What do you think of this Chest Routine?

[NullQwerty]

Hey folks,

I've been doing this chest routine once a week for about a year now and wanted to know what you guys think of it.

I do 3 Sets of everything with 6-8 Reps, maxing out the weight on my 3rd set

Flat Bench
Incline Bench
Flys
Decline Bench

I only have about 45 min to do the full workout (plus abs), so I can't fit anything additional...the best I can do is replace one for something else.

I've been happy with the routine, but I'm not sure if I could be doing better by doing something else, or if it needs to be changed just because I've been doing it for a year (As I said though, I do switch to free weights for it every 3 months and then back again).

Don't know if this matters or not, but I'm 28, 5'10", 165 lbs. I've gained about 10 lbs in the last year and increased my benching weight by about 50 or 60 lbs.

Thanks a lot!

[baseball]

I'm assuming you do workouts for your other muscle groups as well, on different days of the week? As much as I absolutely love doing decline, I'd drop that, superset my flys with my flat bench, and throw in some cable crossovers. It depends on what works for you though. I hit cables last on chest day and I feel like it really cuts me up and gives me a great pump. Sometimes I throw in the hammer machines here and there. Just don't over do it. Experimentation sometimes is the key to finding what works best for you...you might try something that you think is stupid and it could give you the best results of anything you've ever done.

[NullQwerty]

Thanks for the advice! I'll give it all a shot. I never did the superset with the same muscle group on chest because my assumption has always been that I would tire myself out before completing my 3rd set and thus never maxing out my weight. But I guess it doesn't really matter if I max out my weight, so long as my my muscles are fully tired, right?

Thanks again!

[Merk0135]

Well, I'm going to give you different advice than the guy before. Drop the flys and crossovers, they do nothing to overload the chest muscles and activate muscle recruitiment. They also do nothing to get you 'cut' and the 'pump' effect has nothing to do with growth. Flat bench is all you need mixed in with some dumbell work to help your stabilizer muscles. It would help if you post your entire routine and diet because if you're not progessing in the bench it's probably not your chest that's hindering your lifts, rather your secondary muscles or a poor diet.

[mcchunter]

agree with merk
i would concentrate on flat bench maybe doing 5-6sets plus warm ups
get technique down and add weight every week
at 165 pounds you dont need to "cut up" you need to eat!!!

[NullQwerty]

I tend to eat probably around 2,000 calories a day. I try to stay low fat, low carbs, high protein, but I don't get too crazy about it. Typical day will be a Protein Bar for breakfast, Power bar for pre-workout (and possibly a second Protein Bar), Roast Beef Sandwich on a wrap or Pita for Lunch, possibly a couple of lean hamburgers for dinner, and a protein shake (2 scoops) and a small 200 calorie snack to wrap it all up.

My problem with gaining weight and the reason I don't really try to is because I always get that gullet under the chin/above the neck, and I hate it!!! Don't know how to avoid it or get rid of it. It can come on with only a 2 lb weight gain. Any advice on that?

My normal routine is (everything is 6-8 reps, 3 sets, 1 minute rest between sets):
Monday - Chest:
Flat Bench (with dumbbells, max out at 70lbs each, bar is 120lb + bar)
Incline
Flys
Decline

Tuesday - Legs
Either a 35 minute run or:
Leg Press
Calf Press
Lunges
Leg Curl

Wednesday - Off

Thursday - Arms
Hammer Curls
Tricep Bench Dips
Curls
Either Tricep Push Downs or Tricep Extensions
Reverse Curls
Wrist Curls

Friday - Shoulders and Back
Shoulder Press
Side Pulldown Machine (not the official title ;-)
Two Arm Deltoid Dumbbell Raises alternating Front with Side
Pulldowns
Shrugs

[mcchunter]

have your doctor check your thyroid

[Merk0135]

Originally Posted by NullQwerty

I tend to eat probably around 2,000 calories a day. I try to stay low fat, low carbs, high protein, but I don't get too crazy about it. Typical day will be a Protein Bar for breakfast, Power bar for pre-workout (and possibly a second Protein Bar), Roast Beef Sandwich on a wrap or Pita for Lunch, possibly a couple of lean hamburgers for dinner, and a protein shake (2 scoops) and a small 200 calorie snack to wrap it all up.

My problem with gaining weight and the reason I don't really try to is because I always get that gullet under the chin/above the neck, and I hate it!!! Don't know how to avoid it or get rid of it. It can come on with only a 2 lb weight gain. Any advice on that?

