Quote:
Originally Posted by adidasss
Well, these are the most frequent variations (mind you I currently have access to the building gym which doesn't have a crazy variety of machines):
1st variation: Bench press (a few sets of warm up presses with 20/40kg) - if I'm doing 3 rep maximums then it's around 4 sets with (current 3 rep max is) 87.5kg on a smith machine. Then I lower it to where I can make 6-8 (65/70kg).
I might combine it with 4x8/10 sets of inclined dumbell presses.
Then either 4 sets of max rep pushups or dips.
2nd variation: If I split it with flies I do 2x4 sets of bench presses (regular/inclined/declined) plus 2x4 sets of flies (dumbell and cable).
3rd variation: Only bench press until I can't anymore with varying weights.
I throw in also bench presses with dumbells closely gripped or cable "pulls" (grabbing low cables and pulling them up).
Etc etc regarding weight combinations.
I'm progressing, but in micromillimeters. :/
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This sounds like quite reasonable and thought out workouts.
Some things that come to mind (and sorry if a lot of the below is painfully obvious, I know you're not a beginner.):
-Maybe your chest isn't a limiting factor on your presses. If you aren't already doing it, you might try to work on your triceps or front delts. Overhead press for delts and close grip bench press for triceps have a pretty good carry-over to the normal bench press.
-You might work on your bench press form a bit. For example even small changes to elbow flare/grip width can have quite a big impact on chest engagement.
-The smith machine might be suboptimal for you due to the bar path. It's not bad but barbell bench press might be somewhat better. I assume however, that the gym might not have any barbells.
-Very high rep work is not ideal to build muscle. Therefore I highly doubt that the swimming/push up routine is going to work. Maybe try weighted push ups to decrease the reps a bit? Deficit push ups are also great, due to the increased stretch on the pecs.
-Talking about stretch, a slower decline and a hold when doing presses (I usually do a 3 second lowering phase and 3 second hold at the chest, when doing the paused bench) can be a good variation.
-Maybe try working in the 5-6 rep range instead of 3 reps on bench press. While strength training is important for increasing loads and thereby tension and thereby hypertrophy, rep ranges below 5 are thought to not be particularly hypertrophic by themselves.
-Having a second workout in a day for the same muscle can be unnecessarily fatiguing and messing with your recovery or work capacity on the main workout. Adding a third day for chest is most likely a much better solution.
-Chicken breast or not, definitely take care of sufficient protein intake (1,5g per kg bodyweight is sufficient) and also proper sleep.