# I never feel the bench



## SlickWilly (Jun 24, 2004)

When I bench press, I dont feel it in my chest. My arms always give out first. The only time I feel bench is lighter weight more reps. And even then it takes 15+ reps to let me feel any type of burn in my chest. I tried changing my grip width, where I move the bar when I push it and nothing works. I dont think my arms are horribly out of shape either. Any ideas?


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## powerU (Oct 22, 2003)

Try pre-exhausting your chest first with flys, a slightly wider grip on your bench will take the work slightly away from your arms too.

Also, make sure you haven't trained shoulders within 2 days before either (tired triceps).

I find I feel more of a burn in my chest with dumbell inclines by the way.


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## Greyphantom (Oct 23, 2003)

What he said...


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## Cookie (Sep 14, 2009)

Lowre the bar down to your collarbones and not the bottom/middle chest area,keep elbows out wide and back and make sure that when the bar is at the lowest position your wrists are directly above your elbows,and keep your back flat by lifting your legs up of the floor and crossing them over your stomach and keep the weight light as it takes a couple workouts to get used to.


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## big pete (Mar 23, 2004)

o/s/c. ive been using that on my lower weights, 80ishkg but always nowmal position when heavies

and exactly what poweru says also, pre-exhausting with flies then moving to bench is a killer for the chest


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## Killerkeane (Nov 9, 2003)

might try exausting my chest with flie first, good idea. I read something on the internet that this monster only used to lift the barbell 3-4 inches of his chest, as he believed it was only this distance that was needed to hit the chest hard, the other bit where the arms stretch fully out caused the triceps to come into play. I don't know about this but it seems to make sense, i did it once and it did hit my chest pretty hard.


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## Aftershock (Jan 28, 2004)

I never feal a burn n my chest when benching, but it aches for 3 -4 days after a heavy session... I wouldnt particulary worry about the burn as long as its growing and your getting stronger


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

powerU said:


> Try pre-exhausting your chest first with flys, a slightly wider grip on your bench will take the work slightly away from your arms too.
> 
> Also, make sure you haven't trained shoulders within 2 days before either (tired triceps).
> 
> I find I feel more of a burn in my chest with dumbell inclines by the way.


This is really good advice here.

pre-exhaust with either flys or peck deck.

Also pauses can hit the chest a bit more.

Also, it is not the pump or burn that will develop the muscle but the resistance against the muscle. Sometimes I dont get a good burn but am sore the next day. You will get more burn with reps than lifting heavy.


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## Killerkeane (Nov 9, 2003)

so how many sets can i do with fly's before chest? I have chest+triceps day 2morow and i want to try.


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## powerU (Oct 22, 2003)

I just do 2 x 10 with light weights, concentrate on getting a good stretch and contract hard. Heavy flies will just knacker your shoulders (I know, to my misfortune!)


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## Killerkeane (Nov 9, 2003)

ok, ill give it a go later on today. One thing i do now before i bench is put 100% pressure on the barbell with my hands before i have lifted it at all, and press down as hard as i can. I can't remember who posted it now or who read it but it seems to make me lift more, temporarily at least.


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## turbo (Nov 23, 2003)

Aftershock said:


> I never feal a burn n my chest when benching, but it aches for 3 -4 days after a heavy session... I wouldnt particulary worry about the burn as long as its growing and your getting stronger


Same here. The bench used to always be my best exercise, and i never felt a burn, only if i do loads of reps of a lighter weight, but the next few days after i usually get doms in the chest.

One exercise which does really kill my chest on chest days are flyes though. I can really feel that in my chest....


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## Mr T (Apr 4, 2003)

try dbells mate, works for me everytime......


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

More weight more size. Squats first then bench. I guarantee your bench will be up.  Try it what do you have to loose?


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Try slowing down the time it takes to exicute the lift, resistance on the way down and a slow push on the way up. Not good for strength but it will pump you.

With control you wont get an injury either.


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## turbo (Nov 23, 2003)

Mr T said:


> try dbells mate, works for me everytime......


Not for me mate. With dbells you use more non-chest muscles in order to stablise the weight and control the movement path. With a barbell, the movement path is more fixed and the chest gets more focused. The narrower the grip the more enthasis is placed on the triceps so i tend to try and keep it at around shoulder width.

Do you dig your shoulder blades in to the bench and thrust your chest out when benching. Try using a light weight for a bit, and really concentrate on your form. When the barbell is at the top of its movement, really tense your chest muscles hard.

If your doing it right, when you look in the mirror afterwards, your chest will look pumped, even if you cant feel it.


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Or you can pre-fetigue the chest with flys first then you can do your bench.

Also slowing down the movement will help in the pump and also using a controlled movement.

Reps will give you a pump too. Try doing a set or two to failure exceeding 20 reps.

But a pump is no indication of growth or any indication of you hitting the muscle where it is supposed to be.

When you can focus on the muscle group using concentration you will get the pump you are looking for.

Kindof like you learn how to use the chest, like learning how to run, or swim. Specific muscles are used.

Flexing might help you to learn how to focus on the muscle group you are trying to target.

I dont know who it was but there was a bodybuilder that used to say think your muscles big.

I guess this is just a form of concintration.


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## Guest (Oct 10, 2004)

Maybe give triple drop method ( 3 sets, no rest in between drop the weight by 25% each time)them with dumbells a try..That takes it to another level.I get sore for about 4 days with that..


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

Not bad londonhunk.

You could try pauses. I got this off of a pro powerlifter. After doing your regular routine of bench press, try dropping the weight and doing a few sets of pauses. You take the weight when it hits your chest you pause for 2 seconds and explode the bar back up. You will get a great pump and it will help your bench increase in strength. You will really have to drop the weight but the pump is the best that you can get. I love these for a down set. Usually you think of a down set doing a bunch of reps. Well you can still stay in the lower rep range and get a huge pump. Try it and let me know what you think.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2004)

My guess is your form is sh1t. Mr T has the best advice. Pre-exaugsting is a waste of time imo and only serves to compound the problem (your form being sh1t.)

Use DB's for now and work on your BB bench form at the end of the session with light weights.

My instinct tells me your not pulling your scapulea*(sp?) back and pulling your arms in to your sides, also, i don't know if your doing this or not, but for the love of God don't lift your feet off the floor or bring the bar down to your chest higher up than the bottom of your pecs. Doing that will mean too much input form the delts (not to mention massive stresses on your shoudler complex.)

*Can't be ****d to check the spelling. Its your shoulder blades. (hint: Tense your traps.)

The bench is a HUGELY technical lift and requires good form to be pulled off, have a search round www.elitefts.com for some articles on good bench form.


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