Why doesnt my chest ever get sore after a workout?

[hardbody911]

So today I went to workout at my local gym and today was a chest day so I decided to switch it up and do sets of five while increasing the weight little by little, or what they call supersets. The thing that has really got me upset is that even today and any other time I go to work completly on my chest, my arms tend to get fatigued quicker than my chest, in additon when I do my chest workouts I can never feel my chest really working. So I guess my question, is my technique wrong or something? How can I fix this problem?, and Should I increase the weight?

PS: I can already tell today after my chest workout that my chest is not going to be sore tomorrow so please HELP!

[Inertiatic]

Don't worry about it. Being sore =/= a good workout. A good workout =/= being sore. I mean, if there are other things to worry about, then there are other things to worry about. But the simple fact that you're not sore doesn't really mean much.

[bskp]

a superset is when you do two or more exercises. for example, you do a set of bench press followed by a set of rows and so on.

it could be your technique or your arms are weak and fatiguing first. try doing some flyes before you bench. known as pre-exhausting the target muscle.

[Couloirman]

A few things:

1) if you could, tell us the exercises that you did, how many sets+reps of each, and if they were to failure or not. How long are you resting between sets/supersets? Personally, I dont go up in weight at all on supersets; I just can't. I work so hard on the set that I am on, the only thing I can do to get more reps without a rest is to go down a few pounds each set. If youre not taking any break but going up in weight this is kind of a red flag for me that something is up. I think maybe you are getting supersets mixed up with something else

2) how long have you been doing the exact same chest exercises in the exact same order? Have you tried switching up just the order of the exercises? Go backwards next time or do some different exercises completely. If you always do barbell bench, do dumbbell bench in place of it for a few weeks.

3) how close are your hands on barbell bench press? the closer your grip on bench press, the more triceps you will use and the less chest so if the tris are tiring too fast on bench, widen the grip a few inches

4) do you do any isolation exercises like cable crossovers, incline/flat/decline dumbbell flys? You really dont feel any chest doing these? If so, see a personal trainer to get you on track

5) did you work arms within the past few days that would account for triceps giving out before chest? If your triceps are giving out, are they just really weak and you need to work on them more? If so, do more chest isolation type exercises like flys, and crossovers, etc... while building up your tri's.


Between every set on chest day I like to put my palms together in front of me by my waist and squeeze my hands together to flex my chest as hard as possible between every set. Whenever I cant push my arms together anymore, its time to go have a protein shake and call it a day. If it were me, I would be very cautious about increasing the weight if I thought my form may be bad, that is a recipe for injury if you ask me. You should definitely feel your chest working during isolation exercises, and it would be rare if you didn't feel it during bench as well. Answer as many of my Q's as possible and then you will get a much better response.

[ZoranM]

So today I went to workout at my local gym and today was a chest day so I decided to switch it up and do sets of five while increasing the weight little by little, or what they call supersets. The thing that has really got me upset is that even today and any other time I go to work completly on my chest, my arms tend to get fatigued quicker than my chest, in additon when I do my chest workouts I can never feel my chest really working. So I guess my question, is my technique wrong or something? How can I fix this problem?, and Should I increase the weight?

PS: I can already tell today after my chest workout that my chest is not going to be sore tomorrow so please HELP!

If your goal is to be sore:
4 sets of 10,flat flies,upper arms little below parallel.hold for two seconds each time in the lowest point.
On the other hand,concern yourself with eating right and constantly trying to progrees with weighs,sets or reps.If the muscle is growing,lack of soreness should bother you.

[musicianman]

If you want soreness, take a soup can in each hand and do curls until you can't curl anymore. Rest two minutes, and repeat for ten sets.

As said above, soreness CAN mean you had a good workout. The absence of it means nothing as long as you pushed yourself the day before.

[hardbody911]

A few things:

1) if you could, tell us the exercises that you did, how many sets+reps of each, and if they were to failure or not. How long are you resting between sets/supersets? Personally, I dont go up in weight at all on supersets; I just can't. I work so hard on the set that I am on, the only thing I can do to get more reps without a rest is to go down a few pounds each set. If youre not taking any break but going up in weight this is kind of a red flag for me that something is up. I think maybe you are getting supersets mixed up with something else

2) how long have you been doing the exact same chest exercises in the exact same order? Have you tried switching up just the order of the exercises? Go backwards next time or do some different exercises completely. If you always do barbell bench, do dumbbell bench in place of it for a few weeks.

3) how close are your hands on barbell bench press? the closer your grip on bench press, the more triceps you will use and the less chest so if the tris are tiring too fast on bench, widen the grip a few inches

4) do you do any isolation exercises like cable crossovers, incline/flat/decline dumbbell flys? You really dont feel any chest doing these? If so, see a personal trainer to get you on track

5) did you work arms within the past few days that would account for triceps giving out before chest? If your triceps are giving out, are they just really weak and you need to work on them more? If so, do more chest isolation type exercises like flys, and crossovers, etc... while building up your tri's.


