I'm finding that no matter how much I lift, I never seem to get any real pump or burn in my chest. Is there an optimum grip width to isolate the chest - I know by narrowing the grip you place more emphasis on the tris, but is there too wide a grip? I'm thinking if you go real wide you'd end up putting more emphasis on the shoulders which is not what I want either... I've tried playing with the tempo and that doesn't do anything for me either - I even tried picking a really stupid weight the other day, did a really slow negative and then rolled the bar off - still nothing!

Any tips?

Drop them....BP is totally shite for majority of people when it comes to chest development.

I learnt the hard way by still doing them, then went to Dips....just try it for ONE session......youll see what I mean...youll get the DOMS on your entire chest region if you do them right...and youll be converted!

KP

hmm - I need somewhere to do dips...

I agree from a bodybuilding point of view Bench Pressing is a terrible chest exercise, a good chunk of it isnt even chest, the concentric phase is your lats, then from chest to about halfway to lock your pecs are involved (how many BBers have you seen benching way off their chest so not even using this part) and then for the last phase to lock out its triceps and front delts...im sure you knew all that long before i even had a gym membership though

Id say good dumbell presses are effective though done in a pumping motion and not to lock out.

Marks1972 wrote:I agree from a bodybuilding point of view Bench Pressing is a terrible chest exercise, a good chunk of it isnt even chest, the concentric phase is your lats, then from chest to about halfway to lock your pecs are involved (how many BBers have you seen benching way off their chest so not even using this part) and then for the last phase to lock out its triceps and front delts...im sure you knew all that long before i even had a gym membership though

Id say good dumbell presses are effective though done in a pumping motion and not to lock out.

good point mate..so it press ups between stools...real deep....with weight around a belt on your waist going down...in fact Id even go as far as saying that Press Ups between benches deep and hard...would be one of the best chest movements you could do.....

I think Press Up Claps are great for the explosive nature. If you have a partner then you could add plates onto your back for extra resistance.

The key with most pressing movements is not to lock out and to retain tension. This maybe why I manage to develop a decent Chest with out using DB's for Flat or Incline. I always stop short of lockout. Anyone who's seen Lou Ferrigno press in Pumping Iron will have seen this and I'm very similar in how I press.

As for width, on an Olympic Bar I have my middle (swear) finger in the ring.

Right now I'm thinking of documenting Selective ROM as a method of training.

Cheers guys will probably continue with benching but will add dips - gonna get the hotgym I posted up the other week - in the home equipment thread - I can do chins, pull ups and leg raises as well as dips then - all valuable exercises that are missing from my repertoire. If I order it now, I shold have it in the week, Then I can bung in leg raises on my cardio days and swap in Dips/pull ups/chins in the 5 or 10 rep weeks on HST (and play with it in the mean time )

I find that shallow incline press works well for me and I have a medium/narrow grip and flat db press again with a narrow rom works well. My chest is always pumped when I do these.

simon m wrote:I find that shallow incline press works well for me and I have a medium/narrow grip and flat db press again with a narrow rom works well. My chest is always pumped when I do these.

See even this old git can get at least one muscle pumped

I agree drop BB presses and dip & DB press. That's as long as your not one of those weird shirt lifters that are about here sometimes.

when i do bench press, i always do my last set with a short ROM, hitting the sweet spot of the movement (between touching the chest and half way up).

Something to bear in mind is that you may be using bad technique UPShite! your chest should be nice and high to allow it do do the pushing, not the shoulders

heavy flyes are the way forward

exclusive wrote:heavy flyes are the way forward

Amen to that.

I've been doing a bit of Fly preacing on MP recently.

I always get a much better chest workout when I do flyes.

I keep the elbows slightly bent and really squeeze the weight up, it helps that I enjoy the exercise as well

i find cable flyes to be great :]

exclusive wrote:heavy flyes are the way forward

Funny you should say that but I tried a few sets of those and definately feel a little more chesty this afternoon. I never gave them much respect before but will look at them as an exhaustative item after dips/bp in the HST.

Rab wrote:when i do bench press, i always do my last set with a short ROM, hitting the sweet spot of the movement (between touching the chest and half way up).

Something to bear in mind is that you may be using bad technique UPShite! your chest should be nice and high to allow it do do the pushing, not the shoulders

I always pull my back in and bury it into the bench... maybe you should come round and show me how it's done while I look up yer skirt

Dips belt and weights,

flyes heavy,

"pumping press" short ROM lightweight,
I prefer pushups with pushup bars,

cables from several angles lightweight

but definitely BB bench press is not the "king exercise" for an "olympia chest" as we could read in M&F