I do three exercises per body part. For example, for my chest I do bench presses, incline flyes, and cable crossovers. But the routine isn’t working. My muscles haven’t grown for ages, even though I train seriously and consistently, and eat and sleep well. And I can bench press only 165 pounds for six reps.
Please give me a chest routine that works!
You’ve found through your own experience that mainstream bodybuilding instruction doesn’t work for you. (It also doesn’t work for most other drug-free bodybuilders.)
Don‘t persist with trying variations of mainstream instruction or else you’ll end up chucking away some of what should be the best training years of your life.
Even if you train seriously and consistently, and eat and sleep well, if you apply that dedication to a training routine that never works well for drug-free bodybuilders with normal genetics for muscle-building, it will still never produce good results.
It’s not a new chest routine you need, but a different approach for all of your training.
The more exercises you do, the more your limited training energy is spread out. And the more diluted your training energy is, the less likely you are to train hard enough. And without sufficient training intensity, you’re not going to stimulate any muscle growth.
When your muscles are already big, then perhaps you could give attention to detail exercises, but until then, focus on major, mass-building exercises.
Consider two chest routines: (1) the one you’ve been doing, and (2) the bench press only.
Which do you think you’ll be able to train the hardest and most seriously on?
Which chest routine do you think you’ll be able to build strength on the most effectively?
The one-exercise chest routine, of course.
If you focus on the bench press, and over time gradually increase your six-rep best by 75 pounds — to 240 in your case — you’ll do a great deal more for your chest (and triceps and shoulders) than you would if you included the flyes and the cable crossovers but made little or no progress on the bench press.
Then later on, once you’ve gradually built up to bench pressing 280 pounds for six reps, that will put you into a very small minority of drug-free bodybuilders.
Then if you forge on further still, you’ll develop strength and muscle that’s very special for drug-free bodybuilders.
You could, though, do two exercises for your chest routine, but at different workouts. Do the regular bench press on Monday, for example, and an incline version on Thursday.
And the same approach should apply to the rest of your training.
A small amount of the right exercise can yield terrific gains provided that it’s done properly, and it’s supported by excellent recuperation.
Most bodybuilders overestimate the volume of training that’s best for them, don’t use correct exercise technique (especially in the major exercises), don’t train hard enough, don’t fully satisfy the components of recuperation, don’t strive enough (if at all) to build strength, don’t set goals properly, and don’t keep workout records.
Most bodybuilders would be better off with a reduced schedule but one that has an increased quality of performance, greater effort, and much more striving to progress in strength.
It’s much easier to use correct exercise technique and increased effort, and build strength, on a low-volume schedule than on a higher-volume one.
A training routine is, however, merely a schedule of days, exercises, sets and reps.
Even a terrific schedule won’t work if it’s not implemented properly.
But even if a terrific training schedule is implemented properly, that’s still not enough. If it’s not supported with full satisfaction of the components of recuperation — nutrition, sleep, and rest in general — it still won’t work much if at all (for most bodybuilders).
The starting point for bodybuilding and lifting success is desire.
Without desire in abundance, and the willingness to train hard on the best exercises — which means being able to tolerate considerable discomfort of the right kind — the details of training and recuperation are irrelevant.
But assuming that sufficient desire is present, the next consideration should be a routine’s potential.
For most bodybuilders — those who have normal genetics for muscle-building, and are drug-free — training routines of four or more workouts per week have little or no potential for yielding progress, no matter how dedicated those bodybuilders may be.
The routines I promote have a high potential for yielding lots of progress.
But the “magic” isn’t in the routine per se. The “magic” is in the application. But you must start with a routine that has a high potential for success, so that there’s something for the “magic” to ignite.