I already bench press. I am, however looking for one chest iso to be done once a week. I did machien flys but got nothing out of them except a lot of pull on the biceps.
Cable crossovers next time? or do you guys have any personal favorites?
You probably got a lot of pull on the biceps with a pec deck. You need to slightly bend your elbows with them. This is also probably why you didn’t feel your chest working much. I don’t know how one could not feel their chest working with a pec deck.
My favorite exercises for chest -this is my current routine actually - are:
Flat dumbbell bench press
Incline Hammer Strength bench press
Flat dumbbell flies
Incline Cable crossovers
Other good ones are:
decline dumbbell press
incline dumbbell press
dips
flat hammer strength bench press
Smith machine incline press
incline flies
I never got much chest growth from barbell bench press presses.
Dumbell flyes work pretty good for me, I do 3-4 sets with the last set going to failure.
I usually feel that the next day.
loving the dips lately, of course you said isolation, but outside of db flyes there just isn’t much else. if you put 50 lbs on your weighted dips your chest will grow though
to really feel it hard in the chest, try bottom half partials on incline bb bench.
to really feel my chest the next day,like I am today.
I do triple drop sets on cable cross overs.
I do these last after flat,incline,and decline DB benching.
take all the drop sets to failure I get 2-3 partials out but cant even movie it.
then pin goes up 2 plates and ect.
that gets my chest so sore next day.
i have trouble isolating my pecs as well. seems like they just don’t want to get sore. today at the end of my workout i put a few dumbells on the ground and did pushups in between them (allowing me to go deeper than in regular pushups), as explosively as i could, until i could only do partials . felt kind of like the first few times i did dips (now when i do dips, i can only feel it in my triceps and shoulders, no matter how i do them)
one of the few ways i’m able to isolate my chest while db benching was a tip from gironda: when brining the dumbells back up, bring all 4 plates of the dumbells together (as if you’re clapping your hands) and squeezing your pecs at the top
Not necessarily isos but these should make you feel your chest;
Bench press to the neck (start with low weight)
Bench press with wide grip and with a pause when the bar is on your chest (count 1-2, start with low weight). You can just do the bottom half of the movement.
Dumbell presses with a pause at the deepest possible point.
Flies with relatively low weights (10+ reps) so that you can go very deep with perfect form.
It’s all about getting the pecs to stretch with good form. These should leave you sore the next day.
Good luck.
Kneeling cable cross-overs are my favorite and really hit my lower pec
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
You probably got a lot of pull on the biceps with a pec deck. You need to slightly bend your elbows with them. This is also probably why you didn’t feel your chest working much. I don’t know how one could not feel their chest working with a pec deck.
[/quote]
I agree. I use the pec deck fly machine as my last exercise on chest day, and i can just feel it tearing up my chest. I really like it a lot (much better than the elbow-padded fly machines, which feel awkward at best).
Like stated above by Brick, the arms should not be straight. A slight bend at the elbows puts almost total emphasis on the chest muscles, which also allows for more weight to be used.
Maybe I should start using the pec deck. But the goddamn machine is always taken so I’m left with the elbow-padded fly machine, which I hate.
I’m so damn front-delt dominant that literally every chest exercise I do I feel it last in my chest; shoulders and tris always get a good workout, though.
I actually feel my chest worked with dips better than if I were to do flyes or flat DB presses.
I think I’m just going to throw in 100 reps per day (2-3x weekly) of narrow grip pushups with my pushup handles. I’ve been using higher frequency for my calves and it’s working. I should do the same for chest since it’s the other muscle that really lags…
[quote]PonceDeLeon wrote:
I think I’m just going to throw in 100 reps per day (2-3x weekly) of narrow grip pushups with my pushup handles. I’ve been using higher frequency for my calves and it’s working. I should do the same for chest since it’s the other muscle that really lags…[/quote]
I believe that was the subject of a Waterbury article…something along the lines of “100 reps to bigger muscles” Good idea.
DB flyes are about the only thing I can do that feel like I hit my pecs.
Benching is more of a tricpes movement for me
seated pec-deck
[quote]PonceDeLeon wrote:
Maybe I should start using the pec deck. But the goddamn machine is always taken so I’m left with the elbow-padded fly machine, which I hate.
I’m so damn front-delt dominant that literally every chest exercise I do I feel it last in my chest; shoulders and tris always get a good workout, though.
I actually feel my chest worked with dips better than if I were to do flyes or flat DB presses.
I think I’m just going to throw in 100 reps per day (2-3x weekly) of narrow grip pushups with my pushup handles. I’ve been using higher frequency for my calves and it’s working. I should do the same for chest since it’s the other muscle that really lags…[/quote]
I have the same problem my shoulders and triceps would the bulk of the work on bench. I found that using a really wide grip and not fully locking out at the top really bulked it up.
yea i would just bend your arms more you really should feel it with mahcine flys but crossover cables work also
[quote]ayork90 wrote:
loving the dips lately, of course you said isolation, but outside of db flyes there just isn’t much else. if you put 50 lbs on your weighted dips your chest will grow though
[/quote]
I prefer cable flyes…and I 2nd the weighted dips. Just ‘rediscovered’ them.
Believe it or not, the best chest workout I ever got - had me sore for days - was cable pullovers on a decline bench placed between two pulley towers. I pissed off a lot of people, but fuck em. They weren’t exactly there when I set it up, so they had better wait until I’m done.
I’ll give the pec deck another whirl before I switch it out. Thanks guys.