Chest

[Blackved]

Tomorrow I'm hitting chest big and wondering if you guys could inform me on some unorthodox routines or workouts?

[On Letting Go]

Unorthodox? why?

Stick with the basics bro; barbell flat, barbell incline, dips ... with proper diet these are the tried and true mass builders.

OLG

[Alk]

barbell incline

I'd probably stress this the most. Some people skip the incline and/or decline presses for whatever reason at the gym. Maybe it's a time issue for some, but these are going to help you get the best chest definition in the end. It's like working only the middle part of your bicep, the results you want won't come until you work the other parts of the muscle.

I like supersetting with pushups right after incline-declines sometimes as well. I try to change up the type, but diving pushups are probably my favorite.

[mritter3]

heavy weighted dips, inclne flyes, flat db press, decline db press, not necessarily in that order, but if you want to mix it up throw in some drop sets.

[Semprini]

I also put emphasis on incline bench and flies. My issue is building the middle-inner section of my chest. Its definied on both the lower and upper ends, but its just not coming out in the middle. Even when I press my finger in and rub it side to side all I feel is bone. I still have hope since Im no where near my goals. Im just seeing if anyone else ever dealt with this and maybe its just lagging for now?

[In Flames]

Heres my current Chest workout.

3 x 4-6 Flat Barbell Bench Press
3 x 6-10 Incline Barbell Bench Press
1 x 6-10 Weighted Dips

[SolidTongan]

You could try explosive reps on the smith machine. Use like 50% of ur 1rm for 3-6 explosive reps. It should be so explosive the bar actually leaves your hands. Training like this will definitely hit those fast twitch fibers.

[ironbound]

Sometimes I like to pre-exhaust my chest with flyes before hitting the bench. Some people might shake their heads and say this is bad because you won't be able to bench as much, but I find it gives me a wicked pump. It's especially good for people who have strong front delts and tris that tend to compensate for their chest when benching.

[Redbeard]

I like to do:

BB Flat Bench 4x8
BB Inc Bench 4x8
DB Flat Flye/Pullover Superset 3x8-12

Lately I've also been playing with 5 sets instead of 4 - a light set of 10-12, three heavier sets of 6-8, and finish with a lighter set (right afterwards, a drop set) of 10-12.

[getapump]

i dont know how unorthadox it is, but it was a helluva a workout, pretty good volume and a wicked pump. gotta love the pump. neway here is a routine i did last week.

barbell bench- 11 sets pyramid up to mximum weight for desired rep range, pyramid back down... finished with a dropset burnout.
incline smith- 5 sets, sets 3,4,5 all at max weight. you will lose a few reps each set probly
superset cable crossovers w/ dumbell flyes- 3 sets each, i used the same weight for all
wide grip dips- as many reps as u can muster for 2 sets.
followed this with deep fascial stretching.

this was all improvised on the spot,as all my workouts are. depending on how you train, itmay be too much or too little. either way, train balls to the wall baby!

[SolidTongan]

Sometimes I like to pre-exhaust my chest with flyes before hitting the bench. Some people might shake their heads and say this is bad because you won't be able to bench as much, but I find it gives me a wicked pump. It's especially good for people who have strong front delts and tris that tend to compensate for their chest when benching.

I like the pre-exhaust method too. It's worked for me. I like to use it cuz my delts and tris tire out before my chest can even get a good pump.

[Semprini]

I like the pre-exhaust method too. It's worked for me. I like to use it cuz my delts and tris tire out before my chest can even get a good pump.

Im the exact same way. Either flat or incline benching my tris will get fail WAY before I really feel my chest pushing its limits. My tris(arms) are also much smaller than I think they should be in comparison to my chest's overall size... So it leaves me at, WTF??

[bleed_alone]

throw some stability ball movements in to screw with your nervous system. either pushups on the ball, or use it instead of a bench for db flyes/presses. i've been doing this for a few weeks after never doing anything like it and i get crazy pumps.

[Manneh]

I see lotsa people's chest workouts seem to be comprised of just 3 exercises, and about 10 sets. I often find myself doing 4 and even 5 different exercises... Even though everyone's slightly different, is just 3 exercises the most effective way to build mass?

[rocket1]

I see lotsa people's chest workouts seem to be comprised of just 3 exercises, and about 10 sets. I often find myself doing 4 and even 5 different exercises... Even though everyone's slightly different, is just 3 exercises the most effective way to build mass?

It depends. There are some people who can lift very heavy for 6 reps an just a few exercises and get big. I'm not one of those kind of people. I have to do more exercises if I want to gain mass. My theory is that people with more fast twitch fibers can gain weight more easily using high weight, lower volume. I have to do 8-10 reps and 4 or 5 exercises.

Don't worry about what other people do. What works for you is what you should keep doing. When it stops working, do something else. I always have to remind myself of this since I lift for size (not powerlifting) and I can't push/pull very much weight. Progress is coming though.

[SolidTongan]

Im the exact same way. Either flat or incline benching my tris will get fail WAY before I really feel my chest pushing its limits. My tris(arms) are also much smaller than I think they should be in comparison to my chest's overall size... So it leaves me at, WTF??

Yeah, thing about pre-exhaust, you gotta leave your ego at the door. After hittin' flyes and crossover, you can't go as heavy anymore.

[Jonisocool]

Just hit em where it hurts.