I'm by no means a veteran lifter, but I've been on a pretty successful program for a while. My problem is a (hopefully) simple one.

Whenever doing chest exercises (Bench, Flyes, even push-ups), my shoulders or triceps give out long before my chest even feels all that fatigued. I'm wondering if there's a better exercise I can do to isolate my chest more and bring it up to speed.

I do isolation exercises for triceps and delts in addition to bench and military press, but they still seem to be lagging behind what my chest is capable of.

I'm also afraid that by continuing as I am, I'm just keeping the imbalance going, rather than allowing other muscles to "catch up" so to speak.

Any ideas? You guys have been awesome, and I throw myself at your mercy!

I'm by no means a veteran lifter, but I've been on a pretty successful program for a while. My problem is a (hopefully) simple one.

Whenever doing chest exercises (Bench, Flyes, even push-ups), my shoulders or triceps give out long before my chest even feels all that fatigued. I'm wondering if there's a better exercise I can do to isolate my chest more and bring it up to speed.

I do isolation exercises for triceps and delts in addition to bench and military press, but they still seem to be lagging behind what my chest is capable of.

I'm also afraid that by continuing as I am, I'm just keeping the imbalance going, rather than allowing other muscles to "catch up" so to speak.

Any ideas? You guys have been awesome, and I throw myself at your mercy!
Failure has many meanings, what is yours? You have said that you didn't do a back squat because you didn't have a way to do take the bar off or put it on. Do you have a bench and stand for a bench press? Are you able to use heavy weights in the bench?

Change the order of exercises, do the flies first for a 8-12 reps very slow and controlled, 3sec up and 3 sec down keep your shoulder blades pinched throughout exercise. As you bring the DBs together, they should be at nipple level. When Finished, rest 30sec and quickly move to the bench press. Do 8-12 reps, shoulder blades pinched, bar is held in a slightly wider than shoulders grip, lower to nipple level use a 3/3 cadence like flies. Rest 60 sec and repeat exercises for a total of 3 sets.

Questions?

In this case, what I mean is that my triceps and/or shoulders will shake and not allow me to push the bar up anymore, whereas my chest doesn't quite get that tightness/strain that I can achieve with every other muscle. It feels like I'm using my stabilizing muscles to do the majority of the work, instead of my chest.

Because of this, I've made incredibly sure I've gotten my form down. I also try to "squeeze" my pecs to push the bar up, though this doesn't work as well as I had envisioned. I end up feeling more like I'm pushing my hands towards each other on the bar, rather than pushing the bar UP, which feels counterproductive.

My cadence is 2 sec raise, 3 sec lower... I feel the stretch on the lower, but not exactly a contraction (if that makes any sense).

As far as reps go, I normally do 3x10 on the bench (though tonight I tried the 8x8 method for something different).

My max weight on the bench due to equipment limitations is only 115 lbs though. I do plan on buying more plates when money permits. My 1RM last time I checked was 180 lbs when I weighed about 40 pounds more.

I do usually go from press to flyes, though... I will certainly try swapping the two and seeing how that works!

My bench was designed for pressing (and is engineered so that I can't effectively use it for squats... :bang:)

Thanks for the quick response! I hope I'm not throwing too much random information out there... just trying to dial everything in, now that I'm getting closer to where I want to be :)

Just had a bright idea... maybe by using low weight and high reps, my smaller muscles (delts and triceps) are getting fatigued earlier, whereas my pecs (large muscles) are good for more volume... So increasing my weight would be optimal... I think you just solved my problem!

Whenever doing chest exercises (Bench, Flyes, even push-ups), my shoulders or triceps give out long before my chest even feels all that fatigued. I'm wondering if there's a better exercise I can do to isolate my chest more and bring it up to speed.

Sounds like it's not your chest you need to bring up to speed. Have you tried doing dumbell bench press? I think (better check) it involves more stabilizer muscles and may help you out of a rut with your barbell bench press.

Otherwise, perhaps try dips for a few weeks? Works the chest well whilst putting more strain on your tris/shoulders (use a narrower grip). That may bring your tris up to speed and help your bench.

If you have access to a Pec Deck (?) you can kill off your Pecs pretty quick with one of these rigs without affecting other muscles too much.

Whenever doing chest exercises (Bench, Flyes, even push-ups), my shoulders or triceps give out long before my chest even feels all that fatigued.

What is your grip width?

Unfortunately, I don't have access to a pec deck, as I only work out at home. I tried to do something similar with a resistance band, but it just didn't turn out to be practical.

