Having Trouble Hitting Chest

I too have recently had trouble really feeling my chest workouts in my pecs. It coincided with my recent strength gains. I think that my anterior delts are doing too much of the heavy lifting.

[quote]ironmanzvw wrote:
I too have recently had trouble really feeling my chest workouts in my pecs. It coincided with my recent strength gains. I think that my anterior delts are doing too much of the heavy lifting.[/quote]

I had this problem too. I eliminated flat bench since most of the power was coming from my delts. I started only doing incline with DB’s(with a little lighter weight) and REALLY focusing on contracting my chest. Definitely check out the video I posted. It helped me out.

Kai will tell you

[quote]Ripsaw3689 wrote:

[quote]ironmanzvw wrote:
I too have recently had trouble really feeling my chest workouts in my pecs. It coincided with my recent strength gains. I think that my anterior delts are doing too much of the heavy lifting.[/quote]

I had this problem too. I eliminated flat bench since most of the power was coming from my delts. I started only doing incline with DB’s(with a little lighter weight) and REALLY focusing on contracting my chest. Definitely check out the video I posted. It helped me out. [/quote]

Yea I would do the dumbbell thing for inclines BUT my gym’s dumbbells stop at 100 lbs for some reason (everything else in the gym is top notch and plenty of weight). I need for than 100 lb dbs to go heavy for chest. So I use those later in the work out to get more reps out.

I really feel my pecs contracting on the incline hammer strength machine though.

Also, I have read that if you tend to feel your posterior delts too much while working chest, you should use incline later in the workout.

[quote]Ripsaw3689 wrote:

About the 5:00 mark Ben Pakulski goes into a detailed demonstration on contracting the pecs.[/quote]

Never thought of it like like, good post ripsaw.

On a side note OP, do you ever do db pullovers? Have you ever felt those in your chest? You can manipulate the ROM and get a good burn in your seratus and your chest. Could be a missing link to help with that mind muscle connection you are missing.

The video of Ben Pakulski at the 5:00 minute mark is very good. I was doing it while watching it could feel how it would work. Defiantly going to try it out next chest workout. I find doing cable flys for warm up to get a mind muscle connection before hand for about 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps to really help hit my chest.

Three things have really helped me feel my chest on flat bench and I got it from watching Ronnie Coleman train…

  1. Pinching my shoulder blades.

  2. Stopping short of full lockout.

  3. Bringing the bar down within an inch of touching chest and then rebounding.