Gains in Chest Strength

The_Gatsby

So I've been lifting since February and everything is coming along nicely. I'm seeing nice gains in size in all areas, including my chest. However, I'm frustrated because I cannot gain strength in my chest. Ever since I started training I've seen gains in strength all over my body, except my chest. For example, I started off shoulder pressing 15kg and now I'm up to 20kg. I started dumbell pressing 20kg and can't move past it. Every time I increase the weight I can't get my reps out and it's really frustrating me.

I know it's not my form or anything. I used to play rugby at a high enough level so had good strength and conditioning coaches who taught me well. I'm also eating a good diet, taking my supplements and think I have a solid enough chest routine, since I've only been back to lifting about 8 weeks. I'm only training my chest once a week as I can really only train 3 days a week and I have a 3 day split so I'd find it hard to get a secondary chest session. Could it be that I'm not training my chest often enough? I was considering creatine to get a quick boost in strength but having only been training for 8 weeks so I'm not sure I've gotten the full potential out of protein and a good diet yet.

Appreciate any help!

RidleyRider

Whats your chest workout?

The_Gatsby

RidleyRider wrote: »

Whats your chest workout?

3x10 flat dumbell press
3x10 incline dumbell press
3x10 cable flyes
3x10 close grip bench press
Drop set on chest press machine straight into a burnset

RidleyRider

The_Gatsby wrote: »

3x10 flat dumbell press
3x10 incline dumbell press
3x10 cable flyes
3x10 close grip bench press
Drop set on chest press machine straight into a burnset

No bench?

The_Gatsby

RidleyRider wrote: »

No bench?

I'm not too confident benching without a spotter. I've alternated the flat dumbells with the smith machine, getting 4x8 reps at 50kg

Big_G

You should consider smaller sets such as 5s. Is your main goal
hypertrophy or strength?

RidleyRider

Ask someone in the gym, they won't mind. Why don't you try a 5 x 5 programme? It's based on strength.

The_Gatsby

Big_G wrote: »

You should consider smaller sets such as 5s. Is your main goal
hypertrophy or strength?

Hyperthropy. I thought I'd gain some strength along with that also. I haven't seen any real gains in strength in my chest

Mellor

RidleyRider wrote: »

No bench?

Flat Dumbbell press = Dumbell bench press

The_Gatsby wrote: »

I'm only training my chest once a week as I can really only train 3 days a week and I have a 3 day split so I'd find it hard to get a secondary chest session. Could it be that I'm not training my chest often enough?

Its not that. There's no reason you can make gains with one chest day a week. Especially in the early stages.

3x10 flat dumbell press
3x10 incline dumbell press
3x10 cable flyes
3x10 close grip bench press
Drop set on chest press machine straight into a burnset

What's a burnset? Why are you doing this? (Not saying its wrong, or right, I just believe everyone should be able to explain their reasons for each exercise)

You say you use 20kg on the flat DB press. I assume you get all 3 sets of 10 out.
What weight do you jump to after this?
You probably aren't strong enough for any sort of reps with 25s. You need to use 22.5kg, and you'll only get 4-6 reps.

If you get get 5 reps at 22.5kg, I'd use that weight and try to add a rep or two each week. It mgiht take a month to get to 3x10, but you'll get there. If you can't get 5 reps, I'd stick with the 20s until you get 3x12, then try the 22.5kg again.

The_Gatsby

Mellor wrote: »

Flat Dumbbell press = Dumbell bench press


Its not that. There's no reason you can make gains with one chest day a week. Especially in the early stages.



What's a burnset? Why are you doing this? (Not saying its wrong, or right, I just believe everyone should be able to explain their reasons for each exercise)

You say you use 20kg on the flat DB press. I assume you get all 3 sets of 10 out.
What weight do you jump to after this?
You probably aren't strong enough for any sort of reps with 25s. You need to use 22.5kg, and you'll only get 4-6 reps.

If you get get 5 reps at 22.5kg, I'd use that weight and try to add a rep or two each week. It mgiht take a month to get to 3x10, but you'll get there. If you can't get 5 reps, I'd stick with the 20s until you get 3x12, then try the 22.5kg again.

A burnset is using a light weight at the end of an exercise and doing as many reps as you can. I like them because they add some extra intensity to my workouts. Although if size is my goal, is doing this counter productive as I'm burning more calories?

Your advice about using the 22.5kgs seems to be fairly logical and straight forward. I'll give that a go and see if it works over the next couple of weeks. Also, I've heard of people doing a set amount of reps, no matter how many sets. Do you think it would be worth doing this with the increased weight or just slowly building up the reps until I can do 3x10?

Mellor

The_Gatsby wrote: »

A burnset is using a light weight at the end of an exercise and doing as many reps as you can. I like them because they add some extra intensity to my workouts. Although if size is my goal, is doing this counter productive as I'm burning more calories?

I'm not too sure what it achieves in terms of your goals. Sounds a a page from the broscience manual, "increase the burn for bigger gains". In reality, the burn is irrelevant and personally I'd perfer to avoid purposely failing.
I wouldn't worry about calories though, the energy from a single set is totally irrelevant over the course of a week.

Your advice about using the 22.5kgs seems to be fairly logical and straight forward. I'll give that a go and see if it works over the next couple of weeks. Also, I've heard of people doing a set amount of reps, no matter how many sets. Do you think it would be worth doing this with the increased weight or just slowly building up the reps until I can do 3x10?

Give 22.5kg a go and let me know how you get on.
I would bother with set amount of reps, as you actually be working (in a relative sense) as you get stronger. Just go with 3 sets, trying to up the reps and then move on to 25kg.

maco12

pre exhausting the muscle is great too,,mix it up.. flyes before pressing etc..even suppersetting.. just confuses the muscle and prevents going stale!