Please help with chest training.

[rippoutai]

Today was chest day, I started with Decline bench press and I got no contraction in my chest only got a pump in my front delts.
Then I went to inclined press, only felt that in my front delts. Then I went to machine flys, only felt that in my front delts. Then flat bench, only felt that in my front delts. at the very end My front delts were fucking worn out and I couldn't even feel anything in my chest. I don't know if it is my form or what. Even if it is why would I feel it on the machine? Can someone please help me?

 

[Yatz77]

Sounds like something in the form is off. Where does the bar hit when you are doing flat bench? Do you bring it down so bar goes across upper chest? Or down across the nipples? I was bringing it down to high across my chest, which made my elbows flare out pretty wide. This made me use too much of my shoulders in the movement. Now I'm focussing on bringing the bar down right to my nipples, and keeping my elbows closer to my torso. I feel it much more in my chest and less in the delts. You may want to drop your weight a little if you are going to try it, because it was definitely surprising to me how much heavier it felt , when I used less shoulders to move the weight .

 

[rippoutai]

Sounds like something in the form is off. Where does the bar hit when you are doing flat bench? Do you bring it down so bar goes across upper chest? Or down across the nipples? I was bringing it down to high across my chest, which made my elbows flare out pretty wide. This made me use too much of my shoulders in the movement. Now I'm focussing on bringing the bar down right to my nipples, and keeping my elbows closer to my torso. I feel it much more in my chest and less in the delts. You may want to drop your weight a little if you are going to try it, because it was definitely surprising to me how much heavier it felt , when I used less shoulders to move the weight
I have tried before what you said, the bar goes to my nipples and everything. And the weight ins't too much, I felt it on my warm up sets.

 

[Yatz77]

How wide do your elbows flare out? Do you squeeze your shoulder blades together? Have you tried experimenting with your grip width?

 

[rippoutai]

I keep my elbows at a 45 degree angle. My grip is about shoulder width, and no I don't squeeze my shoulder blades, I will try that.

 

[Skrilla]

Your grip needs to be much wider than shoulder width apart.

 

[Yatz77]

Well I would do a combination of things. Widen your grip, keep your shoulder blades squeezed together through the movement, keep your elbows around 30 deg from torso, and try bringing bar just below nipples. If you don't already, really try to focus on engaging/using mainly your chest muscles. To the point that on every rep mentally remind yourself to use pecs to push.

 

[fitguy22]

Your grip needs to be much wider than shoulder width apart.

how much wider?

 

[Yatz77]

how much wider?

I think that's going to vary quite a bit from person to person. I think each guy has to experiment and see what works best. I'm 6'6 with monkey arms so my grip is wider then othe guys I lift with. Just wide enough where you can keep your elbows from flaring out and really feel the stretch in your pecs at the bottom of the movement.

 

[China_Wall]

Today was chest day, I started with Decline bench press and I got no contraction in my chest only got a pump in my front delts.
Then I went to inclined press, only felt that in my front delts. Then I went to machine flys, only felt that in my front delts. Then flat bench, only felt that in my front delts. at the very end My front delts were fucking worn out and I couldn't even feel anything in my chest. I don't know if it is my form or what. Even if it is why would I feel it on the machine? Can someone please help me?

Decline is overrated... but on a serious note, why three barbell exercises in the same workout? dumbbell presses will do a very good job building quality muscle

As for your shoulders being pumped, a bit is normal, but seems it may be a weak point for u... strengthen your shoulders and triceps (supporting muscles in all presses), then your lifts will become more effective

U didn't mention how often u train chest or if maybe u trained your shoulders the day before (a big no no)... U should never need to train a muscle more than once every 5-7 days

 

[Black Beard]

How heavy are you going? In terms of rep range?


For me, going heavy forces my chest muscles to engage more. Weighted dips are superior to to decline bench press in my experience. They are excellent for hitting the lower pecs, deltoids, and triceps. Your grip sounds a little too narrow, go a little farther out but not to wide. Technically, the narrower grip engages your triceps more, and the wider grip engages the pecs a little more, but you can't go to wide or you risk injury.



