opinions on chest exercises

[young guns]

after reading another thread, i realized i do what many people do, and not sure why - i obsess over my flat bench. as a result, i am not happy with my chest development. the upper part of my chest is lacking, and i seem to lack some of that overall slab-like appearance. so i need some opinions on the best way to develop my chest better.

my normal workout is:

flat bench, incline bench (dbell), decline bench (dbell), pushups (feet raised with weight on my back)

i was thinkin i should put incline bench first in my workout, and follow it with flat bench or a real low incline. i plan on keeping pushups as my final exercise, since i get a good pump/burnout from them. i'm just not sure whether i should whether i should be doing bbell or dbell exercises. again, i want to concentrate on development moreso that strenght.

any suggestions are welcome. thanks guys.

 

[supersizeme]

about two years ago i made the switch from starting with flat bench to incline. all of my chest routines now begin with either incline db press or incline bench, and i have gotten much better results in my upper chest. a lot of people on this board will get into the whole "you can't work one specific region of the muscle," but judging from what i've seen go on with my physique, incline has helped me develop a little bit more of a balanced chest.
i always started off with flat bench because, like the majority of other people, we can all flat bench more than we can incline. so ego drives you to put up the flat bench first. swallow your pride and throw some incline up first...give it a good 6 months and see how your chest reacts to it.

 

[jeremys]

i always liked flat db bench. to target chest doing flat barbell benches would mean the person would have their elbows out, perpendicular from their body. this would put that person's shoulders at risk.

how do you guys get the weight to stay on your back on pushups? i may do these at the end of each chest day if i could figure this out.

what's the safest way to do pushups to target chest? hands below mid-chest and close to your body, or a wide spread of hands and out by your shoulders?

 

[louden_swain]

Inclines are by far the most important chest exercise. I debunked the flat bench years ago when I discovered that it was an over-rated exercise. The result has been excellent gains in size and strength. All pro bodybuilders use inclines as the meat and potatoes exercises. They are capable of shifting around over 405lbs on the incline barbell press.

A lot of guys wil tell you. . . ."I can bench 315lbs".

Big whoop and So what. . .this is a small weight compared to what the big boys shift around in southern California.

 

[young guns]

do you guys think either bbell or dbell inclines are better than the other, or just vary them every so often?

jeremys - i just have my training partner put the weight on my lower back and the weight stays. i keep my back arched a little so the plate sits better, and i raise my feet on a bench so make sure when i go down i am takin my chest to the ground and not my abs (since i have a slightly more than usual arch in my back). of course, this is limited to using single plates, but by the end of my workout i wouldn't want to throw more than a 45 on my back for burnouts anyway. i always have my partner there in case the weight slides, but i usually don't have a problem.

i see no one has mentioned decline at all. anyone feel this is an important chest exercise, or stick to the incline and flat movements?

 

[DJRAZR]

Try this

CHEST example...

week 1: power
-dumbell bench press...3 x 4-6
-incline press...3 x 4-6
-weighted dips...2 x 4-6

week 2: rep range
-incline dumbell press...3 x 6-8
-bench press...3 x 8-10
-flye...2 x 10-12

week 3: shock
-superset...cable crossover/incline smith press...1-2 x 8-10 reps each
-superset...incline flye/dips...1 x 8-10 reps each
-dropset...machine bench press...1 x 8-10, drop 6-8, drop 6-8 optional