- Nov 9, 2011
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So far, the resistance portion of my cutting routine has consisted mainly of upper body compound workouts that made use of my own body weight: push-ups, chin-ups, pull-ups, dips, etc. I know about the 5x5 routine and other various programs, but I've just not been able to afford a gym membership.
My father offered me a bench and some dumbbells last week, so I accepted. The largest pair I received is 50 lbs. I'm pretty sure my form is OK, in that I keep the dumbbells situated over my lower chest to avoid putting pressure on the rotator cuff; I don't come down too far past 90 degress; I don't go up or down too fast; I do a slight pause in the down position before pressing back up.
My problem is that I don't get the same burn in my chest as I do from my push-ups. It seems like I could go on forever doing 50 lbs. dumbbell presses, but I feel the burn from the push-ups after 15-20 reps. I don't think my wrist and forearms could support anything heavier than 50lbs. either, but that weight amount of weight doesn't seem to be working out my chest enough. I've tried doing flies, too, but the result seems to be the same. Nothing seems to give me that stretching/burning feeling in my chest as doing push-ups.
I should add I guess, that I'm 5'10", 188 lbs. With the workouts that I've mentioned and a good diet, I've come down from 250 lbs. since February.
I guess my question is, what should I do? Use the dumbbells for presses and flies even though I don't feel the burn, or continue doing push-ups? I should add that my reason for accepting the dumbbells from my father is that my left pec seems to be bigger than my right, and I thought isolating each side of my chest would allow the right one to catch up.
My father offered me a bench and some dumbbells last week, so I accepted. The largest pair I received is 50 lbs. I'm pretty sure my form is OK, in that I keep the dumbbells situated over my lower chest to avoid putting pressure on the rotator cuff; I don't come down too far past 90 degress; I don't go up or down too fast; I do a slight pause in the down position before pressing back up.
My problem is that I don't get the same burn in my chest as I do from my push-ups. It seems like I could go on forever doing 50 lbs. dumbbell presses, but I feel the burn from the push-ups after 15-20 reps. I don't think my wrist and forearms could support anything heavier than 50lbs. either, but that weight amount of weight doesn't seem to be working out my chest enough. I've tried doing flies, too, but the result seems to be the same. Nothing seems to give me that stretching/burning feeling in my chest as doing push-ups.
I should add I guess, that I'm 5'10", 188 lbs. With the workouts that I've mentioned and a good diet, I've come down from 250 lbs. since February.
I guess my question is, what should I do? Use the dumbbells for presses and flies even though I don't feel the burn, or continue doing push-ups? I should add that my reason for accepting the dumbbells from my father is that my left pec seems to be bigger than my right, and I thought isolating each side of my chest would allow the right one to catch up.
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