Step 1 Find your 5, 10 and 15 rep max for your chosen exercises. Recommended chest exercises on this forum are dips and incline bench (15 degree incline), skullcrushers are a popular tri exercise.
step 2 Workout every 2 days. Starting with a weight which is about 75% of your 15 rep max. Spend 2 weeks increasing the weight in a systematic and incremental fashion until by the end of the 2nd week your are doing your oringinal 15 rep max.
e.g 15 rep max for bench press= 200 pounds
workout 1 = 150 x 15
2 = 160 x 15
3 = 170 x 15......
6 = 200 x 15
Step 3 Repeat the same process for 2 weeks, using 10 rep workouts. Working slowly up to your old 10 rep max. Then do the same for 5 reps and on to negatives
Avoid failure except for possibly on the last weeks of the cycle. It is not necessary to train to failure to make a muscle grow, what is necessary is to subject the muscle to a weight greater than what it is used to. Training to failure slows recovery as well so it hinders rather than helps progress.
Do as many sets as you can without 'overtraining'.
You can workout a sore muscle
The increase in weight makes the muscle bigger, not how 'intense' a workout is.
You cant surprise a muscle by changing exercises.
The adaption of a muscle to the load you subject it to depends on the level of conditioning of the muscle. To induce hypertrophy ( make the muscle grow) you have to submit it to a level of load (weight) greater than what it is used to. If a muscle is deconditioned then a light weight is sufficient. Conversely after the muscle is extremely conditioned (after perhaps 6-8 weeks of training) and the trainer has reached the limits of his voluntary strength then the muscle will not grow further unless the load was increased by negatives. Those who do not understand would call this a 'plateau'.
