Question on the Bench Press

[mspurg1611]

I know this sounds like a kindergarten question but here it is.

I usually do chest/Triceps on Monday and Thursday. Both days are heavy Thursday might be Hammer strength. I most always try for failure in every set. Usually sets consist of 10rep being that the 10th one needs assistants.

Each exercise get 2 warm up sets and 4 heavy sets

So it looks like this on bench
1 X 10 X 135
1 X 10 X 225
3 X 10 X 345 ( when I get the 10th rep for all 3 sets by my self I move up 15-20ish lbs)
1 X 25ish for 225 good pump before I leave the gym
hardly never do 1,3,5 reps

My question is how many sets and reps for each chest movement for maximum growth and do you go to failure every time. Looking for Size over Strength.

[hulk1]

monday and thursday is to close imo once a week is enough if your training right.... there is no way i could train any of my body parts that close together NO WAY ...... also imo u dont need to give the chest 2 warm ups 4 every exercise, just the 1st 1 , once its warm its warm .

3-4 ex's, 3-5sets, 5-15 reps imo is optimal for ALL major muscle groups

hope this helps

[amazingjordan]

yeah 4 heavy sets is too much, if you can rep it that many times then the weight needs to go up until you can only do 10 reps max, i tink 2 warm up sets and one heavy working set, i do this on the incline and flat benches.

[willmixit]

not really that close together you can do alot of things depends on what your looking to do buddy finish off the chest do you need more upper more lower middle what type of maximum pec development are u looking for? and i don't really agree with these guys ive been doing it that way most of my life haven't torn anything yet *knock on wood* just warm up well before and go heavy once a week on every muscle then the second time u hit chest try to hit weak points like more parallel dips and cables and machines to gain density and striations on your muscle also diet is key with cardio if u want want to see what your building

[dugy40]

can someone elaborate more on what a weekly chest workout would be? do you do flat,decline and incline on same day? do you vary your grip wide,normal,close together same day? thank you guys

[hulk1]

my chest w/o is

flat dbs 4 x 10,8,8,6 getting heavier
inc bb as above
inc fly 4 x 10 cable ( reason 4 doing my fly here is as your aware trys assist your pressing and here mine start to fatigue and i would assume in most ppl to altho they are simply unaware so to give them a breather i just hit chest alone with the fly, imo cable is better also as it gives you more resistance at the starting point say from the floor and at the top end of your movement as here you can actually cross your hands over each other alternatively and get a longer range of motion ) you with me ???????
and last i do decline bb

i normally do this for 8 weeks or so then swap order i do, or swap reps, change db 4 bb and vice versa etc just to keep my chest guessing

hope that helps

[hulk1]

as 4 my grip i always have my elbows at 90 to the bar when resting on my chest well just off .....so grab the bar lower to your chest and your arms should be straight up and down ata 90 angle , get it ????? in australia we have the rings on the barbell generally im to the outside of them if you have em where u are

[mspurg1611]

Update on bench- Thanks guys for the info.
I switch sets and reps and began to make gains

Flat Bench
1 warm up set 135
1 moderate warm up set 225
go straight to it 10 X
6 X
4 X
Incline no warm up 3-4 set pyramid same way
decline same
working great and always adding to it
Chest is growing and strength is gaining!

[thekraken]

my theory is if your doing forced reps and negatives,training one major muscle group per week is all u need,large parts 7 sets small 5 sets

if your volume training then its more about knowing your body and long it will take to recover-it really depends on your sets and how many your doing=this equals recovery time