Hi, my name is Teo and I'm from Romania.ill tell you guys something quickly about me, I'm 20 years old, 176 cm tall and I have 151lbs and 14,5% body fat.I started working out 6 months ago and got some gains on my arms and back, a Little bit on chest and shoulders(only talking about upper body).Still I got imbalances like my left biceps is smaller and weaker than my right biceps and one of my lateral deltoid is smaller than the other.Is hard for me to build my chest but I got more mind muscle connection, by that i mean is more easy to contract my chest but is hard to fell my chest working when performing exercises..even my shoulders are hard to feel them properly when performing exercises for them, the most harder for me is the rear delt to feel it.I do have some internal rotation but I'm working on that.I need help to build my chest, the most important rear delts and fixing muscle imbalances..for me is a shame to have such a small chest.I hope I dont mind anyone with my long post but I really need help.Thank you 

Hey Teo.

 

With your imbalances, by suggestion would be to start doing more dumbbell work if you're not already. This way you can let your weaker/smaller side dictate how much weight you use and how many reps you do. Eventually it should catch up to your more dominant right side.

 

So things like dumbbell curls for the biceps and lateral raises if you're not already doing them for shoulders.

 

If you have some shoulder issues, or even if you don't, make sure you are warming your shoulders up properly before each workout. Check out the video below for some exercises you should be doing.

 

I just have a couple of questions.. what training are you doing for your chest at the moment? How often are you training it? And are you training your legs as well?

Hei Scott, most of the time i do dumbbell exercises and i train my legs once/week also chest once/week still my chest training is like:

-db chest Press 3-4 sets with 12-18 reps( I think is to high)

-Db incline chest press 3-4 sets same reps

-Cable flies 3-4 sets

-Peck deck flies 3-4 sets and sometimes I do pullover or doing flies first and than going to press, I warm up my shoulders every single time even if I'm doing legs and also working on strengthening the rotator cuff

Yeah those reps probably are too high.. for hypertrophy (muscle building) it's genereally a good rule of thumb to aim for around 8-12 reps per set.

 

I would suggest cutting your exercise selection down to about 3 exercises max and just focus on the big ones - so dumbbell pressing is your main movement, that's great. Try doing Flat DB press, Incline Press and one variation of Flys (cable, dumbbells or peck deck), all at 6 sets each, 8-12 reps per set. You could maybe even do 8 sets on the flat DB press, and 6-8 sets on the other 2 exercises. That makes 20-24 sets total which might seem like a lot, but you're only training chest once per week so it's fine.

 

If you are having a hard time 'feeling' your chest working when pressing.. then yes try slowing down your tempo to work on your mind-muscle connection while doing the movement. Try a 3 second negative and really imagine pressing your hands together when you bring the dumbbells to the top of the movement.

Thank you for the great tips Scott, i will try to see if i get any results from this

Hey guys,

 

So I am almost finishing my new workout plan but I have one thing that I am curios about so I come here for help.

I incorporated seated cable row with wide grip,but which variation is better,the one with lat pull down bar and overhand grip or the one wide bar that has neutral grip on the end?

Is there any difference? Does they target the same muscles?

If there is,whats the difference?

 

Thanks

Hey guys,

 

So I am almost finishing my new workout plan but I have one thing that I am curios about so I come here for help.

I incorporated seated cable row with wide grip,but which variation is better,the one with lat pull down bar and overhand grip or the one wide bar that has neutral grip on the end?

Is there any difference? Does they target the same muscles?

If there is,whats the difference?

 

Thanks