Between every set on chest day I like to put my palms together in front of me by my waist and squeeze my hands together to flex my chest as hard as possible between every set. Whenever I cant push my arms together anymore, its time to go have a protein shake and call it a day. If it were me, I would be very cautious about increasing the weight if I thought my form may be bad, that is a recipe for injury if you ask me. You should definitely feel your chest working during isolation exercises, and it would be rare if you didn't feel it during bench as well. Answer as many of my Q's as possible and then you will get a much better response.

Okay just wanted to let you know yesterday I did arms, and my workout went as followed for bi's tri's and shoulders.

4/12/10
Bar Military Press:
1st Set 40lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 60lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 60lbs for 8 reps
4th Set 40lbs for 10 reps

Bench Dip:
1st Set 15 reps
2nd Set to Failure
3rd Set to Failure

Cable Triceps Overhead
1st Set 35lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 35lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 35lbs for 10 reps
4th Set 35lbs for 10 reps
5th Set 35lbs for 10 reps

Cable Tricep Pulldown
1st Set 42.5lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 42.5lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 35lbs for 10 reps
4th Set 35lbs for 10 reps
5th Set 35lbs for 10 reps

Machine Bicep Curl
1st Set 65lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 80lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 95lbs for 3 reps
4th Set 95lbs for 1 rep
5th Set 65lbs for 8 reps

Machine Shoulder Press
1st Set 40lbs for 15 reps
2nd Set 65lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 80lbs for 5 reps
4th Set 80lbs for 5 reps

Push Press
1st Set 65lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 65lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 70lbs for 3 reps

Seated Preacher Curl
1st Set 40lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 50lbs for 5 reps
3rd Set 50lbs for 5 reps

Shrugs
1st Set 50lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 50lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 40lbs for 15 reps
4th Set 40lbs for 15 reps
5th Set 50lbs for 5 reps
6th Set 40lbs for 5 reps

Standing Bicep Curls
1st Set 50lbs for 15 reps
2nd Set 80lbs for 3 reps
3rd Set 80lbs for 3 reps
4th Set 80lbs for 3 reps
5th Set 60lbs for 10 reps

Today was chest and went as followed

4/13/10

Machine Bench Press(Not the original kind of Bench Press, only reason I did this is because I didnt have a spotter)
1st Set 100lbs fo 10 reps
2nd Set 145lbs for 5 reps
3rd Set 145lbs for 5 reps
4th Set 125lbs for 5 reps
5th Set 110lbs for 8 reps

Cable Crossover
1st Set 30lbs for 15 reps
2nd Set 40lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 50lbs for 10 reps
4th Set 50lbs for 10 reps
5th Set 50lbs for 10 reps

Decline Bench Press(Same applies as first bench press)
1st Set 100lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 145lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 166lbs for 8 reps
4th Set 166lbs for 8 reps
5th Set 185lbs for 3 reps
6th Set 100lbs for 20 reps

Dumbbell Pullover
1st Set 45lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 45lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 45lbs for 5 reps

Incline Bench Press( applies for number one also)
1st Set 80lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 100lbs for 5 reps
3rd Set 110lbs for 3 reps
4th Set 110lbs for 3 reps
5th Set 110lbs for 3 reps

Machine Chest Flye
1st Set 85lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 100lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 115lbs for 8 reps
4th Set 130lbs for 5 reps
5th Set 100lbs for 10 reps

Pushup
1st Set 20 reps
2nd Set 20 reps
3rd Set 20 reps

Between 45sec to 1min rest for all of these

[fireisland]

So today I went to workout at my local gym and today was a chest day so I decided to switch it up and do sets of five while increasing the weight little by little, or what they call supersets. The thing that has really got me upset is that even today and any other time I go to work completly on my chest, my arms tend to get fatigued quicker than my chest, in additon when I do my chest workouts I can never feel my chest really working. So I guess my question, is my technique wrong or something? How can I fix this problem?, and Should I increase the weight?

PS: I can already tell today after my chest workout that my chest is not going to be sore tomorrow so please HELP!

your triceps are prob stronger than your chest, and you were not doing supersets. try and squeeze your chest at at end of each rep, and for bench a wider grip generally hits my chest more.

[Bnatural]

List the exercises you do, please describe the form you use, as well as the grip width.

If your grip is too close, you'll feel it in your tri's a bit more.
If you don't go low enough, you'll feel it in your front delts and tri's (this also occurs if you don't keep your shoulder blades pulled together during the movement).

