Weight Training Tip For The Chest
I realized how important the triceps are my freshman year of college when I was doing a chest workout and realized that I could do flies with almost the same amount of weight that I could dumbbell press. I never took lifting very serious until college, so overall I wasn't very strong. But my chest was just naturally better equipped than my triceps. While my chest was strong enough to fly a set of 50s pound dumbbells, I could only press a set of 60 lbs dumbbells. I know, I know... I was pretty weak back then.
But the point is, that my chest would have easily been able to handle more weight, but my triceps simply weren't strong enough. Therefore, I had to do extra sets of flys in order to adequately work my chest. Now, although it was obvious in my scenario, I think there are many other people out there in the same situation, but to a different degree. I see lots of guys struggling with their bench press, when their chest seems to be doing fine with handling the weight. Mentally, they think, "I gotta work harder on Chest days." In my opinion, they should do the opposite. My advice: Switch up your chest workout for one week and don't do any pushing or pressing. Do only flies and similar exercises. Do more sets than you usually do to make up for the exercises your missing out on. You'll notice that you perform your flies better than you usually do after tiring your muscles out from sets of benching. And we all know that everyone starts off their chest workout with benching... every time. Not only will you be switching up your chest workout and working different exercises harder, you'll be resting your triceps. Now, when it is time to work your triceps, they will be fresh and ready to go, instead of being worn down from being used in your chest workout. Now you can really work your triceps, since it's important to build them up to improve your bench. Finally, take a few extra rest days in order to build up your chest and triceps. If you worked hard enough, and rested properly, you'll break that bench plateau. |