chest work

[carmom]

Hi, this is my first posting. My question is this: when working my chest, doing presses, i feel it in my triceps more than in my chest. i try to watch my form as closely as possible. my husband experiences the same thing. is this normal and if not what should i watch out for? thank you very much and thank you for you awesome workouts. joetta

 

[kathryn]

Cathe's off at a fitness conference, so I'll step in here, if you don't mind!

The bench press is a compound movement (working more than one joint and muscle group) that works the chest, but also the front shoulder and triceps. You can isolate the chest more by doing flyes, an isolation move that works one joint and one muscle group. You can give your chest more work by doing what is called "pre-exhausting," that is, doing an isolation move for the main muscle (flyes for the chest), then immediately doing a compound move for the same muscle group (bench presses). The chest will be a bit tired already (thus "pre-exhausted") and will feel the presses much more. This technique also works well if you find that your shoulders/triceps "give out" before your chest feels sufficiently worked.

 

[carmom]

thank you for the info and advice. i do feel the work more when doing flyes. i just wanted to make sure that i wasn't doing something wrong when doing presses. thanks again. joetta

 

[Aquajock]

Hi, Joetta! In addition to the pre-exhaust method Kathryn suggested, also consider placing your hands wider on the bar when you are performing barbell bench presses, AND placing your hands wider on the floor when you perform push-ups.

The closer your arms are to each other when performing presses or push-ups, the greater the relative recruitment of the triceps. The wider the hand / arm placement, the greater the relative recruitment of the pecs.

HTH -

A-Jock

 

[catwoman]

When I'm doing bench presses, I feel it in my tris, but when I'm doing flyes, I really feel it in my chest. I find the trick with flyes is to really lower your arms down as far as you can without dipping below the bench, and keep a slightly bent arm so that when you bring your arms back up it looks like your trying to hug a bear. Tightening the chest muscles and really concentrating on them during flyes also helps engage them more so they work harder. Flyes are my very favorite chest exercise.

 

[catwoman]

Ooo, A-Jock -- good advice. I forgot about that!