You want a chest that fills out your t-shirt. We get it. Join the club. But when your chest doesn't grow, things can get very frustrating.
You're not alone in this struggle, either. Everyone wants a physique that is athletic, strong and chiseled. In other words, a body that lifts well and looks even better. Unfortunately, achieving ‘that look’ only comes with hard work. There are no shortcuts. Well, there are, but we don't talk about that nor do we endorse it.
Anyway, the chest – which predominantly consists of the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor – is a notoriously difficult muscle to build. But it's not impossible, providing you follow our advice and avoid these silly mistakes.
Check out these five reasons why your chest isn’t troubling your shirt buttons.
5 Reasons Your Chest Isn't Growing
1/ You're Not Warming up
It’s amazing how many people will walk straight onto the gym floor and start pumping away on a weight bench. Guys, you need to warm up and a few swings of your arms won’t cut it.
In 2015, a systematic review of the effects of upper body warm-up on performance and injury was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. A total of 31 studies were reviewed with results showing that high-load dynamic warm-ups enhanced power and strength performance.
Warm muscles are far more flexible, have a greater degree of mobility, can produce a larger amount of explosive power and are less prone to injury. Give yourself more time before each session to get the juices flowing. It will make a big difference.
2/ You're Not Going Slow Enough
There’s always that one guy in the weights room who looks as if he’s trying to break a world record for the amount of reps performed in 30 seconds. And if your goal is to build muscle, this will do little to help the process.
In order to cause significant muscle trauma – and therefore signal the rebuilding process – your muscles needs time under tension. Going quick might boost your ego, but it won’t grow your chest. A study published in the journal Physiology reported that slow lifting movements performed to fatigue produces greater increases in rates of muscle protein synthesis than the same movement performed rapidly.
A lot of personal trainers adhere to the 2-1-3 method of tempo lifting: 2 seconds on the way up; 1 second pause; and 3-seconds on the way down.
However, as top PT Kemo Marriott points out, going too slow may have an adverse effect. "There is no need to slow down in excess as muscle activation is reduced up to 36% when training at very slow speeds," says Marriott. "For lowering and lifting phases, there does not – according to research – seem to be any advantage to slowing the movement down to more than about three seconds, and it is possible that doing so might actually be detrimental to growth."
Want to perfect your tempo? Perhaps it's time to be your own PT.
3/ You're Not Lifting Heavy Enough
Let’s keep this point simple. If you want to build a set of pecs that Dwayne Johnson would be proud of, then you have to work your muscles hard. Of course, everybody has their limitations and lifting capabilities – and we’re not here to judge – although you'll be surprised just how hard you can go if you put your mind (and body) to it.
"If you are just starting out there is no need to blitz your muscles," says Marriott. "Once you are more skilled at controlling heavy loads with good form, you can think about doing more advanced workouts, lifting to high levels of failure/fatigue. Experiment in the 6-12 rep range."
Struggling to lift big? Before each set, turn the music up in your headphones – a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning found that performance during explosive exercise increases when listening to music with mid-range bpm of 130 to 140 – take some deep breaths and get those arms moving. Note: listening to Adele won’t have the same effect. Not sure what you should be lifting? Here's our guide.
4/ You're Not Thinking Like a Lifter
Although still a contentious debate, a body of research is starting to appear confirming the mind-muscle link. It's believed that the more you focus on the muscle you’re working, the more muscle fibres you can activate.
A recent study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, found that gym goers improved their bench press when they focused on using just their chest muscles.
Next time you’re in the gym, think about the muscle working harder as you move. Concentrate on the contraction of the body part as you lift and lower the weight, and how strong you feel while doing it. It will work. Trust us. Just don't think about. Actually, do think about it.
5/ You're Not Resting Enough
Gains are made away from the gym, more often that not, fast asleep with a belly full of protein.
Without adequate R&R, your muscles will never grow. In fact, working out too hard and too often on the same body part could stunt muscle growth and actually break down tissue that you have already worked so hard on to build.
We know it can be tempting to rock back up to the gym and hit the barbell the day after a heavy workout, but if you aren’t fully rested and your muscles haven’t totally recovered, you could fall victim to overtraining, which may result in sickness and even injury, delaying your gains even further. God loves a trier. But don't try too hard.
Constantly blitzing yourself in the gym without adequate rest will lead to overtraining and burnout. How to best avoid it? A good rule of thumb to follow: after a hard chest workout, wait at least 48 hours before training the same muscles again. Simple.
3 Most Effective Ways to Grow an Underdeveloped Chest
1/ Improve Your Technique
Think of like this: if you're performing a movement and you can't really feel the muscle that is supposed to be working, chances are it's not working. And that's probably down to poor technique. Put simple, having correct form and doing the simple things right are crucial for chest hypertrophy as well as staying injury free.
Not sure how to perform chest exercises correctly, our guide below will sort you out.
- 13 Best Exercises to Build a Bigger Chest
2/ Switch Up Your Workout Routine
It's very easy to get stuck in a workout rut. And with chest day, it's even easier to fall into the trap of bench (incline, decline) flyes, repeat. Not only is this somewhat boring but chances are, if you've been pressing away for the last ten months your body has probably got used to the stimulus. Switching to different variations could be the key to sparking muscle growth.
3/ Make Sure You Are Exercising Hard Enough
You may think you are pushing yourself to a place no man has been before but if you're not seeing gains you need to take an honest look at the efforts you are putting in. Intensity is determined by how close you train to failure and can be calculated using a rate of perceived exertion scale (RPE). From 1-to-10, 10 being maximum exertion, one being minimum exertion, for strength and muscle gain, you want to be sitting at around an eight out of 10. This means that at a push you could complete two more reps at the end of the set with your weight of choice. If you're failing with four or five reps to go, you are either too tired, not resting enough between sets or the weight is too heavy.
Best Workouts to Build an Underdeveloped Chest
Now you know the mistakes you are making, the most effective tips to maximise chest day plus how to perform each chest move correctly, it's time to put all that together and try out some of our best chest workouts. Give them a go and watch as your chest starts to grow:
- Science behind building a bigger chest in 28 days
- Chest Building Workout Using Nothing but Bodyweight
- Ultimate Upper Body Strength Workout
- 400-Rep Chest Challenge