My grip width is slightly wider than shoulder width. I have tried close-grip benching, and that tends to hit my triceps pretty hard. I can't effectively go much wider than shoulder width, as my bench and stand are pretty narrow.

Well...one thing you could try is...doing what I did when I didn't have a PecDeck.

Go to your hardware store and get a set of those refrigerator rollers.

They're fairly inexspensive.

With a little fabricating and a hacksaw you can come up with two pieces which you attatch to two pieces of 1x4 about six inches long.

Now do pushups with these but at the top of the movement let your arms go out to the sides about 45 degrees and squeeze them together to bring yourself back up. The better you get at it the lower you can go.

Works best on a hard floor. With carpet there's too much drag.

Be careful to start with. This ex is a Pec shredder for the un-initiated.

Thanks for the idea! It sounds like it has potential to be pretty brutal. It seems similar to doing dips, but without the elevation.

Don't forget the bullworker. But here is a good pushup - a negative one.

Negative Pushup you only lower yourself from top position with arms straight and on your toes to point where your chest touches floor, then use legs to get back to start position, repeat till you can't do any more. Oh! Did I tell you take 10sec to lower yourself to floor. If you can do 8 reps you can push yourself up from floor in one second without using legs and continue to as many as possible.

10 full seconds going down, watch a clock or have someone call them out, you should be at 5 at 1/2 way. Feel it in pecs. Focus.

On Bench press, do one set to neck level rather than nipple.

Alright, so I bought the few feeble weight plates I could afford -- 2 more 10 pounders. I added these to the barbell for my bench press, and took it just a tad slower than normal, as recommended.

I have to say, it makes a HUGE difference. My triceps and shoulders still got sore, but almost at the same time as my chest was feeling it. I had to reduce reps from 10x3 to 6x3, but I can already feel the difference. Not soreness yet, but a good tightness and pump.

Funny thing too, after I increased the weight, the vascularity in my shoulders now extends all the way down to my bicep. That's a first for me, and it's kinda a nifty superfluous side effect :cool:

Sadly, though, my max bench seems to have decreased GREATLY since I went on my starvation cut. It'll take a while to work back up to what I used to be capable of. :bb:

Thanks for all the great advice!

Alright,
I have to say, it makes a HUGE difference. My triceps and shoulders still got sore, but almost at the same time as my chest was feeling it. I had to reduce reps from 10x3 to 6x3, but I can already feel the difference. Not soreness yet, but a good tightness and pump.

Funny thing too, after I increased the weight, the vascularity in my shoulders now extends all the way down to my bicep. That's a first for me, and it's kinda a nifty superfluous side effect :cool:

Sadly, though, my max bench seems to have decreased GREATLY since I went on my starvation cut. It'll take a while to work back up to what I used to be capable of. :bb:



Don't worry about less weight on your max bench. Keep doing the exercises and you will pick up the real strength and bypass old weights. You want the effect on building muscle, strength will come, if you have to show off.:tucool:

Also ....sometimes it's not what you do....it's how you do it.

When benching for max pec involvemnt..

(a) keep your elbows flared out wide

(b) when your laying on the bench keep your shoulders buttoned down flat...don't let them come up when you press the bar up

(c) do not arch your back

(d) go widegrip on the bar

(e) keep your buttocks on the bench

When doing Flat DB Flyes:---

(a) As you bring the Db down from "straight overhead" position, instead of going straight out to the sides, go slightly backwards as well.

When on the Pec Deck.....

(a) Put your elbows on the pads...don't use hands or arms...squeeze in the movement using your chest as much as possible.

(b) Every rep on the pec deck,do one full ROM and at the inside of each rep do an extra 1/3 inner partial.

(b) Elbow placement and height on the pads makes a difference. Experiment with putting your elbows high, low, or middle and then feel how it hits you.

(c) Keep your shoulders buttoned back on the vinyl padding. Don't let them come up while repping on the Pec Deck.

(d) Puff out your chest, keep chest up and high, back flat against the seat.

(e) Inhale as arms come back...hold til halfway through "squeeze" movement and then exhale.


Db Inc or Flat Press Off Bench:-

(a) as you bring the Db up, bring them up in arc so that they touch
at top. As you lower, lower them back out in arc but not past where your forearms are vertical.

Do not just press them straight up and down.

(b) Keep shoulders buttoned back as much as possible. Back flat on bench. No arch in back.

my max bench seems to have decreased GREATLY since I went on my starvation cut. It'll take a while to work back up to what I used to be capable of.

It should not take that long to get it back. It is a lot harder to get it in the first place than to get it back. Adjust your nutrition and see.