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Qaash
02-11-2009, 09:23 AM
I'm a big fan of the old school bodybuilders chest development. Classics like Serge Nubret, Arnold and Franco Columbo had very wide broad chest. I'd like to emulate this level of development any suggestions?...beyond just bench pressing, is it an issue of grip width? I've seen pictures of Nubret with a extremely wide grip on the flat bench.

BigJD69
02-11-2009, 10:56 AM
The old school guys trained real heavy in the off season. Lots of basic movements, bench, incline, flyes, dips. My old trainer was from that era and he had me do a lot of 5x5's 7x7's. Hope this helps

Canuck_Muscle
02-12-2009, 08:22 AM
Yeah the wide grip definatly helped to stretch out the chest. If u look at some of the old vintage footage of Arnold and others they all had very wide grips. Also a lot of the guys did high volume training with a couple pressing and flye movements. Flyes also really help to get that deep stretch in the pecs. I would just experiment with a couple different routines and see what works best for u. U can always google the old schoolers chest workouts. They are very easy to find.

BigJD69
02-12-2009, 01:11 PM
Try starting your chest workout doing flys 7x7, then go into dips, inclines, then finish up with a pressing movement.

militantmuscle
02-12-2009, 01:34 PM
With chest, the main thing will be a full range of motion, which you can only achieve on an exercise that converges, in other words unilateral handles that meet in the middle. So really, bench press is an inefficient exercise because you cannot converge on that movement, no matter where your grip is on the bar, because your convergence is limited by the bar itself. You are better of utilizing dumbbells, hammer strength machines, and other various exercises with a converging movement on chest.

rxmuscle69
02-13-2009, 10:39 AM
I personally have problems developing my chest since I have long arms and can never squeeze the inner pec at the top of any exercise. Also when i am pressing heavy me front delts give out before my chest so i can never really destroy my chest as much as I would like, any suggestions?

JYD
02-13-2009, 10:41 PM
don't forget pull-overs too... they were a pretty big staple back then and often neglected in gyms today

militantmuscle
02-13-2009, 11:01 PM
rxmuscle69, as far as pressing movements go, try dumbbell and hammer strength. This is going to be tough to describe with words, but I will try. Try to bring your shoulders back, and pop your chest up. Now, maintain that position throughout the entire movement. Do not lock out your arms, this just transfers stress to the joints. Utilize a 1.5 second positive and a 2 second negative, and get a full range of motion (without locking out!). Full range of motion means full develoment, if your chest grows, your inner chest will grow as well. Cable crossovers done correctly are also great for feeling the inner pec at the end of the motion. Just make sure the cables are aligned with your arms, and that you do not bend your elbows too much and you do not deviate from the slightly bent elbow position throughout the entire movement.

Another option would be to pre-fatigue the shoulders first, and then commence your training session with chest. I hope this helps, if you need me to clarify anything let me know.

jessethebody
02-13-2009, 11:30 PM
If you go and listen to Greg on MD he said that Arnold did very high volume training like stated above, they would do like 35 sets on a chest day.

bigtimektz
02-14-2009, 12:13 AM
35 sets if fucking absurd for any body part.

jessethebody
02-14-2009, 12:15 AM
Yeah no kidding. But that's the difference between now and then.

greuceanu
02-15-2009, 05:10 PM
Chest width is structural.Determined by genetics. Wider grip will just result in a better stretch.

MichaelWayne
02-15-2009, 05:17 PM
Wide-ish grips. All three major angles. Heavy weight, lots of sets, 8-12 reps. Pullovers, flyes and dips. Hit twice a week, doing it like it was going out of style.
Oh yeah, genetics too. That plays a small factor. :D

.DP
02-16-2009, 03:29 AM
I personally have problems developing my chest since I have long arms and can never squeeze the inner pec at the top of any exercise. Also when i am pressing heavy me front delts give out before my chest so i can never really destroy my chest as much as I would like, any suggestions?

With a barbell using a standard grip try to make your hands touch. Obviously it's impossible but it will really help you contract your chest.

Try it with light weight and high reps to get a good feel for it.

Koubs
02-16-2009, 03:30 PM
I struggled with improving my chest for a long time... The pre-exhaustion technique (Doing flyes as my first movement, then moving to presses) has worked well for me to improve my chest.

Womanthrower
02-17-2009, 12:59 AM
Another option would be to pre-fatigue the shoulders first, and then commence your training session with chest. I hope this helps, if you need me to clarify anything let me know.
Wouldn't that just make his shoudlers give out even sooner? Shouldn't the preexhaust be on the chest with something like flyes, then moving into presses?

jessethebody
02-17-2009, 01:05 AM
Wouldn't that just make his shoudlers give out even sooner? Shouldn't the preexhaust be on the chest with something like flyes, then moving into presses?

It could and could over work your rotator cuff. But bodybuilding is trail and error.

tiramisu
02-17-2009, 01:07 AM
Exercise alone will not make you serge, arnold or franco.
It sucks but its true.

militantmuscle
02-17-2009, 01:08 AM
Wouldn't that just make his shoudlers give out even sooner? Shouldn't the preexhaust be on the chest with something like flyes, then moving into presses?

Like you said, his shoulders give out, so what would be stimulated more? Chest fibers are fresh, ready to be activated.

ironstudent
02-17-2009, 12:54 PM
My chest lags behind as well. The other day I was watching Flex Wheeler's "Mass construction". In it, he does shoulders first, then chest. So, I decided to give that a try! I thought I would be tired by then but I wasn't. I had a great workout and my chest was super pumped. So now, I train shoulders before chest. I will see what happens.
In that session I did:
Dumbell military presses
Side laterals
Upright rows
rear pec dec
about 4 sets each

then moved on to chest, and I could feel my chest working a lot more!

militantmuscle
02-17-2009, 01:07 PM
My chest lags behind as well. The other day I was watching Flex Wheeler's "Mass construction". In it, he does shoulders first, then chest. So, I decided to give that a try! I thought I would be tired by then but I wasn't. I had a great workout and my chest was super pumped. So now, I train shoulders before chest. I will see what happens.
In that session I did:
Dumbell military presses
Side laterals
Upright rows
rear pec dec
about 4 sets each

then moved on to chest, and I could feel my chest working a lot more!


There you go:)

rxmuscle69
02-17-2009, 02:33 PM
thanx alot elite 316 im gonna be hitting up chest later tonite and im gonna make some changes you and others recommended and ill let you guys know tomorrow how it goes. thanx again man.

militantmuscle
02-17-2009, 02:43 PM
No problem, I hope it works for you!

Womanthrower
02-17-2009, 09:08 PM
Like you said, his shoulders give out, so what would be stimulated more? Chest fibers are fresh, ready to be activated.
Could be, I've never tried it that way. I've only preexhausted what ever muscle isn't worked enough because of weaker muscles giving out.