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2007/09/06, 08:08 AM
I'm curious, what are some of your chest routines like?
I've seen different opinions on here regarding the merit of certain methods, and am curious what some of you guys do, whatever the goals are (shaping/power/raw weight).
To start, I usually do just dumbell work, 4-5 heavy sets of a few to several reps, starting with incline, then flat, then decline (hard as hell to get on a decline w/100 lb dumbells w/out help, lol), followed by declined pull-overs and dumbell scoops.
That's all, nothing fancy, I took the focus off chest a couple years ago to try and get my squat closer to my flat bench. But I always look for more efficient chest routines.
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2007/09/06, 09:13 AM
You bench more than you squat?
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2007/09/06, 09:41 AM
lol...I was wondering the same thing? You have a pretty serious imbalance if can bench more than you can squat. You should be able to squat a lot more than you can bench.
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2007/09/06, 10:35 AM
Yeah, it's sad but true, though it's closer now than it's ever been. It stems from knee issues, I get injury prone when I try to go very heavy. So when I was younger and less informed I went for huge benches, 400+lbs, and said screw squatting heavy. I've attempted to correct the balance over the last handfull of years, with the occasional injury mixed in, and it's closer now than it ever has been, but I'm still working on it.
Which is why I was curious what some of you guys did for chest, figured I might pick something up with which I could replace some of the things I do and gear my workouts more towards lower body.
A smarter approach would probably have been to ask what you guys would recommend for upping the squat safely, exercises that you'd use to support squatting, etc, as thats the true problem area.
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2007/09/06, 11:13 AM
What kind of knee issues? In my experience, people that experience knee problems from squatting don't squat correctly. The most commons mistakes are knees coming way to far forward, the weight is on your toes, your are not getting depth, your knees cave inward and you don't sit back enough.
The best way to increase the squat is to squat. Other than that you should work on your weaknesses, which in most people are hammies\hips and abs.
You should also be deadlifting.
It is difficult to tell you what to do for chest, because I don't know what your goals are. I train for strength and not size, so what I do might not coincide with your goals.
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2007/09/06, 11:40 AM
Yeah I've battled with form over the years, too, which lead me to widen my stance a bit when I do squat to more of a sumo. My knee issues stem (according to an old doc of mine, for what thats worth) from being hugely obese as a child through my developmental years. Though I was never one to want to bow to a weakness like that, so I said screw it and went heavier anyway, which lead to more injuries due to a weak core and bad form in my earlier 20's.
I never did anything severe as far as I'm aware, like blow out a knee or tear anything, but any time I try to go past a certain point I run into knee pain. What I plan to do is drop back to square one with free standing squats and low weight, and really get the form solid and work up slowly with reps, and work in lunges/extensions/curls and other leg work.
I do deadlift, which has oddly enough never been an issue at all as far as pain/injury. I actually consider it the most fun lift.
Back to chest, I figured my dumbell routines were fine for strength maintenance (they certainly were when I was younger), as thats my primary goal, while I attempt to bring my lower body into balance, but I was definitely curious to see what you guys do for your own chest workouts. One always picks up new things when watching/talking to experienced lifters/trainers, which I find here in abundance.
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2007/09/06, 12:01 PM
Personally I wouldn't do all dumbbells all the time. Unless you're worried about the safety aspect (no spotter) there is definitely a place for barbell work.
I wouldn't do all 3 flat, decline and incline on the same day. That just seems like too much to me. I personally (when in a regular workout scheme) would do barbell for one, and then dumbbell for the other. After I would throw in something like heavy dips or close grip bench work.
Better question for you: what is your lower day like? What do you do for back as well?
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2007/09/06, 12:02 PM
My chest routine includes lots of Rows, stand shoulder presses, Tricep, More shoulder work, Triceps, Rows, Tri and Shoulders and oh yeah som benching
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Curl Jockeys, get outta the squat rack!
I wish everyone would get a partial amnesia and never use 'tone' ever again. (thanks Menance)
7707mutt@freetrainers.com
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2007/09/06, 01:32 PM
Yeah if I don't feel like going through the hell of dumbell declines I'll do dips, because my body is fairly heavy as is, lol. When my chest was at its strongest I did barbell work almost exclusively, but I want to calm it down as I bring my lower body in line and not lose much.
My back day is fairly fun, I do sets of: pull ups, a couple different rowing motions (bent over single arm with a dumbell is my fav), pull downs, reverse flies, and two or three more things I'll pick at random. I switch my back routines around rather frequently.
As for my lower day, it's mostly squats and deads, for many sets, with some extensions and curls thrown in if I have time as the squats and deads seem to take forever. In talking to rather experienced trainer that I trust recently he told me that I should start over, fix my form, and get to a point where I can do 100 free standing squats w/out stopping, then to try and go up from there, so my legs are properly conditioned. I figured that was my best bet.
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Quoting from ecle5c:
Personally I wouldn't do all dumbbells all the time. Unless you're worried about the safety aspect (no spotter) there is definitely a place for barbell work.
I wouldn't do all 3 flat, decline and incline on the same day. That just seems like too much to me. I personally (when in a regular workout scheme) would do barbell for one, and then dumbbell for the other. After I would throw in something like heavy dips or close grip bench work.
Better question for you: what is your lower day like? What do you do for back as well?
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This is SPARTA!!!
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