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Out of all my bodyparts, chest is definetl the worst.
I have tried everything on it, dumbells, barbells, dips, every posible exersize. Hell, the only thing that's ever made it look bigger is flyes.
I've never even felt a pump in my chest.
Anyone got a solution?
I am curious to this myself... I've never had a problem with my chest before but it seems that I've now hit a wall....
bump
I had a really time because i was a "shoulder presser" on the chest excersizes. basically, my shoulders were doing the work so to prevent this, i squeeze shoulder blades together and then drop them as low as they will stretch. your chest should be pushed out. if doing a ful range of motion changes the emphisis to your shoulders, then shorten the range. this simple technique casued me to lower the amount of weight i was using, but i have added ALOT to my chest. good mind muscle connection helps too. i don't know if that helps any?!?!?
Have you tried thumbless grips for Barbell Presses? They are a lot more dangerous but I like the pressing movement much better... Personally, I get a better mental connection on a thumbless press... I use thumbs only in benching 315+ ... I also think in terms of a rocket - explode in the positive, then lower it in a controlled fasion - then explode again...
Also - dumbells will recruit max fiber response. Be sure to keep your elbows out and focus on your chest. Flyes are good - but presses are heavier and more compound for more mass response. The best way I know to do flyes is to pretend you are wrapping your arms around a tree...
Remember - your pecs are divided into major and minor - lower and upper muscle bellies... while flat presses are common and effective builders, mainly in the lower pectoralis major - working in Decline and Incline movements are very necessary... (a neglected upper chest looks like crap too)...
Finally - the pump, or short-term hypertrophy is a result of fluid build up - you must be hydrated and remain hydrated during your workouts...
Try squeezing/flexing your pecs after each set.Will definitely increase the pump.That in turn will get more nutrients in.
try doing reverse grip flat bench, kind of weird at first and make sure you have a spotter but it works.
All I do for chest is 2 pressing movements.
Focus on TUT and form more than how much weight you can push up.
Also for 2 weeks I went on an overtraining frenzy where I trained each body aprt every 3 days and I seem to have gotten over my plateaus in deads and bench.
add some principles in the mix
I could never feel my chest and it was the one bodypart that was laging
I posted also and somene gave me the answer that changed everything
for me .It turned out that I always benched with my elbows in and not out.You must bench with your elbows back or else you will be useing
your delts,and tri's .When you start benching with your elbows out you will see and feel a big and I mean big change.You wont be able to do as much weight becouse your chest will be doing most of the work vs delts,tris.Plus I'll bet that the reason you get results from the flys is becouse when you come down you are also bringing them back witch is good.Also like warrior said think of huging a tree at the top and keep good form.
Explain this elbows in vs elbows out thing. Perhaps a cheapo diagram in paint would work to explain it better. Do you mean that in "in" your elbow joints form a less then 90 degree angle while "out" would be more then 90 degrees when your bring the bar down?
Absolute...
elbows in- elbows are tucked in close to the body (l0l)
elbows out- elbows are out away from your sides. (-o-)
One thing that really helped me focus in on the chest is I always finish 'chest day' with some cable flies - however I only do one arm at a time and bring it across my chest. When I reach the point where I'm ready to start a negative I squeeze my chest and put my other hand on the muscle to make sure it's rock hard.... this exercise alone causes some MAJOR pumps and sometimes leaves me sore for days.
Another helper is to start your chest routine different each time. I will usually start with some form of incline (as those with a fantastic chest usually do quite a bit of inclines rather than declines)...so I'll break up the routine every week, allowing me to really max out each portion of my chest throughout the months.
Who benches with your elbows in...Elbows in sounds like a tricep bench. I usually grab the bar with my pinky to middle finger at the line on the bar. The further out I go the more shoulder I use and the closer in the more Triceps i use. I know this for a fact as my workout partner, who does Db shoulder press with 85's, has his whole hand past the lines when he benchs. He's got short arms, a big chest, and the wide grip which lead to him having such small bar travel to complete a rep...Im so jealous...haha
Their is alot of guys out there that bench with elbows in.Just look around your gym. And as far as the hand placement thing goes I dont think it matters you can still have a wide grip and bench with elbows in.
If you want to develope your outer pecx you would go wide grip (elbows)
back.You want to develope your inter pecs you go closer grip(elbows out).Either way elbows out.I think the reason way guys bench with their
elbows in is becouse #1 you can do more weight becouse you are useing other body parts to help.And #2 they just dont know how to bench.When you bench elboes out it put more stress on the pecs.You more than likely wont be able to do as much weight but thats not the point anyway what you want is biger pecs unless your a power lifter.So even if a guy does lesser weight he will still grow biger with better form and takeing each set to total failure .