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Need help with increasing chest size


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My chest size has increased to 39 inches (when measured at widest part of chest). I am only 143 pounds. Three months ago it was 37 inches and I did pushups religiously to increase it.

 

1) First, is this size okay for a guy my weight (143) and height (5'10")?

 

2) Second, I want to increase it further but due to my current position, I have no access to gym and have to rely solely on pushups, dips, etc.

 

They say only heavy lifting with bench press, dumbell flys etc. can increase size of chest. But at the moment I have no access to equipment. Is there anything other than dips and pushups that one can do to increase size? Although pushups helped me in adding two inches in three months, I think it has outlived its purpose. My body no longer feels the strain, soreness, etc. the body has become strong enough for pushups.

 

Any other suggestions ... Until my circumstances change so I can go to a gym?

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You can do a LOT of things to modify your push-ups if you feel like your routine has gotten stale. Pick up a resistance band and loop the ends under your hands and the band over your back. Put your feet up on something to get more of an "incline press" type push-up. Add explosive movements like clap push-ups. Throw on a heavy backpack (load it down with textbooks or something else dense) and do your pushups (for dips, it might be easier to somehow attach weight to the waist rather than the back). You can work towards one-arm pushups by starting on an incline (hands up on something, feet on the floor) if you're not quite ready for them from the floor.

Good luck, I hope some of these spark some new training ideas for you.

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Hi Bodyart,

 

Your right, your body has adapted to the current stimulus...

 

Next to B&B's excellent idea's, I would recommend using Zone training/J-reps, with the push ups, performing just the bottom half of the movement first, once you've reach almost failure, immediately switch to just the top half of the movement. With this hypertrophy specific technique you achieve more contractions per unit of time, you'll find it much harder than preforming just normal reps, but the amount of fatigue and congestion build up within the muscle you'll find is superior to traditionally preformed reps.

 

Hope this helps

Rob

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Hey Rob

I've never heard about this Zone training... from what it sounds like, you use the same general principle as 21's but without executing the full movement for the last reps? This definitely sounds like something I might be interested in implementing myself when doing bodyweight stuff. Thanks for the ideas!

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Hey B&B,

 

Yeah, sorta same idea as 21's...

 

The idea is this to work around the sticking point of a movement, if you take for example the squat, the bottom 1/3 is the hardest "zone" of the movement, the middle 1/3 is still hard, but not just as hard as the bottom 1/3, and then the top 1/3 of the movement is easy. So by fatiguing the hardest zone first, then working up through the zones, by the time you get to what would normally be the easiest "zone", it'll feel just as hard (if not harder) as the sticking point. So the level of tension on the muscles is consistent throughout the ENTIRE ROM:)

 

Also, taking the squat again as an example, lets say you perform 10 traditionally performed reps on the squat, you get 10 contractions, were as if you preform the squat in the 3rds as mentioned about, you get not 10, but 30 mini contractions with the same amount of movement (hence more contractions per unit). You can use this technique with any movement or equipment, you can perform the movement in 1/2's , 1/3's or even 1/4s, though, the more zone's you preform, the less weight you'll be able to use, however the trade off is a greater level of congestion build up in the muscle:)

 

Here's some videos of how it can be applied...

 

He's a short video of Brian Johnston the founder of Zone training and triangler training methods...

 

And here's an interview of Brain Johnston in which he talks about the his techniques, and why training for hypertrophy is not all about lifting heaviest weight possible, btw, hes idea's on cluster sets is also excellent (best interview I've ever heard).

http://www.highintensitynation.com/2013/02/high-intensity-training-interview-of-the-month-brian-johnston/

 

Kinda long winded answer, but there was go lol

 

Best wishes

Rob

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Thanks, ppl, for the tips.

 

hit rob, could u pls give a video for applying jreps to pushups? I do not understand fully. Do I just do half pushups many times until fatigue....and then start doing full pushups? It is a little confusing.

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It is confusing, its an awkward one to explain lol...

 

The application is the same on any exercise or with any equipment.

 

The simplest application is to cut the movement in half, perform the hardest half of the movement first to almost failure (maybe 2 reps shy), then immediately switch to preforming the easier half of the movement (which will now be just as hard / if not harder), in this half of the movement you go to failure.

 

So with the push-up, start with the bottom half of the movement first, preform as many reps as you can in this half without going to all out failure, then immediately switch to performing the top half of the movement, only this time perform as many half reps as you can to all out failure. There's no full reps performed.

 

Hope this helps

Rob

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Thanks, rob, for explaining. This is what I did, pls correct me if I am wrong.

 

I got into pushup position, then went down toward the floor as usual. Then instead of going back all the way up, as we nnormally do, I went up just a little and then went back toward the floor again. I did this many times. Then I went into pushup position again, but this time I did not go all the way down toward the floor. I went halfway down and then went back up again. Again, I repeated this many times.

 

do not know if the above is right way, but felt an incredible burn after just 3 sets!!

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That's perfect, indeed the pump and fatigue with this technique is incredible with a lot less volume.

 

Thing is, when we move into the stretched position of a movement, there's a wind-up of sorts happens, the muscle naturally want to recoil, which makes it easier to just explode out of that stretched position. So by performing the reps in zone's, your forced to control the resistance in the that most difficult stretched zone, you just can't explode out of it, much more difficult:))

 

Best

Rob

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Thanks again, rob. One question, out of curiosity. In the first couple of months, my chest grew quickly but not my arms. But in the last one month, my arms are growing but not my chest. Even the burn, I feel more in my arms than chest. But in the first two months, the burn was in my chest rather than arms.

 

does this normally happen to ppl.....i mean the same workouts making diff. Body parts burn and grow at diff. Times?

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When you perform or practice the same movement over and over, the body adapts, and learns to use itself more efficiently, both neuromuscularly and intramuscularly. So its possible without even realizing it, that over the last few months your body has began using itself in a more efficient manner. This could well be the reason for what your saying...

 

Rob

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  • 1 year later...

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