“How much do you bench?” This is often the first question people ask when talking with each other about their training routine. Although I will agree the bench press is the best mass builder for your chest, it certainly depends on how you perform the exercise.
Using chest as an example, there are a plethora of exercises that I’m sure you’ve heard build it up. Some of these include:
- Bench press (incline, flat, decline)
- Dumbbell bench press (incline, flat, decline)
- Dumbbell fly
- Push ups
- Dips
- “Over-the-tops”
- Other machines (fly, press, cables, etc.)
Ideally, all or most of the above exercises should be used in connection with one another to achieve the best results for muscular development. But, how you perform these exercises will yield different results, depending on your goals. Allow me to explain.
If your goal is to build muscle, the tempo and weight in which you train with will have to be different than somebody whose goal is to build strength. After all, strength is a skill, and technique is learned through experience and by making adjustments.
When you see “Top Reasons Your Chest Isn’t Growing…”, this is meant to be interpreted by you. Is “growing” linked to strength increases? Maybe to you, “growing” is linked to size instead. Although you may think these two terms go hand-in-hand, this isn’t always the case.
Training for strength
If you had to answer the question: “How do I get stronger?”, what response would you provide? Would you suggest to perform more repetitions? Lift with more total volume? Lift heavier weights? If you answered with lift heavier weights—you would be correct.
As mentioned before, strength is a skill, and the best way to get better at this skill is to simply lift heavier weights. Ideally, you want to aim for 3-7 repetitions when training to get stronger. By doing so, you force your nervous system to withstand its limits on this end of the spectrum.
Each repetition you perform here requires more tightness, better form, and more focus; remember—technique is key. Moreover, lifting heavy will likely recruit more muscle fibers, as in the case for the bench press, you will try exploding from the bottom position as fast as possible to move that weight up. This activates your fast twitch muscle fibers, which will lead to you becoming more explosive in your lifts.
I’d like to also mention that when you train for strength, your body composition will vary greatly as opposed to someone who trains for hypertrophy (muscular growth). Powerlifters, strongmen, and other strength athletes generally have thicker, blockier physiques as opposed to bodybuilders and fitness athletes, who are more chiseled and defined.
Program for strength training
The following routine may fit an athlete looking to get a stronger chest:
- Bench press: 5 sets of 3-5 reps. (Make sure to keep the weight heavy enough to where you fail within this rep range each set.)
- Dumbbell incline press: 3 sets of 5-8 reps (following same instruction as above).
- Weighted dips: 3 sets of 5-10 reps. (This will increase power output in your push muscles (chest and triceps) and ultimately allow you to push more weight. Make sure to dip down until your arms are roughly parallel with the ground, and return to the top. Make sure to squeeze your chest at the top of each rep, while simultaneously leaning in.)
- Dumbbell flyes: 8-10 reps. (Go heavy enough here until you get a deep enough stretch in your pecs without feeling any pain. If you happen to feel pain, you may be going too deep, and you should adjust technique accordingly. Contract at the top of the movement by pushing hands together and pretend you’re hugging a tree.)
Of course, there are several variants you can do with the above, but this is just a sample that in all honesty, you can’t go wrong with, regardless of your experience level. If desired, you could add resistance bands to the bench press, place a board between your chest and bar, etc.
Training for muscle growth
It is very common for athletes to think muscle growth and strength are synonymous, but they are not. Unlike training for strength, your rep range here will be greater. Training for muscle growth requires reps typically within the 8-12 range (and often more), and thus has a different effect on your nervous system & body.
When you train using high reps, your motive is simple: to build bigger muscles. Performing more reps takes longer than performing less reps. Do you know what this means? This means that your TUT (time under tension) is increased, which is a key component for muscular development. Do not worry if you have been training this way all along with a goal of getting stronger. Increases in strength are realized here as well, just not at the same pace as hypertrophy is.
When you look at the way bodybuilders and fitness athletes train, many of them aim for a minimum of 10 reps to force more blood into the muscle. By doing so, you put your muscles under the stress they need to grow. Couple this with shorter rest periods (1-2 minutes as opposed to 3-5 minutes), and you got yourself a workout!
Bodybuilders focus mainly on achieving “the pump”. (I’m sure we’ve all heard Arnold Schwarzenegger’s famous phrase…) When you’re lifting heavy and in low rep ranges, the pump seems to be not as prevalent as for the case with higher rep ranges. The extended rest periods powerlifters take also allow the pump to fade away rather quickly.
It is also worth mentioning that the tempo for bodybuilding is typically slower than powerlifting (strength training). Here, you should aim to lower the weight down slowly (2-3s), then explode upwards to achieve peak contraction. This allows for greater time under tension and muscle growth, while concurrently training your fast twitch muscle fibers.
Program for hypertrophy
Following the same example above, below is a sample workout an athlete may follow looking to build their chest:
- Flat dumbbell press: 4 sets of 8-15 reps, increasing weight and decreasing reps each set. (Also known as “pyramid sets”, this is a common routine for bodybuilding. Select a weight you can perform 15 reps with during the first set, and decrease reps each subsequent set while simultaneously increasing the weight. Focus on contracting the muscle at the top of each repetition.)
- Incline bench press: 3 sets of 8-12 reps (again, following the same pyramid style training above, increasing weight each set).
- Flat dumbbell hex press: 3 sets of 10-12 reps. (While lying down on a bench, keep two dumbbells pressed together for the duration of the movement. Press upwards like you would with a normal dumbbell press, except ensure you sure you keep the dumbbells touching throughout. Unlike pressing dumbbells with your pinky fingers outwards, rotate your wrists inwards so your pinky fingers face your knees. Press above your chest like you normally would.)
- Decline cable flyes: 3 sets of 12-15 reps. (Start with the cable crossovers in the bottommost position, and bring upwards, contracting your chest each repetition.)
Best of both worlds?
So now after reading both sections above, I’m sure your question is: “Which is best?” This is another point which I’m sure is clear now. The answer is: both.
If your goal is to not only achieve that aesthetic look, but to build strength as well, then the marriage of both schemes is the best route. There are different ways to put both together in one routine. You can lift heavy for the first exercise or two, then taper off afterwards to lighter weights, or you could pre-exhaust the muscle first, then go lift heavy.
It is often best practice to start off with your compound lifts (i.e. squats, bench press, military press, etc.), then taper off with isolation exercises. With the compound lifts, you should be lifting in the heavier rep range of 5-10. This way, you could get the best of both worlds.
Lifting heavy at first is best because your body is not yet fatigued, thus allowing you to get the maximum benefit of your heavy lifts. If you start off with isolation exercises and go to the heavier, compound lifts after—well then you’re not using the strength you initially had at the start of the workout, which will hinder the amount of weight you can lift.
Finishing up your workout with isolation/”burn” exercises allows you to get that conditioning of a fitness athlete, which doesn’t require lifting heavy weights. This is why it is best to begin your workouts with a compound exercise, followed by isolation exercises.
Ultimately, training within both rep ranges will force your body to adapt under alternating pressures, improve performance, and grow over the long term. Most of us athletes don’t want to just get cut, or just get strong; we want both! This is exactly why utilizing both schemes will provide you with the best results in achieving that dream physique!
Go and give it a try! I’m confident you will not be disappointed in your results.
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