Chest workouts

[GUARDIAN]

i find a get a better contraction and muscle stimulation in my chest with dumbells or iso hammer equipment compared with barbell bench.

 

[djeclipse]

Try Wiiiiiide grip bench to your throat (ala AAP). Keep your elbows flared the whole time. These pump the shit out of my chest. This is a "finesse" exercise. Don't go heavy or you will blow your rotators and stay in the 8-12 rep range. I usually do them after some sort of DB press.

Are you kidding me? Flare the elbows? Are you trying to hurt the guy?

Never Flare the elbows, that is the biggest load of Bodybuilder crap ever heard and a great way to get hurt.

A little note on proper bench form.

Elbow position on both the descent and ascent will determine many things, including risk of injury to the shoulders, activation of the lats and triceps, as well as bar position. This is one of the most ignored factors when benching. It will be discussed in more detail during both the raising and lowering phases, but one thing will be mentioned first: do not flare the elbows out to the side “to place more emphasis on the chest,” as bodybuilding lore often states. This will result in a severe amount of strain at the shoulder joints, as it opens the acromial process to an extreme degree.

The entire write up is here, take the time to read it as there is a lot more involved in a proper bench press then you may think. If done properly you will be safe and will be able to move more weight.

This is the link.

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/5124184-post826.html

There are a few factors in bench but without knowing/ seeing the lift, if your tries are getting tired before your chest then it could a few things.

1. improper form

2. Your tries aren't strong enough.

If that is the case you can drop the weight and build back up and your tries will catch up. Or do some accessory work to build strength in your tries.

3. Your tries are fatigued from too much accessory/ isolation work.

Which I would guess to be the case as so many people do way too many waste of time isolation exercises for their bies and tries. They are not a major muscle group they are there to assist your big lifts, they don't need so much training.

 

[SouthernLord]

Are you kidding me? Flare the elbows? Are you trying to hurt the guy?

Never Flare the elbows, that is the biggest load of Bodybuilder crap ever heard and a great way to get hurt.

A little note on proper bench form.



The entire write up is here, take the time to read it as there is a lot more involved in a proper bench press then you may think. If done properly you will be safe and will be able to move more weight.

This is the link.

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/5124184-post826.html

There are a few factors in bench but without knowing/ seeing the lift, if your tries are getting tired before your chest then it could a few things.

1. improper form

2. Your tries aren't strong enough.

If that is the case you can drop the weight and build back up and your tries will catch up. Or do some accessory work to build strength in your tries.

3. Your tries are fatigued from too much accessory/ isolation work.

Which I would guess to be the case as so many people do way too many waste of time isolation exercises for their bies and tries. They are not a major muscle group they are there to assist your big lifts, they don't need so much training.

Come on bro. I said do not go heavy on these, because it will blow out your rotators. You can't tuck your elbows and bench to you THROAT. It is not possible. These aren't something to go super heavy on, but if your chest is lagging it will bring it up. I do believe he asked about chest stimulation not pressing more weight. If he wanted to press more I would tell him to learn how to set up from some PLers.

 

[djeclipse]

Come on bro. I said do not go heavy on these, because it will blow out your rotators. You can't tuck your elbows and bench to you THROAT. It is not possible. These aren't something to go super heavy on, but if your chest is lagging it will bring it up. I do believe he asked about chest stimulation not pressing more weight. If he wanted to press more I would tell him to learn how to set up from some PLers.

Bench to your throat? It just sounds like an injury waiting to happen.

Anyway, more weight = more chest stimulation/ muscle recrutment (sp?) .

You do realise that you can't change the shape of your muscles, there is no such thing as upper, lower chest etc. You can make it bigger, if you want it to be more defined you loose body fat.

EDIT: As I said earlier, my guess would be that his tries are fatigued/ over worked and that is limiting his bench.

 

[SouthernLord]

Bench to your throat? It just sounds like an injury waiting to happen.

Anyway, more weight = more chest stimulation/ muscle recrutment (sp?) .

You do realise that you can't change the shape of your muscles, there is no such thing as upper, lower chest etc. You can make it bigger, if you want it to be more defined you loose body fat.

Did I mention any of these points?

I agree with more weight = more muscle, but some people are just not built to bench heavy. I can arch my back, tuck, my elbows, and use a lower bar path and blow up 315 for sets of 5. All that does is stimulate my shoulders and triceps. I can also press 135 for 12 with flared elbows and bring the bar just above my throat and my chest screams and I usually get some serious DOMS. PEace

 

[silverskyline]

On the eralier post keep the flys, incline is not crutial.

I dont know why djeclipse always come in threads straigh up bashing right away.

Just offer your oppinion then theres no need to get upset bro. I'm not supprised you know what your talkin about but so do a lot of people here, I think you should know that how long you've been around (you have have peaced out for a bit but commin back hard like that is just gonna piss people off).

There is always something to be learned.

Oh my oppinoin on the chest thing, lower your weight and move to super sets for a bit.

off your bench (lower weight) eliminate a rest time and jump to bbell bench flys and even maybe kick out some puch ups after if you have the energy (if not do some inclined)


Later bros, I'm out for the day!

 

[ceo]

If you're not sporting at least 3 lbs per inch of height (at a reasonably low bf%)...you don't need to worry about your "weak points" because you don't have any. You just need more mass.

I should include an example because last time someone didn't know wtf I was saying here. Meaning: if you are 6 feet tall = 72 inches, times 3 lbs. = 216 lbs.

So, if you're 6 feet tall and weigh 185 lbs., you don't have any "weak points" but you do need more mass before you need to worrry about that.

 

[MetalDead]

Your hands might be too close together. The closer your hands are together, the more your triceps are getting hit. Make sure you have a good distance between them or else your weight is going to be limited due to fatigue in your triceps.

 

[cloak33]

Thx for all the replies.

I'm still trying to figure something out about pyramiding though. My max dumbbell press is 70lbs. However, I can do 4 heavy sets of 8 reps. Why do some says it better to do 8 reps at 55lbs, 6 reps at 60lbs, 4 reps at 65lbs, and finally 2 reps at 70lbs?

You lift more total weight the first way.

I'm confused...

 

[ceo]

Thx for all the replies.

I'm still trying to figure something out about pyramiding though. My max dumbbell press is 70lbs. However, I can do 4 heavy sets of 8 reps. Why do some says it better to do 8 reps at 55lbs, 6 reps at 60lbs, 4 reps at 65lbs, and finally 2 reps at 70lbs?

You lift more total weight the first way.

I'm confused...

If you can do 4 sets of 8 reps of 70 lbs., then 70 is not your max.

I personally warm up with 2 to 4 sets then do one heavy rest-paused working set, but I probably wouldn't advocate that for you.

Bottom line is progression. How are you measuring your progression?