The next day and start with q and a

just goit back from hospital, everything okay thank god, so posting here at 10pm!

Tom writes in asking why his chest doesn’t seem to grow, he does a lot of exercises which include bench press, incline bench press, cross-overs and dumbbell flyes, four exercises he says and his chest won’t grow?

He says he eats well ,lots of protein and no fat and it still doesn’t work out for him.

I hear this all the time and let’s break the problem down.

The biggest problem I think is people are (especially when they are not advanced exercisers or pro bodybuilders), is that they TOO MANY exercises per body part, and concentrate on one or two body parts, when they could be working their whole body two to three times per week.

Some people go down the gym and train just chest, or just chest and back, or just shoulders etc. That’s fine if you are willing to hit the weights 6 times per week, without fail for months on end with dedication never missing a workout, unless ill of course. If you can give that commitment, then carry on but I would guess most of you are not willing to commit that much to your exercise programme.

The list of exercises Tom gives is fine but too much for one session (unless you are an advanced exerciser of course, even then I would just pick 3).

So I would just look at doing an all over programme for your stage of development, and 2-3 times per week. If your goals is fat loss, muscle gain and some good fitness levels, I would do the following.

Monday and Thursday

Pick one exercise per body part, and aim to make improvements each week in that exercise. Aim to work hard on every exercise, we are looking to add small amounts of weight every 1-2 weeks, so your focus and attitude is hugely important.

For example 3 sets of 8 reps of the following

Bench press-chest

Flyes (as you’re looking to improve your chest)-chest

Upright rows-shoulders

One arm dumbbell rowing

Leg press

Tricep dips or dips (triceps)

Dumbbell curls

Sit ups

This looks simple but can take you a long way if you really give it some commitment.

For example, if you start off using 70 pound bench press, and 6 months later you are using 150 pounds, then the improvements will be impressive, and naturally your chest will look significantly better.

The same goes with each and every exercise, and they will all contribute to your overall progress, so give it your best.

Your eating is very important to support your success, and see my ideas in the diet/food section. All these are sound and tried and tested to get you into serious shape.

The key is to give it 3-6 months, for example if you did the recent 12 weeks, you would have made significant changes to yourself by now. Consistency of training and eating is the true secret, no way around it no matter what anyone tells you!

Good luck,

Keri