building muscle on chest - hard to breath?

stopper · 5 Apr 2011 at 13:15

Morba said:
Wow! The man wants to progress, not wait 5 years till he can start doing anything body weight!

Unless you are HUGE then getting on the floor and trying some pressups is a good thing, be it from your knees or full.

Actually it takes a couple weeks to gain some strength, it takes about 5 years to put on roughly a gallon of muscle. A far cry from your claim.

Push ups are probably the hardest chest excersize you can do, therefore need a substantial amount of strength.
Lifting too much weight no matter what the excersize is very bad if you haven't much lean muscle mass to start with.
Too much weight/not enough strength = improper form = sluggish workout = injury (as he already found out)
He NEEDs to progress, not dump himself in at the deep end.

- Start with incline push ups
- Then increase difficulty by doing the classic push up
- Increase the difficulty again by doing decline push ups
- And finally make it harder by doing handstand push ups

Before all that, he needs a little strength, hence a couple weeks of dumbells.
NEVER jump into any thing. Should have been taught this back in school.

Morba · 5 Apr 2011 at 13:24

Ok everyone, from now on we recommend all new starters to not do anything for their chest except DB flyes

DOMS is not an injury and shouldn't stop you training. DOMS will happen when you work out muscles that you have not worked before or have not worked for a long time. It will also occur if you really stress the muscle even if you normally work it out.
It is not an injury.
It is not something that you should not train because of.

Also since when did hand stand pressups work the chest?

Hardest chest exercise? I'll assume you mean without the addition of weights, in which case dips will be better as you can use more weight, which is kinda needed to build muscle.

icecold · 5 Apr 2011 at 16:30

cHk4 said:
Squat.

This

stopper said:
Actually it takes a couple weeks to gain some strength, it takes about 5 years to put on roughly a gallon of muscle. A far cry from your claim.

Push ups are probably the hardest chest excersize you can do, therefore need a substantial amount of strength.
Lifting too much weight no matter what the excersize is very bad if you haven't much lean muscle mass to start with.
Too much weight/not enough strength = improper form = sluggish workout = injury (as he already found out)
He NEEDs to progress, not dump himself in at the deep end.

- Start with incline push ups
- Then increase difficulty by doing the classic push up
- Increase the difficulty again by doing decline push ups
- And finally make it harder by doing handstand push ups

Before all that, he needs a little strength, hence a couple weeks of dumbells.
NEVER jump into any thing. Should have been taught this back in school.

Oh that's cool, so I'll have to wait until I'm 50 before I get my 300kg deadlift, instead of in 12 months...

Get out.

Hardest chest exercise? I don't even...

5 years for a gallon of...? What the...

HANDSTAND pushups?!

OP, stretch your pec, do some more pushups and drink a load of water = bye bye DOMS.

trigger-happy · 5 Apr 2011 at 17:19

thanks for the advice guys its appreciated!

WantoN · 5 Apr 2011 at 21:23

Pure, pure hilarity in this thread.

If technique is good, pushups are fine. Most of my deconditioned clients will only use bodyweight for the first 6 weeks of their training. Dumbell flies are not a precursor to pressups. Dumbells do not prepare you for bodyweight work.

If you're struggling to breathe, try breathing in as you lower, and out as you drive up, make a very conscious effort. If it's still difficult it really, really could be an underlying medical problem. It's very hard to know without seeing your posture and technique. A video clip would be frickin' awesome.

Ant

Badgi · 6 Apr 2011 at 09:39

Work on technique, I personally prefer good old military push ups, wouldn't stress too much about how many reps you can do, it will get easier with time. Make sure your reps are smooth and steady, don't go too fast.

I find with breathing that really blowing out on the way up helps a lot, especially when you start to feel the burn.

BennyC · 6 Apr 2011 at 10:55

stopper said:
Actually it takes a couple weeks to gain some strength, it takes about 5 years to put on roughly a gallon of muscle. A far cry from your claim.

Since when has muscle been measured as a volume of fluid?!

Push ups are probably the hardest chest excersize you can do, therefore need a substantial amount of strength.

Dips?

He NEEDs to progress, not dump himself in at the deep end.

Press ups are not the deep end of chest work. If the OP had jumped in with DB press or bench then you're statement might be valid.

Before all that, he needs a little strength, hence a couple weeks of dumbells.

I don't know why you're recommend he isolate a muscle he has never trained?! This will more likely lead to an injury seeing as good DB flye form is harder to obtain than good press up form. Not to mention the core is involved too which is a bonus with press ups. Also his triceps and anterior deltoids would be neglected and still flare up with DOMS anyway when he begins press ups again.

A flye is also a completely different exercise to a press and would actually give him worse DOMS if performed correctly.

LiE · 6 Apr 2011 at 11:13

If the OP did flyes he would probably end up in A&E based on his pressup attempts

trigger-happy · 6 Apr 2011 at 13:19

well there is no longer a pain, i can breath perfectly fine now. its just the muscle around the shoulder blades that is sore - but that's normal. Also I had to go to the doctor today, my blood pressure went down and same with the glucose levels, this is due to the medication i have been taking. I actually blacked out and collapsed twice this morning, I woke up on the floor confused and pretty much weak, then I found out i smacked my head against the radiator when falling down. The doctor says I should not exercise to day and also I'm off that medication.

but thanks for the advice guys, its appreciated

MoNkeE · 6 Apr 2011 at 13:51

I love how casual you are about blacking out

Morba · 6 Apr 2011 at 14:57

"blacked out twice today, so not exercising"

love it!

You sound like you have more needs to be weary of than a normal trainer, so be careful when you are exercising fella. Do you plan to train with anyone else or just on your own from home?

trigger-happy · 6 Apr 2011 at 14:59

Morba said:
"blacked out twice today, so not exercising"

love it!
You sound like you have more needs to be weary of than a normal trainer, so be careful when you are exercising fella. Do you plan to train with anyone else or just on your own from home?

I have been training at home but I cant do anything today though, doctors orders

Morba · 6 Apr 2011 at 15:02

listen to the doc

(not often i say that when it comes to training!!)

trigger-happy · 6 Apr 2011 at 15:06

Morba said:
listen to the doc (not often i say that when it comes to training!!)

will do

edit:
I'm just lucky that the parents are around and they found me on the floor!

XeNoN89 · 6 Apr 2011 at 15:20

BennyC said:
Dips?

I find dips pretty easy, usualy do 3 sets with a 25kg weight hanging from me

Click to expand...

BennyC · 6 Apr 2011 at 15:35

I find dips pretty easy, usualy do 3 sets with a 25kg weight hanging from me

I do mine with 45KG hanging from me, it does not mean they are easy for the majority.

MoNkeE · 6 Apr 2011 at 15:38

I do mine with a 10kg dumbell hanging off me ankles, and that's bloody hard

LiE · 6 Apr 2011 at 15:44

Depends on your weight obviously. I only weigh 80kg so when doing strength dips I add 60kg.

Morba · 6 Apr 2011 at 17:05

LiE said:
Depends on your weight obviously.

completely, just like any bodyweight exercise.

trigger-happy · 7 Apr 2011 at 12:12

I at my normal state today, I don't have any of the side affects caused by my medication so its a good time to continue my training today