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Bench Pressing/Pec Development Question

waderironman

New member
hello,
my name is sean and im 21 years old. i have been lifting since i was a senior in high school on and off, nothing more than 3 months at a time due to laziness, etc. over the past 4 years, my bench has been plateau'ed. i'm an all natural lifter, started off with almost nothing (started benching 90lbs.), i got up to 45 plates before i embarked off to college and thought it would only go up. well i was obviously mistaken. i was stuck at 140 - 150lbs for 3 years. i tried doing protein shakes to no avail. then this past year, i started lifting with my legs, cuz i wanted to and also cuz i heard that more muscle building protein would be released into your system and in effect bigger stronger muscles. and since then ive finally been going up in my bench (i also maxed out at 225lbs. recently). now to my question, my muscle growth in my pecs seems to only be on the outside bottom (looking down at my chest that is, bottom outside). there seems to be very little growth in the upper chest and in the middle of my chest. my question is how can i hit these areas hard. i do incline presses and flys every time i do chest (which is once a week, seems to be a good time system for me). if someone could tell me, which exercises are the best, how to actually do it well, cuz i really wanna avoid eventually getting "bitch tits" from only working one part of my pecs. on a few side notes, some more questions are about shoulders. when i do shoulders should i be having to arch my back? in other words should i not arch my back when i do shoulder presses (does that mean its too much weight?). the only reason i ask is i have somewhat vulnerable shoulders (they have dislocated during a shoulder press with painful results) so i want to get them strong. and the only times i ever seem to go up is when i push myself to get those heavy weights up (i can currently get 70lb. dumbbells up 6-8 times). thank you for your response.

-sean
 
I'm pretty much a beginner lifter so I can't really help you except to say that you should try posting this in the Training/Bodybuilding forum - you'll get a lot more responses :)
 
A few things come to mind right away. You won't get "bitch tits" from lifting weights. That happens when one uses medicines or prohormones like steroids or andro types of products. Also, a big improvement with benchpressing will come when the lifter develops tricepts, lats, and deltoids because these muscle groups are actually more important than pure pecs for lifting heavy. Good pec development is excellent of course but don't ignore those tris especially. They are the ones for locking out big numbers. Good luck man.
 
You can't work different parts of your chest. You can only change the size, not the shape.
The different angles of chest movements, incline, decline, will put more or less emphasis on your shoulders, tris, pecs. Not different parts of your pectoral muscle, that's not how muscle works.
 
Hi Sean,

I'd advise you to get the book Beyond Brawn by Stuart McRobert. This will probably explain why you plateau'ed for so long, and will tell you how a typical natural person should train to make maximum progress. It's an amazing book and could completely change the way you change for the better. Just my thoughts!
 
Hey When I 1st started working out I was real skinny and All I did was flat bench, and my chest had the same look you are talking about. It look like you have tits because the muscle is only growing on the lower outer pecs..I actualy stopped doing flat totaly and only incline to make it look better.

Well from my pic you can see I have changed that.

1st) make Inlcine bench your 1st bench. then flat bench- also be aware that as the weights on these benchs start to improve you wll see the middle pec muscle start to grow. It takes time and you really need to get your inlcine up to about 230 for reps and flat for 225 for reps. Now depending on how tall and broad shoulder you are this weight cna vary. I'm 6'2" with broad shoulds and have a lot of muscle to develop, so I needed to move a good amount of weight. My friend is 5'8" 150 and benching 225 makes his chest full.

2nd) For your inlcine bench try to use a power rack and power bench. Find an angle around 45 degree.. Make the angle fairly step. This will emphasis the front delts more and the very upper pecs will finally getr some action..

3nd) DIPs Dips Dips... Dips, elbows out.. It affects the tri's but with elbows out your pecs get involved in a uniuqe angle. Helps fill it out.

4th) If your powerlifting only do this for GPP day. DO Flat or incline flys with dumbells but do light weight for 15 reps with perfect form.. You really need to think about working the pec muscle while you do this..
If your body building do flys as part of your routine.

Just realize the chest takes a lot of time to develop properyl. You need to start moving some good weight before you see the inner pecs start to grow...

Good luck!
 
A good thing to do is to split your chest into two different workouts. One day do all of your incline work and maybe add the fromt delt. On another day do flat and decline. The best way that I have found to add more mass to your upper chest is to start with incline barbell maybe three sets and then use dumbbells for maybe like another 4 sets. Another good thing to do is when you are doing incline flies is when you reach the top of the movement with your arm above you push the dumbbells up like you are tring to reach the ceiling and crush those muscles in your chest until they feel like they are going to tear and split blood.
 
waderironman said:
hello,
my name is sean and im 21 years old. i have been lifting since i was a senior in high school on and off, nothing more than 3 months at a time due to laziness, etc. over the past 4 years, my bench has been plateau'ed. i'm an all natural lifter, started off with almost nothing (started benching 90lbs.), i got up to 45 plates before i embarked off to college and thought it would only go up. well i was obviously mistaken. i was stuck at 140 - 150lbs for 3 years. i tried doing protein shakes to no avail. then this past year, i started lifting with my legs, cuz i wanted to and also cuz i heard that more muscle building protein would be released into your system and in effect bigger stronger muscles. and since then ive finally been going up in my bench (i also maxed out at 225lbs. recently). now to my question, my muscle growth in my pecs seems to only be on the outside bottom (looking down at my chest that is, bottom outside). there seems to be very little growth in the upper chest and in the middle of my chest. my question is how can i hit these areas hard. i do incline presses and flys every time i do chest (which is once a week, seems to be a good time system for me). if someone could tell me, which exercises are the best, how to actually do it well, cuz i really wanna avoid eventually getting "bitch tits" from only working one part of my pecs. on a few side notes, some more questions are about shoulders. when i do shoulders should i be having to arch my back? in other words should i not arch my back when i do shoulder presses (does that mean its too much weight?). the only reason i ask is i have somewhat vulnerable shoulders (they have dislocated during a shoulder press with painful results) so i want to get them strong. and the only times i ever seem to go up is when i push myself to get those heavy weights up (i can currently get 70lb. dumbbells up 6-8 times). thank you for your response.

First question to ask you is what are your goals? Strength, size, shape, powerlifting, bodybuilding, etc?
Plateau- of course you plateaued, you are not going to grow unless you get off your lazy ass!!! haha
bitch tits are not muscles, they are extra fat stored in the chest. If you only to flat bench then you will only develop one area of the chest.
More inclines, close grip benching, inclin flys, dips to help develope that other areas of your chest.
like the others said you need to hit you tris, back, and delts real good to get your bench up.
you may want to train your chest one than once a week depending on what your goals are.
you should not have an excessive arch in your back when you are doing shoulder presses, you shuld be wearing a belt on hheavier sets. If you are prone to dislocation, you should not go so heavy on the dumbells, try using a bar and spotter for your shoulders in stead.


-sean
 
The primary responsibility of the chest muscles is arm adduction, or pulling your arm across your body. This is why the pec deck and crossovers work so well to isolate the chest. Most all pressing is performed by triceps extension and shoulder rotation. Shoulder rotation is the result or the implementation of the muscles of the upper back, known as the rotator cuff muscles. These muscles together with the lats act to stabilize and move the bar through the proper groove
 
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