The two main ways to do bench press are powerlifter style and bodybuilder style. The powerlifter style mainly focuses on moving as much weight as possible, and the BB style on isolating the pecs more. They both work fine. Google some tutorials, pictures, etc and mess around with it. A lot of guys have trouble feeling the pecs on bench press. Like China_Wall mentioned, DB bench press is excellent for isolating the chest muscles. I feel my pecs a lot more with DB benchpress and agree that it's an excellent exercise for pectoral hypertrophy. In terms of sheer mass and strength, barbell bench press is superior.




I would look up some videos on form, maybe try heavier bench press(works for me) Throw in some DB bench press, and try out heavy, weighted dips.

 

[Noob84]

Technically, the narrower grip engages your triceps more, and the wider grip engages the pecs a little more, but you can't go to wide or you risk injury.

Just to clarify.
Going wider can hurt you, or can not hurt you?

 

[tbonexl]

Sounds like u gotta arch your back more. If your back is flat against the bench, you will hit front delts.

 

[ChaseTheYoke]

Need that mind-muscle connection. Before starting your chest routine grab you about some 30lb dumbbells and hold them out to your sides. Roll your hands into your nuts (where your thumbs would be towards you) and hold a hard squeeze on your chesticles for 10 seconds and roll out and rest. Do this a few times and jump into some dumbbell flies and concentrate on feeling the stretch in your chest. May sound dumb but it's something that worked for me in the past. Most people have problems getting good contractions on their lats and rear delts it seems.

 

[DreDay187]

Decline is overrated... but on a serious note, why three barbell exercises in the same workout? dumbbell presses will do a very good job building quality muscle

As for your shoulders being pumped, a bit is normal, but seems it may be a weak point for u... strengthen your shoulders and triceps (supporting muscles in all presses), then your lifts will become more effective

U didn't mention how often u train chest or if maybe u trained your shoulders the day before (a big no no)... U should never need to train a muscle more than once every 5-7 days

How heavy are you going? In terms of rep range?


For me, going heavy forces my chest muscles to engage more. Weighted dips are superior to to decline bench press in my experience. They are excellent for hitting the lower pecs, deltoids, and triceps. Your grip sounds a little too narrow, go a little farther out but not to wide. Technically, the narrower grip engages your triceps more, and the wider grip engages the pecs a little more, but you can't go to wide or you risk injury.



The two main ways to do bench press are powerlifter style and bodybuilder style. The powerlifter style mainly focuses on moving as much weight as possible, and the BB style on isolating the pecs more. They both work fine. Google some tutorials, pictures, etc and mess around with it. A lot of guys have trouble feeling the pecs on bench press. Like China_Wall mentioned, DB bench press is excellent for isolating the chest muscles. I feel my pecs a lot more with DB benchpress and agree that it's an excellent exercise for pectoral hypertrophy. In terms of sheer mass and strength, barbell bench press is superior.




I would look up some videos on form, maybe try heavier bench press(works for me) Throw in some DB bench press, and try out heavy, weighted dips.

X3 I guess. Decline bench is a waste of time IMO. Flat bench, incline bench, and press. Are all the angles you need

 

[Black Beard]

Just to clarify.
Going wider can hurt you, or can not hurt you?

Going too wide will increase the risk of injury because your arms have less leverage and your deltoids are more prone to hyperextension.




@Dre YO FUCK YOU MAN, WASTE OF TIME?! WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!!?





Haha jk I like to do incline DB for upper pecs, flat BB for middle pecs, and weighted dips for lower pecs. The pump on the upper pecs with the DB incline is nasty. YOU KNOW YOU NEED DA PUMP RITE?! I never liked decline bench, also feel like that shit will drop on your fucking face/throat. It just feels wrong, like those guys doing pull ups while holding a barbell on their thighs. Feels like a circus act