Are presses enough for upper chest?

C

curiousmel

New member
I just decided to ditch the gym and embrace kettlebells. I'm an old dog of 54 and I want to be minimalist and efficient.

I'm making double kB clean&press, front squats and chin-ups my bread and butter.

Main goals: fitness, health, longevity. But I won't lie to you, I wouldn't mind looking hot as hell too.

Question:
From a purely aesthetic point of view, what would happend if I make kB presses my sole pushing exercise? Would my chest, at least the upper part, be sufficiently stimulated? Would I look odd if I don't hit the chest directly with pushups or dips?
 
@curiousmel I went a year or so without doing specific chest pressing work. I wasn't too worried because my chest was, visually, a strong point in my physique. After a year of focusing almost solely on overhead pressing, my chest DEFINITELY atrophied. I've been able to bring it back up over the few years that followed, but I was pretty disappointed in myself for intentionally leaving out a main movement pattern.

So, personally, I would NOT recommend leaving out some form of horizontal pressing if you have any sort of aesthetic goals.

Do pushups, dips, floor presses, bridge presses, or just find something to lean up against for incline kettlebell presses.

It doesn't actually take A LOT to build or maintain muscle. But it DOES take direct stimulus and consistency.
 
@curiousmel I more or less do double C&P, front squats and pull ups throughout the year on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays and get great results. I absolutely love it and I’m very much a minimalist myself.
But Tuesday and Thursdays I get in push-ups and or dips with a few sets of snatches and swings. C&P will do a little upper chest but don’t rely on it.
Congratulations on joining the ditching the gym embracing the Kettlebell community!
 
@curiousmel I'm 56 and my bread and butter is double KB Clean & Press and Front Squats as well. However, I noticed a while back that my pecs were still looking a bit flat and soft, so I started incorporating resistance bands for chest and push ups. I don't have a set up for dips and they tend to hurt my shoulders - just not something I have done much so I'm sure it's a form issue. Anyway, on my "off KB" days, I will do bottom-half push ups (preceded by some sort of chest work with bands) and once in a while some floor and bridge presses. The idea is to get a lot of time under tension without much stress on my joints. It has really improved my chest aesthetics, so I would recommend that you do incorporate some push ups and dips.
 
@curiousmel Pushups are very effective if you do them correctly. Overhead pressing mostly uses your shoulders so they're not going to grow your chest very much. Doing a few sets of 10 pushups with your hands elevated on books and bringing your chest all the way to ground will grow your chest better. If you look at old pictures of famous strongmen from before bodybuilding was it's own discipline they all had relatively small pecs because they were all about doing impressive things, not looking a certain way. Alexander zass had a tiny chest by bodybuilding standards but he could lift a horse over his head and he definitely looked strong and fit.

I would incorporate burpees or pushups for the functional benefits but many bodybuilders chests look weird because they're so big
 
@curiousmel You, my friend need some gymnastic rings. These can be used for dips, pull ups and ring press ups. Not to mention flys and tricep extensions amongst other exercises. These can be adjusted easily for different difficulty levels and you will seen much gains. This is the way....
 
@whitney5388 100%. This is absolutely the way. Rings plus bells will get you very far. Highly recommend looking up someone named trevorinstinct on instagram. He’s a great representation of the hybrid use of both of these and what is possible with them.
 
@curiousmel My suggestion is to try it and see. My experience says it might be enough for a lot of people. Particularly if you are thin.

Push Ups, Push Ups w/ handles, Dips, and weighted Dips are all good mass building options. KB and one of them push up and dip racks would have 90% of your fitness needs covered --the rack I had even had push up handles on the base.

If you really feel you are lacking, get a cheap adjustable bench and you could do some flat and incline pressing with the KB. The bells fight to open and it is an oddly good chest exercise that is part fly part press.

But my order of testing things out would be to just do KB work for a month and see how it goes. If you feel its lacking throw in some dips or push ups with handles. I am betting KB press + dips would give quite good results.
 
@doctoroliver83 Yeah. I don't mind doing dips. I've been doing them for years, and I can do them on the corner of my balcony's handrails, right after waking up (or before going to bed).

I'm simply asking because I'd like to know how far I can go with an ultra minimalist routine, one that could be converted into a daily habit like brushing my teeth. Adding dips would make it more complicated...
 
@curiousmel As I said add it if you Have to. You might not. The bigger and thicker you are the more you might need to. If you just want to tag it on do 1 set to near failure then with minimal rest another set with half the reps. Done.
 
@alittlebird Pavel wrote articles in the late 90s for Muscle Media 2000. Lots of gold. I still have several editions. Dragon door with Jon DuCane came shortly afterwards. I have several dragondoor RKC kettlebells sitting about 10 feet from me now. I believe doing 5 billion deadlifts following Power to the People is why my back is so jacked up today. Lol
 
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