Problems growing my chest!
- Thread starter rydenburns
- Start date
Ok, when I do dips though I find it really puts a lot of stress on my shoulders is there something I can do to to correct that?
Man the guys gave a lot of good advice here. I would think your problem is form. Any way you do it after heavy low reps or higher reps your form and progressive overload training is a must. I have a feeling you’re not targeting your chest properly or even engaging it in the heavier lifts. Learning this is a must.
Some of the handles out there are WAY too far apart and that will put a lot of unwanted stress on your shoulders so look for dip handles that are closer together. Decline/flat BD flys, decline/flat DB bench press should be a staple in your routine and end your chest session with pec dec and cable flys till your chest is on fire. Switch up your sets/reps every few weeks and stay away from BB bench. Weighted push ups can also help as well. Also make sure you are not over working your chest the rest of the week via other movements.
To not injur your shoulders only go as deep as your chest will allow. Deep dips are good but, if done correctly you will find you can only go so deep. Same form as a press or a fly. Should blades pinched and depressed. Range of motion is not how far you can move within a movement but rather how far the muscle your training will move from stretch to contraction in that movement, two very different things!
Thanks a ton guys for all your input and advice I will definitely try and input it into my routine.
Try different grips.
Yeah its not a one size fits all approach for movements like this. I second the pinching of shoulder blades back, and pulling down. And just go SLOW, especially on the decent. You will find how deep you can go comfortably, without straining your shoulders. And like Furious said, try the close grip. You shouldn't get any shoulder aggro from this.
Ok cool thanks I'll definitely give that at try.
I honestly can say that i would have never crossed my mind to pinch my shoulder blades back.
YES, slow on the way down. You could get hurt doing this exercise too aggressively.
Yea I can definitely see it.
I used to get a lot of agro in my sternum when I didn't do this. As soon as I started pinching the shoulder blades back, my pecs started getting all the tension.
Thanks man, I'm definitely amped to get back in the gym and try this.
I don't disagree about your approach Novitec, I think it is great and will lead to some awesome gains. I will suggest an alternate approach that works for me ... maybe not others... and again you have to have a few sets of warm up set to start the work sets on the exercises. Form is key like Novitec mentioned to stay injury free (especially the shoulders) while you grow the chest. I use heavier weights per set with low volume and extend my sets to achieve the volume I need to get that soreness/breakdown in the muscle that allows for growth and adaptation. I used compound movement mostly that involve
- heavy wide grip dip - eventually adding chains or weight with a weight strap 3-4 reps 4 -5 sets - last 2 sets the last could of reps heavy enough to almost not get the last rep
- heavy BP on smith machine - start weight and chest level and push up from dead stop. start weight low and add weight till u get to the 3 - 4 rep range the last rep quite difficult. 5 sets
- paused bench press - see video link on how to set this up . Again start weight and chest level and push up from dead stop. start weight low and add weight till u get to the 3 - 4 rep range the last rep quite difficult. 5 sets
This is an alternate approach which worked well for me. I would change an exercise out every 3 or so weeks for variety and do the same things only works so long.
Good luck on your chest journey. PG
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Awesome thanks for the suggestions, i will be putting this into my routine for sure.
Excellent advice pgmunn. Something to add here as you mentioned it before I even thought about it and thats the warmup. Thats another thing to pay attention too. A lot of folks go into the gym, do 2 high rep sets and think they're warmed up. Not the case in a lot of cases.
I typically spend a good 10 minutes or so warming up. I warm up all the muscles in the area Im working that day. And I always to 3 sets of hanging to decompress my spine and losen up my shoulders.
OP, make sure warm up correctly to avoid any injuries!
Yea I'm fucking terrible for warming up, I just went to get in and out but you guys are absolutely right a good warm up is essential.
And remember your warm could also be your light sets that you do before your work sets on each exercise ... rather than doing like treadmill or cardio stuff before weight that I do not like much myself. lol
What are your thoughts on calisthenics for warming up or is that the same as light sets?