Adding size to pectorals

J

jjldm321

0
I've been working out my chest using heavy weights and low reps for a while now. I'm certainly a lot stronger, and there's definitely some growth and definition, but not as much size as I'd like. A friend of mine said I should start doing lower weights with higher reps (I work out my chest twice a week - so he suggested one day with heavy weights/low reps to maintain strength and the other day lower weights/high reps to gain size). But the guy I work out with says that's not true anymore, that most personal trainers will say that it'll up the aerobic benefit of working out my chest but won't add any size and will cut into my strength gains. Basically, he says I should just stick to heavy weights with low reps and see what happens.

I'm not sure whose right and whose not. I've heard the lower weight/higher reps thing before, but is it really outdated science and they've discovered it doesn't add size?
 
Im not sure about the low weight higher rep but i think 6-8 reps is good building for muscle. but it might not be the reps that are your problem it could be your not eating enough or not getting the right amount protein, are taking any supps?
 
I was thinking it could be my food intake too. In terms of supplements, I have a protein shake after a workout and again before bed. But that's it. My friend suggested creatine as well, which I'll probably start this week sometime. But I usually just eat three meals a day (breakfast, lunch & dinner). I try to have two dinners some days, but not always. The quality is good (lean meats, whole grains, vegetables, etc.) but the quantity is kind of low I guess (food's expensive and I'm in college and live on my own - only so much food money to go around haha).

Do you think it's only diet, or are there small changes I could make to my workout to add size as well?
 
I usually work them twice a week (along with my shoulders and triceps on the same days). I normally do:

3 sets of dumbbell flies - I switch between flat bench and incline (one session doing them flat, the next on the incline, etc.)

3 sets of incline dumbbell presses

3 sets of dumbbell bench presses

Like I said, after that I work the shoulders and triceps on those days. Any thoughts, comments, critiques would be great.
 
Low weight/high reps doesn't help much for muscle hypertrophy, but rather trains endurance. I believe hypertrophy requires about 60-80% of your one-rep-max, 6-8 reps, and 2-4 sets. Be sure you're keeping your reps slow and controlled.

As for your supplementation, at your intensity level, the second protein shake before bed is highly unnecessary. If you want to start taking creatine, I would research into it first. It's not a simple mass-gaining supplement, but rather a compound that increases the rate of ATP (engery) turnover, and it needs to be taken in specific intervals that correlate to your workout routine itself. I'm no expert, but a guideline to go off of is to load up on larger dosages (~20g) for 3-5 days, spend several weeks at a smaller, maintenance load (~3-5g), and then take a couple weeks off from it that correlates with downtime of your workout routine.
 
Think about the functionality of the bench press. I'd ditch that and do push ups. It could also be genetic. You can't spot gain, just as you can't spot reduce.


You could even be benching with poor form and your tris are doing most of the work.
 
What the previous post said is also true and i should have mentioned before is how far apart your arms are, the closer they are the more you work your tricep, the further apart they are the more chest you work and less tricep.
 
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