I need a good mass/chest workout

[Distortion]

What workouts do you guys think adds MASS to the chest. I've been doing the pretty standard 3x8 2x5 Flat Bench 3x8 2x5 Incline Bench, and 3x8 fly's. This works great for strength but not mass. What do you guys do?

 

[tzan]

Currently I'm going for more size then strength and my chest workout looks like so:

Incline 3x10-12/supersetted with incline flys
Flat 3x8-10
Decline flys OR Weighted Dips 3x 10-12

 

[cwick0]

A great way to improve ones' bench is through the use of sets of 10 reps. Warmup and then do 3 sets of 10 at a weight at which you can normally do a set of 10. By time you get to the second and third sets of 10, you wont be able to complete them. Try this, i went from doing 1 set of 10 @ 315, after 3 months, i could do 3 sets of 10 @ 315. Currently i can do 3 sets of 15 @ 315.

Example: 135 (15-20 reps)
225 (10 reps)
275 (6 reps)
315 (10reps) for 3 sets
rest pauses (heavier) for a set of 3.
Try it guys, you will be presently suprised. However, you will have to regress at the start, but after several months your bench/chest should explode.

I use this technique on incline. About a year and a half ago i could barely do 275 for 5 reps, now i can do it for 2 sets of 10 and a set of 15 on my third set.

I was turned onto this by a buddy who at the time was 280lbs at 6'2.5". I met him in the gym through spotting him. The first set he completed 315 for 17 reps, i only helped on the 17th rep. He probably has a 54" chest.

 

[majutsu]

I believe massive chests are attainable by benching alone. Several pros have done this, notably serge nubret and ken waller (who only decline benched). Something like cwick0 said is the trick. Serge used to do 3 sets of 15 bench at 225, when that was easy, he added a 4th set, when that was easy, a 5th. When 5 sets of 15 was easy, then he increased weight and went back down to 3 sets of 15. Then again, he increased to 5 sets as tolerated. Powerlifting is near-maximal training, to train muscle and CNS firing, etc. Bodybuilding is sub-maximal training, with progressive resistance, like that outlined above. I do something like this hypertrophy training, but to a lesser extent. I do 3sets of 6 with little rest, then advance to 3sets of 7 reps, then 3x8. When I can do 3x8 easy, I increase the weight, and go down to 3x6 again. Very simple, really. If you currently bench 275 for 3sets of 8, and sometime later do 3sets of 8 at 315lbs, your chest will have grown phenomenally. No other tricks, exercises, acupuncture, yoga or colonics will make a difference if this doesn't. Alot of people who talk about adequate strength but poor mass are frankly just not pushing enough weight. Beginner trainers 5'10" to 6'1" often can push 275 for 3 sets of 8 after a few weeks. If you are not doing at least this weight, then you really don't have enough strength to be massive. If you are already doing 315 or over for 3 sets of 8, then you probably have been over-focusing on power training (and quite successfully too!!) and higher reps will probably give you the look you seek. Hope this helps.

 

[cwick0]

Majutsu,
Thanks for clairifying my point further and elaborating on it. This has been by far my favorite method to train chest in the 8 years i have been training.

Thanks for the sets of 15 idea at 225. I want to see if i can get the 5 sets right off the bat. Just something a little different for me to toy with, my partner will also love it.

 

[powerforward]

cwick0 and majutsu just had to great posts on increasing chest size and bench strength. i get caught up alot of times trying to do flat bench/incline db's/ dips/ crossovers, etc. but i have had great results just by benching alone and trying to always add reps and then weight.

good post guys.