I’m starting to realize bench may not be the best for building chest. What are the best chest exercises I can do with my limited set up
I have a cage, barbell, bench, playes.
I would like to do dumbbell press but don’t have any. Should I just flare my elbows on flat bench instead of using a powerlifting form?
>incline bench
>flat bench
>cable flies
It’s been working pretty well for me so far. Why did you determine that bench can’t build a chest?
Flat barbell bench + dumbbell flyes + dumbbell press on the same day is what did it for me.
You can make bench much better for pec hypertrophy
>minimal or no arch (more ROM for the pecs)
>no leg drive (makes the bottom of the lift easier, which is where the pecs work the most)
>pause at the bottom (makes the pecs work more since that's where they're most active
>slow eccentric (reduces weight required to get a good stimulus, lowering systemic fatigue)
>don't overly tuck the elbows, since that shifts the emphasis more towards the delts and triceps
>optionally perform on a low incline (more upper pecs, reduces weight required even more)
Simple as. Also maybe look into gymnastics rings, they're incredible for pec hypertrophy.
Forgot to specify
>no leg drive (makes the bottom of the lift easier, which is where the pecs work the most)
Text within parantheses is referring to leg drive, removing leg drive makes the bottom of the lift harder which is what you want.
The problem I’m facing is I try a more bodybuilder type flat bench and my shoulders click/pop and hurt. I’ve seen friends tear rotator cuffs & absolutely fuck up their training so it scares me
I’ve been doing a more powerlifting bench form and I realize I no longer care about strength I just want to look good and be healthy and my chest is pathetic
Can you bench 2 plates for three sets of 5? No point in complicating things until you can do this.
He can do whatever he wants from day one. No need to restrict his training methodology just to hit an arbitrary number set by a fatty.
Nta but maybe if you didn't cope so hard you'd get results
Yeah I can thats sort of the point you coping gay. My chest is pathetic but I can 280x1. Can you actually offer any real advice? No point in posting until you can do that
>My chest is pathetic but I can 280x1.
Because in all likelihood you're using a bench press technique that maximizes strength via optimizing leverages and reducing ROM, which is sub-optimal for hypertrophy. Some other dude could bench much less than you while still chest mogging you, because while you won't be able to lift anywhere near as much weight with a hypertrophy-optimized technique, it will result in much more chest growth. There is literally no reason why OP should stick with a technique that is shit for strength when he can just change it and get much better growth while lifting less weight.
>There is literally no reason why OP should stick with a technique that is shit for strength
Correction, my dumbass wrote strength instead of hypertrophy lmao
Great stuff bro. I actually used to use a close grip on all my bench variations but I ran into a different issue in that my triceps would be cooked too early in the session, so I switched to a medium grip on my bench variations instead
I am OP and you’re posting the exact point I already made man. Idk why you’re bothering to regurgitate the point at hand which I’ve already made and everyone else has grasped instead of offering advice like these guys
It’s weird. I’m glad you get it but idk why you’re just reiterating the thread topic
Maybe I misunderstood your point. Thanks though
Forgive my autistic ass but every poster you replied to except one is me so
- Close grip will fail you at some point,if you're doing that for chest growth.
- To grow chest you need full rom, touch shirt then back up, half reps wont cut it.
- For more chest emphasis you can do larson press to remove lower body, or you can do bench press with only 50% bottom ROM with holds, that fries chest hard. Otherwise do pushups.
>- To grow chest you need full rom, touch shirt then back up, half reps wont cut it.
Damn I completely forgot to mention this in my earlier post, these are legit as hell. Way better than sinking the bar into your chest.
Isolate your rotator cuffs to reduce injury risk and consider looking into dynamic scapular movement on bench. Use a more bodybuilding bench press form as well
I got it. My grip was too close and it was putting strain on shoulders more than chest. Feels way better now that I figured it out. Holy shit I’ve never felt my chest hit on bench like this and I’m only practicing with 1pl8 for sake of learning form right now
For building chest dips have a massive strench reflex out of the bottom so they can go along way. though they hit the low chest more. likely for building chest you are just disappointment in the look of the chest and the upper chest should be more of the focus so experimenting with different angles of incline and finding the angle that you like should also go along way. Also of course if you want to build chest and you are already at 280 for a single that is pretty good you need to be going for hypertrophy drop the weight and go for sets of 8-12.
Are pec minor dips actually worth adding to a routine as a natty? I only include natty in the question because I don't know how substantial the growth in the muscle would be as a natty since it would be like isolating rhomboids
Add Dips and OHP. OHP gives a good solid stretch to some parts of the chest that might be lacking.
>ITT: dyels giving shitty advice
....
>gives no advise
….