Shoulder fatigue during chest press...

[CurlyQ]

Hi Cathe,
Do you have any idea what I could be doing wrong during chest presses on the bench? My shoulders fatigue very quickly and I never really feel the work in my chest. I've tried everything, moving hand position on the bar, very light weight, etc.

Thanks for any suggestions!

P.S.- I love the core work in the new series, I can already see great definition!:7

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Curly Q! It is normal to feel the chest work in your shoulders since you use your shoulder muscles during chest work. However, to feel it more effectively in your chest muscles try to pinch your shoulder blades together (retract your shoulders)while doing the press to engage your chest muscles more actively. Here is a trick that I do when I find that my shoulder "hogs" the attention during bench presses. Before I do my bench press, I will do 4 to 5 reps of super slow push ups (8 seconds down, hold 8 seconds near the bottom, and take 8 seconds to come back up). I get such a fire in my chest muscles that when I go right to my bench press I can feel my chest muscles contract with a challenge and quiver by the end. Hope this helps

 

[kathryn]

Another suggestion: you can pre-exhaust the chest muscles by doing an isolation exercise (chest flyes) before doing the bench presses.

 

[Sheilaraecote]

Since I have had a shoulder impingement I have had to back off of upper body work for a while. However, I have managed to find a really good substitute for chest flies utilizing the stability ball. I just do "bear hugs" (squeezing the ball for 8 counts then holding for 8 counts and repeating the sequence several times) and use that as a pre exhaust before I do the chest presses with weights. I really feel it the next day.