shiiiiiiiiiiit....your crazy.I could do any 9 sets for chest you want and wouldn't even be sore the next day...unless your 9 sets are supersets or monster sets of like 4-5 different exercises that equal one set.otherwise if I did 9 regular sets... hell I'd be out of the gym in 15 minutes.
9 sets excluding warmups is more than enough for *anyone*, if you bring it every damn set as per the following definition..i'm talking about each set brought to positive failure, then sometimes going in to negative failure. I used to waste time with high volume so i know this from experience.
Doing more than 9 sets you're essentially coasting by doing endurance work, even though you don't think so. Which is very good for precontest refinement and cutting: those extra sets have nothing to do with size. You hit a muscle with 9 hard sets as i've described and the muscle's wasted, trying to do additional sets at that point is spinning your wheels.
The main reason some do more volume is because it appeals to them mentally or they're convinced it's the only way. The mental aspect is the main reason something like HIT is not popular if it's practiced as it should be, with a training partner. It's not the physical results that are so different, it's the emotional approach to training..
I agree though, that if it ain't broke, no need to fix it based on the above about the phychological appeal for some.
There's no reason either to take 2 minutes between sets, that's just another approach. Someone can just as easily do 9 intense sets with less rest, call it a day and get good results.
Best chest workout: any 2 or 3 effective chest exercises that hit different areas, done in superset or triset fashion. Presses, dips, flys for example.
