How to isolate chest

[gatorkong]

I was wanting to know how to work my chest without recruiting my shoulders into the exercise. I feel my shoulders are proportionately larger than my chest and was wanting to allow it to catch up, however, it seems all the chest exercises Im doing (flys, cables, peck deck and bench) give me a pump in my deltoids as well.

Is there an exercise or a way of performing one I'm already doing without bringing shoulders into it?

Thanks

[terraj]

I was wanting to know how to work my chest without recruiting my shoulders into the exercise. I feel my shoulders are proportionately larger than my chest and was wanting to allow it to catch up, however, it seems all the chest exercises Im doing (flys, cables, peck deck and bench) give me a pump in my deltoids as well.

Is there an exercise or a way of performing one I'm already doing without bringing shoulders into it?

Thanks

Hey bud,

Drop pec deck firstly, its a shoulder killer.

IMO, you should look at decline bench, Bb or Db. The decline angle removes a lot of the shoulder load from the press movement. It is a great pec mass exercise!

The angle you want is no more then 15-20 degrees

[rocheey]

you should look at decline bench, Bb or Db. The decline angle removes a lot of the shoulder load from the press movement. It is a great pec mass exercise!

The angle you want is no more then 15-20 degrees

Would that angle, then, rule out weighted dips?

[terraj]

Would that angle, then, rule out weighted dips?

Weighted dips are money!

I have two chest workouts, I switch each workout-

Flat BB + weighted dips

Decline BB + flat Db

[stevey_6t9]

Hey bud,

Drop pec deck firstly, its a shoulder killer.

IMO, you should look at decline bench, Bb or Db. The decline angle removes a lot of the shoulder load from the press movement. It is a great pec mass exercise!

The angle you want is no more then 15-20 degrees

15-20 degrees.... isnt that an incline not a decline

I was wanting to know how to work my chest without recruiting my shoulders into the exercise. I feel my shoulders are proportionately larger than my chest and was wanting to allow it to catch up, however, it seems all the chest exercises Im doing (flys, cables, peck deck and bench) give me a pump in my deltoids as well.

Is there an exercise or a way of performing one I'm already doing without bringing shoulders into it?

Thanks

regardless of any chest exercise your deltoids are going to be synergist muscles in the movement as they adduct and abduct the humerus. I

im a lil struck for isolation exercises, maybe cable flyes??

[wanabeMASSIVE!]

In any chest excercise, i tend to get a full stretch on the way down while breathing out and as i lift up i tense the pec muscle hard. Just stay focus put mind to muscle i guarantee this form will work best for you!

WBM!

[jbran23]

I seemed to be having the same problem for awhile and the thing that helped me alot was just making sure to pinch my shoulder blades together. I was rolling my shoulders too far forward when pressing in flat bench and that helped to keep them back and to work more of my chest.

[terraj]

15-20 degrees.... isnt that an incline not a decline

Sorry I thought it was pretty easy to grasp...

15-20 degree decline angle.

[gatorkong]

I seemed to be having the same problem for awhile and the thing that helped me alot was just making sure to pinch my shoulder blades together. I was rolling my shoulders too far forward when pressing in flat bench and that helped to keep them back and to work more of my chest.

Yah I have started doing this too. I saw a video about a month ago on bench form explaining how to save your shoulders in the press. I just remember always being told that not having your back/butt flat on the bench was bad form. Here's the video btw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUcjOIZc80c

[rocheey]

Now, he was mentioning keeping elbows in, to hit the triceps more ... what about trying to isolate as best as possible?

Or, did he mean "hit the triceps more" as in work the shoulders LESS? is it going to be one or the other ?

[bmit]

Yup, keep shoulders blades pinned back. Moving elbows in takes some stress off the more delicate shoulder structures like rotator cuff (pretty sure, lol). When doing chest exercises of any kind you must focus on not just pressing but the act of bringing your elbows together in towards your body while using and contracting (i.e. squeezing) your chest muscles (especially at the top of the movement). Kind of like using your pecs to draw your arms together above you when you are doing your pressing. I also stop short of full lock-out to keep the weight off my triceps and keep stress on my chest and never go elbows below parallel on presses (except with really light weight for the stretch).

Chest was my lagging body part till i really made the steps to isolate it and make it my top body priority. My shoulders were also overdeveloped as compared to my chest till i really took those steps above to isolate it. And btw a big part is genetics, my shoulders are genetically superior to my chest and yours may be too.