Problem with chest
- Thread starter mattb_25
- Start date
Matt: You need to increase weight progressively for all exercises during your cycle so that you can keep increasing the load on the muscles.
For dips and chins: if you initially find that you can't do 15 reps with your body weight you may need to do partial reps for some of the set. During 15s you are after a good burn. So do as many full range reps as you can (before failure) and then do partial reps for the remainder of the set, focussing on the area of motion nearest to peak contraction. For both dips and chins that's the bit near the top of the movement. Try to take a little longer on the concentric part than the eccentric part as this will increase the burn. As you progress through the 15s see if you can increase the number of full range reps that you do before switching to partials.
Once you reach 10s, switch to doing negs instead of partials if you can't make all the reps. If you think things are going well, try adding some weight (around 5lbs) every other workout and do as many full range reps as you can before making up the rest with negs (don't go to failure though. A rep or so away from failure start on the negs).
Once you reach 5s, allow for a bit of zig-zagging and see if you have increased in strength enough to get 3 sets of 5 reps out with your bodyweight. Then you can add weight each w/o. Again, do as many full range reps as you can before making up the rest with negs if need be. Keep going like this through to the post-5s where negs should be the majority of the reps. If you find the weight is increasing too quickly for you, just leave it the same for a few workouts.
At the end of a cycle like this you should find that your strength has gone up quite considerably (as long as you are getting enough calories to fuel your progress).
Hope that helps a bit. For extra info on negs see the FAQs. Have fun!
Aha! Just seen your reply to Colby's post. Well, alot of the stuff above still applies. Don't miss out dips just do more negs!
For dips and chins: if you initially find that you can't do 15 reps with your body weight you may need to do partial reps for some of the set. During 15s you are after a good burn. So do as many full range reps as you can (before failure) and then do partial reps for the remainder of the set, focussing on the area of motion nearest to peak contraction. For both dips and chins that's the bit near the top of the movement. Try to take a little longer on the concentric part than the eccentric part as this will increase the burn. As you progress through the 15s see if you can increase the number of full range reps that you do before switching to partials.
Once you reach 10s, switch to doing negs instead of partials if you can't make all the reps. If you think things are going well, try adding some weight (around 5lbs) every other workout and do as many full range reps as you can before making up the rest with negs (don't go to failure though. A rep or so away from failure start on the negs).
Once you reach 5s, allow for a bit of zig-zagging and see if you have increased in strength enough to get 3 sets of 5 reps out with your bodyweight. Then you can add weight each w/o. Again, do as many full range reps as you can before making up the rest with negs if need be. Keep going like this through to the post-5s where negs should be the majority of the reps. If you find the weight is increasing too quickly for you, just leave it the same for a few workouts.
At the end of a cycle like this you should find that your strength has gone up quite considerably (as long as you are getting enough calories to fuel your progress).
Hope that helps a bit. For extra info on negs see the FAQs. Have fun!
Aha! Just seen your reply to Colby's post. Well, alot of the stuff above still applies. Don't miss out dips just do more negs!