Group: Competitive Bodybuilding & Fitness

Created: 2012/01/01, Members: 21, Messages: 5367

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Chest workout question

iRnLady
iRnLady
Posts: 89
Joined: 2004/11/17
United States
2005/01/14, 06:29 PM
Hello again,

I have a question with my chest. I have been working out for close to 3 months now and have recently started to go "heavier" with bench presses due to new available resources (ex: from last rep wt. of 80 to last rep wt. of 135 on bench)

Looking at my chest, the middle is starting to form because I have been doing flyes for a couple of weeks, but my upper-chest is non-existent. I added an incline bench at a 30-degree angle last Monday (chest day) and it felt great! This past monday, the 24 I visited ONLY had the incline set up at a 45-degree angle and my deltoids felt more sore than anything!

My question is: Which angle is best for inclines (to work the upper chest) and would it be okay to do inclines twice a week to "wake" that muscle up before I start going really heavy once a week? I already feel like I'm doing all I can on incline's going heavy, but I don't feel "fatigued" like I thought I would be... leading me to think I can do it twice a week.

Sorry for the long post... thanks

!!Any additional info. or comments (relevant or not) are greatly appreciated!!
kakaroto
kakaroto
Posts: 893
Joined: 2002/05/09
El Salvador
2005/01/14, 06:35 PM
try lowering the angle and see what happends.
but what you routine right now?
are you working chest twice a week?
bb1fit
bb1fit
Posts: 11,105
Joined: 2001/06/30
United States
2005/01/14, 06:55 PM
You might think about prioritizing upper chest for a while, say a 6 week period. That is, do inclines first in your chest routine while you are strongest, and you can put max effort into it. Your flats will suffer a bit at first, but will catch up.

It is alright to do chest twice per week, depending on your intensity, and your other workouts also. You will have to judge your recovery abilities, but I would shoot for every 5 days, no sooner, so your days will actually rotate. If you find for example you are getting weaker when your next chest day comes around instead of stronger, feel a bit irritable, etc., you are probably not recovering and leaning into overtraining. Then you will have to adjust your workout or your workout priorities to accomodate this.

This could be in fact due to for instance something totally unrelated, like a massive leg day inbetween that you don't fully recover from, this will then carry over to your other days. Does that make sense? If indeed this is the case, then again, prioritization is in order. If chest is most important to you, figure out what you can eliminate or tone down for your prioritization period. Then pick up the other stuff...hope this makes sense. Kind of alot to relay in a small post.:dumbbell::dumbbell:

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If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything....

bb1fit@freetrainers.com
iRnLady
iRnLady
Posts: 89
Joined: 2004/11/17
United States
2005/01/28, 08:14 PM
I didn't see your replies (I must be blind).

Thanks bb1fit and kakaroto.

BTW, my chest workout routine is:

Monday: Flat bench (4 sets)
Incline bench (4 sets)
incline flyes (4 sets)
flat flyes (4 sets)
bigandrew
bigandrew
Posts: 5,146
Joined: 2002/10/21
United States
2005/01/29, 09:03 PM
usually 30 to 40 degrees is best for getting the upper chest.....I find anyways.

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My drinking squad, has a cheerleading problem!!
timmstar
timmstar
Posts: 426
Joined: 2003/12/08
Australia
2005/01/29, 10:53 PM
try 30 degrees i find anything above that is more or less shoulder work...
bigandrew
bigandrew
Posts: 5,146
Joined: 2002/10/21
United States
2005/01/30, 11:41 AM
less than 30 degress? more shoulder? thought when it was "flat" it was regular bench... ie. chest? :(
morpheus1
morpheus1
Posts: 67
Joined: 2005/01/06
United States
2005/01/30, 09:50 PM
Andrew, I think you misread him. he said anything over 30 degrees is basically (more or less) shoulder work. don't ya hate it when that happens.
bigandrew
bigandrew
Posts: 5,146
Joined: 2002/10/21
United States
2005/01/31, 02:15 PM
oh I see I see my mistake!

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My drinking squad, has a cheerleading problem!!
timmstar
timmstar
Posts: 426
Joined: 2003/12/08
Australia
2005/02/01, 12:43 AM


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Quoting from bigandrew:

oh I see I see my mistake!


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