[chazzy1864]

So today I went to workout at my local gym and today was a chest day so I decided to switch it up and do sets of five while increasing the weight little by little, or what they call supersets. The thing that has really got me upset is that even today and any other time I go to work completly on my chest, my arms tend to get fatigued quicker than my chest, in additon when I do my chest workouts I can never feel my chest really working. So I guess my question, is my technique wrong or something? How can I fix this problem?, and Should I increase the weight?

PS: I can already tell today after my chest workout that my chest is not going to be sore tomorrow so please HELP!

Whoever told you that is a superset is ignorant or dumb as hell.

A superset is two or more exercises done for opposing or at least different muscle groups with little or no rest in between.

Most likely your technique is piss poor, if you only feel it in your arms, and never your chest. Adding more weight will probably not help, if you are already failing in your desired rep range, and still feel nothing. It will just cause you to ego-lift even more, causing your arms and shoulders to fatigue even faster, thus reducing even more stress on your chest.

Here is some advice;

Bench Press Form:
When you unrack the weight, draw your shoulders back, and pinch your shoulder blades together, which will help give you your natural arch, and puff out your chest. This will provide a stable base and as long as you keep your shoulders drawn back, it will keep the deltoid activation to a minimum.

Also, bring your legs back in close, to where it would be hard to put your feet flat to the ground. So you start on the balls of your feet. When you lower the weight, clench your butt, exhale forcefully and try to drive your heels into the ground. Keep your back down though. There will be a little arch, but don't go to extremes.

+ Tips for using chest on bench:

Another thing, flaring elbows can help place the focus on your chest. If you flare them real wide (at or close to your upper arm being perpendicular to your upper body) it reduces the role your triceps play and places more emphasis on your chest (you will be weaker, as you are taking a supporting muscle out of hte picture).

However, take note that flaring your elbows is harder on your shoulders. It places them in an unnatural range of motion, which can cause some rotator cuff issues. Some people never have these problems, otehrs do quite quickly. I will say flaring my elbows helped me really learn to push with my chest. I am trying to get away from it though, as I don't want to risk destroying my shoulders if I don't have to.

Another tip, when doing barbell bench press, imagine you are trying to squeeze the outside edges of the bar together as you push up (trying to make a horseshoe facing away from you).

[Matt9388]

not working it hard enough

[gthorn2000]

I'm also interested in why certain bodyparts of mine don't get sore. My chest will have a nice soreness for a few days after doing 3x flat press, 3x incline press, and 3x flyes. However, if I only do 9x total for biceps, I rarely feel anything at all the next day. My shoulders rarely get sore either, even after blasting them with tri-sets.

People say being sore =/= a good workout, but the only time I grow is when I'm getting sore. I'm also curious if anyone's actually ever gotten sore from curling a soup can 200+ times...maybe for a few minutes, but you wouldn't be sore for days...

[chazzy1864]

I'm also interested in why certain bodyparts of mine don't get sore. My chest will have a nice soreness for a few days after doing 3x flat press, 3x incline press, and 3x flyes. However, if I only do 9x total for biceps, I rarely feel anything at all the next day. My shoulders rarely get sore either, even after blasting them with tri-sets.

People say being sore =/= a good workout, but the only time I grow is when I'm getting sore. I'm also curious if anyone's actually ever gotten sore from curling a soup can 200+ times...maybe for a few minutes, but you wouldn't be sore for days...

Many don't get sore on their smaller muscles.

If you want to feel soreness in your biceps, I'd suggest finishing your routine with some burnout sets. I prefer to use high pulley, single arm cable curls. Doing 2-3 sets, generally dropping weight while increasing reps. Failing between 10-20 each time (for instance, I'd fail 10-12, then 12-15, then 15-20 subsequently).
When finishing with that exercise, I've never failed to achieve soreness in my biceps.
It doesn't mean my biceps have blown up, but I enjoy the feeling.

[Couloirman]

Okay just wanted to let you know yesterday I did arms, and my workout went as followed for bi's tri's and shoulders.

4/12/10
Bar Military Press:
1st Set 40lbs for 10 reps
2nd Set 60lbs for 10 reps
3rd Set 60lbs for 8 reps
4th Set 40lbs for 10 reps

Bench Dip:
1st Set 15 reps
2nd Set to Failure
3rd Set to Failure

A lot of things here. You say you did bi's? I don't see anything here that works bi's. Curls work biceps, as well as rows and other things for back. What I see here is a very light workout on triceps, and very light workout of front delts(and a little bit middle). Methinks you just need to get a basic lesson on what exercises work what bodyparts. Ill respond more later if I have time, gotta study

[hardbody911]

A lot of things here. You say you did bi's? I don't see anything here that works bi's. Curls work biceps, as well as rows and other things for back. What I see here is a very light workout on triceps, and very light workout of front delts(and a little bit middle). Methinks you just need to get a basic lesson on what exercises work what bodyparts. Ill respond more later if I have time, gotta study

Oh my bad I accidently hit the submit button before I was finished, you can see my full workout at the top