.

 

[DesertRocker]

4 - 5 Sets of each, thats kinda impt to. I do 4 -5 sets of every workout I do, cept squats. I just try to squat till I feel like I'm gonna puke. Not a common method, but it seems to work.

 

[street]

There is some mixed up stuff in that post .I think bill Kazmier used a wide grip close grip approach and he benched abot 600 or more but I doubt he weighed as little as 215 in his adult life ever.He is big. THis works


Bench press 3warm up 2 x 4-6
Incline press 1 wa 2 x 4-6
Pick a weicht you can do 4 reps next week do five next week do 6 reps add 5lb go back down to 4 and then the next week 5 reps and so on in 3 weeks you will have added 5 lb and beat a whole year of workouts.

 

[Kaiser]

1. You are over training your chest. Cut down on the exercises.
2. Make sure your back is up to par and strong, if not take some time to make it strong. Lats are a press point when in the hole.
3. Try reverse grip presses. You will need a spotter for lift off.

 

[edge250]

floor press's

 

[Pekkerwood]

No real secrets but...

I have gone up and down from 250 to 400 bench too many times. Number one I believe you may be overtraining.

What worked for me:
1. I do 4 exercises for chest with 4 sets per exercise. this does not include warmup sets. When good and warm may only do three sets per exercise.

2. I do rep ranges in the 4-6-8 range with most sets in the 6-4 range

3. I rest at least 3 minutes between sets for full recovery. The last studies I remember (can't cite them) seemed to indicate the time delay can increase the weight you can lift 8% or so from a 90 second delay.

4. When I plateau I do negatives. If my bench is 400 I will put 475 on the bar and fight it all the way down and have partner do a incredible upright row and repeat. I do this for four weeks. You are helping reload the neural connections to get used to the heavier loads.

5. I only train chest once every 7 days as opposes to my old 2.5 days per week routine. Warning: These rep ranges and 7 day gaps between workouts will not leave you feeling "pumped" and "full" all the time. You may think you didn't even get a good workout compared to the work you are currently doing. Remeber: You requested strength gains.

6. Weighted dips, close grip bench also help most people.

7. Working the back really helps your bench. Sometimes before a max which I rarely do anymore, as matter of fact I almost never bench anymore maybe once a month, I will do a set of seated rows, wait 30 seconds and then bench. There is something about activating the "opposing" muscle groups that seems to help.

8. Correct form, where you come down, slight "J" motion etc.

Hope this helped.

Pekkerwood

 

[joe914]

i have the same problem ...but it seems im am much weaker with BB chest movement than i am with DB chest movements ...im doing alot of close grip bench and reverse grip and also when i do use the BB i like doing pause sets ...which i feel get me stronger

 

[Conan21]

I would take atleast 2 weeks off completely. You are probably very overtrained if your benching hard every other day.

here is a good idea.

start off with a Max Effort Movement (Bench,Incline,Decline,Floor Press)
build up to a max set where you are pushing with Maximal effort.
Something like a max set of 5, a 1 rep max, or even 3x3. progressive warmups and then 1 or 3 Max effort exertions. Volume has to be low on this b/c it is very taxing.

after your done with max effort do some bodybuilder sets. Maybe a few sets of neck presses (bench presses to the neck area). Don't force the poundages. concentrate on the feel instead of worrying about getting X amount of weight for x amount of reps. stop a lil shy of failure do some sets untill your chest starts to feel fatigued/pumped.

Rotate Max Effort and Bodybuilder movements from workout to workout. Try to beat Max Effort movements every time. bodybuilder sets pay more attention to feel and fatigue.

Getting your tricpeps stronger will help to. JM presses, French presses, Dips,overhead db press, pressdowns works well.

training the same muscles once every 5 days is a good frequency.

 

[DesertRocker]

Never really felt like I was overtraining but if I was Ive gotten a break for a couple weeks from the flu. I wouldnt doubt I could be overtraining though. I work my back pretty well, I can match my bench weight on all my rows and other back workouts, I've never looked into whether thats normal or not. Kinda just hit me. My back is actually getting stronger than a lot of people up to 20 - 25 lbs bigger than me even though its not very big. Thats just my genetics though. My body isnt naturally wide. So you dont think Ill gain str doing bench eod? even if it wasnt but like 3 sets of avg weight? Think this would work?

5 sets bench one being a warm-up set. I like streets idea so I would use that, Im just not gonna retype it out.

3 sets incline/decline

2 Sets close grip

2 sets reverse grip(never done this)

1 set floor presses

3 sets Dips

whatever fly's I do to finish.

I dunno but Im assuming that Im gonna get called out for overtraining again, but Im determined to beat this.

 

[cchrisjj]

Bench

I currently press 405, no bench shirt. You are overtraining.

Heres a great bench routine

http://www.angelfire.com/pe/txpls/catbench1.html

Follow this and you will press more....the hardest thing is not to overtrain plus you cant let your ego get in the way.

 

[oldfella]

As hard as this is to believe you need to squat big to have a big bench. I have proven this many times with my gym clients. They will come to me and tell me they are at a plateau on their bench. I ask them when was the last time they squatted? They say what's that got to do with bench, my reply is, everything. Our bodies are machines, they need to be finely tuned. From a pwerlifting background squats are one of the biggest movements we do. Out side of the deadlift it is squats that drive your body systems into overdrive. Within two weeks of getting these guys to squat, they all started breaking new ground and started to build some decent wheels in the process. None would believe it till they tried it! Just do your legs on a day that is far enough away from chest to allow the body to recover (2 days for me) and your numbers will increase. There is plenty of excellent advice in this thread all of it works!

 

[Clydesdale]

As hard as this is to believe you need to squat big to have a big bench. I have proven this many times with my gym clients. They will come to me and tell me they are at a plateau on their bench. I ask them when was the last time they squatted? They say what's that got to do with bench, my reply is, everything. Our bodies are machines, they need to be finely tuned. From a pwerlifting background squats are one of the biggest movements we do. Out side of the deadlift it is squats that drive your body systems into overdrive. Within two weeks of getting these guys to squat, they all started breaking new ground and started to build some decent wheels in the process. None would believe it till they tried it! Just do your legs on a day that is far enough away from chest to allow the body to recover (2 days for me) and your numbers will increase. There is plenty of excellent advice in this thread all of it works!

Hey oldfella, I'm not that young either, what you posted is on the MARK. If someones goal is heavier bench, or heavier anything, the big compound exercises is the way to go. They increase your natural Growth Hormone levels and test levels. So the squat, deadlift, and most other compound exercises will do this.

 

[joe914]

ive heard this too ...and this is why i always make sure to pull and squat as heavy as i can ...with good form and full range of motion ...and it has helped some ...but i recently switch up my rep and set schemes to try and stimulate new growth and strength...

 

[thebrick]

As hard as this is to believe you need to squat big to have a big bench. I have proven this many times with my gym clients. They will come to me and tell me they are at a plateau on their bench. I ask them when was the last time they squatted? They say what's that got to do with bench, my reply is, everything. Our bodies are machines, they need to be finely tuned. From a pwerlifting background squats are one of the biggest movements we do. Out side of the deadlift it is squats that drive your body systems into overdrive. Within two weeks of getting these guys to squat, they all started breaking new ground and started to build some decent wheels in the process. None would believe it till they tried it! Just do your legs on a day that is far enough away from chest to allow the body to recover (2 days for me) and your numbers will increase. There is plenty of excellent advice in this thread all of it works!

excellent advice that is dead on target.