My normal routine is (everything is 6-8 reps, 3 sets, 1 minute rest between sets):
Monday - Chest:
Flat Bench (with dumbbells, max out at 70lbs each, bar is 120lb + bar)
Incline
Flys
Decline

Tuesday - Legs
Either a 35 minute run or:
Leg Press
Calf Press
Lunges
Leg Curl

Wednesday - Off

Thursday - Arms
Hammer Curls
Tricep Bench Dips
Curls
Either Tricep Push Downs or Tricep Extensions
Reverse Curls
Wrist Curls

Friday - Shoulders and Back
Shoulder Press
Side Pulldown Machine (not the official title ;-)
Two Arm Deltoid Dumbbell Raises alternating Front with Side
Pulldowns
Shrugs

Man your arms must be exhausted. You train them monday and friday and then hit them independtly on thursday, the day before back day and shoulder day. That means your bis are fried trying to pull weight when doing your back and your tris are fried when pushing for shoulder presses. Also, your training legs and not squating, training back and not deadlifting. Huge mistake. These are the biggest lifts that give you the most strength and size. Drop all the isolation chit and concentrate on big compound movements like flat bench, squats and deadlifts. 2,000 calories isn't enough the make a chicken grow. Bump it up to 5,000 at least. Check a doc about your neck if you have to.

Mon - Push
tue. - off
wed. - legs (ATG SQUATS)
thr. - off
Fri. - Pull (DEADLIFT!)

[waynaferd]

I'd drop the running for 35 minutes on leg day, and maybe drop all the arm and shoulders, and just focus on the big three for awhile. I do deads and bench on mondays and fridays, and squats on weds, and after a month and a half of steady gains my arms and shoulders aren't exactly shrinking. Actually, my shoulders are looking alot better than before. For awhile I couldn't get my bench to increase but I've been real impressed with how its going lately. I'm also bulking, so I eat a ton of food every day, bad fats, bad carbs, and everything else. I'll worry about fat loss in another month or so.....just my .02

[NullQwerty]

Well thanks for all the great advice everyone!

It sounds like maybe I should pick up a book on lifting to better understand the muscles and routines, because I actually just assumed that my routine was fairly typical. At the same time though I had a suspicion that I might not be going down the best path.

I will say that I have seen gains. My arms look great and my chest is the most defined that it's ever been (however with my chest I feel like it should look much better)....however prior to a year ago, I never really lifted, so I'd expect to see improvement.

I'll put together everyone's advice and do some research and come up with a new routine.

Thanks again everyone!

[liftnw8z]

Most here hit the nail on the head. I'll just add, and reiterate, that Flat bench is best and what you should be focusing on. Incline and Decline serve a purpose based on your weaknesses, no need to do them both, one or the other based on your weakness. I strongly ecourage you to drop shoulders on back day and do them on chest day.

Flat bench, maybe some DB benching, shoulders and a bit of tri's and call it a day.

[NullQwerty]

Ok...So I changed up my routine. Today was Chest day and I turned it instead into Chest & Tri day. I will remove the solo arm day and adjust all other days as well.

This was the routine I did today. What do you guys think? I was definitely exhausted at the end, although, I'm not so sure the exhaustion was in my chest area though.

Everything I did 5-6 reps with 5 sets (except for dips which had higher reps). I started out with a little lower weight than I normally start with and maxed out on my 4th or 5th set.

Flat Bench Barbell (70lbs, 90lbs, 100lbs, 120lbs, 130lbs -- + barbell weight)
Flat Bench Dumbbell (45lbs, 50lbs, 60lbs, 70lbs, 70lbs -- each dumbbell)
Tricep Dips (10 reps, 15, 15, 20, 20)
Dips (8 reps, 8, 8, 10, 12)

Am I going down the right path? How would you guys adjust?

Thanks!

[lee thompson]

incline dumbell press instead of flat bench dumbell press?

[joemomma]

No need to mix flat/incline, although we do it on occassion. What are "triceps dips" and dips? Is there a difference?

[NullQwerty]

The Tricep Dips I am referring to is where your legs are straight out in front of you with your heals on a bench, so that your body is forming an 'L'. Your arms are holding your body up on another bench, and then you bend your elbows lowering yourself down, and reverse the motion to come back up.

The Dips I am referring to is the standard kind where you are straight up and down holding your body up on 2 bars with your feet off the ground. Then you lower yourself down and come back up. That is supposed to work your chest as well as your tri's which is why I chose it.