db bench- not feeling it

[ICurlLOL]

Whenever I do db bench i never feel it in my chest, always in the front of my shoulder. What am I doing wrong?

[DJAuto]

Whenever I do db bench i never feel it in my chest, always in the front of my shoulder. What am I doing wrong?

Is your form effective and proper?

Try fortifying your mind-muscle connection.

[Rasputin4]

Make sure you're not using wide grip or your shoulders will be recuited more, use standard grip and you should feel in more in your pecs than even with barbell bench press. Also, be sure to use full ROM.

[weizhen77]

I have similar problem when doing pushups.

[rascoqaz]

Try tucking your elbows in if your not.

[deadforaminute]

Whenever I do db bench i never feel it in my chest, always in the front of my shoulder. What am I doing wrong?

using dumbells

[joenj07087]

Whenever I do db bench i never feel it in my chest, always in the front of my shoulder. What am I doing wrong?

not really sure but it may have to do with how much you flare your elbows away from your torso...try different angles for the elbows....

[boathead]

i suppose it could be a matter of form being a bit off, but it could just as easily be that your delts are the weak link, and that your body needs to get them up to speed in handling the move.

nonetheless, anterior delts are an integral mover in the exercise. you should be feeling something.

i had a dialogue with arlecchino, a former moderator and self confessed anatomy weanie, discussing bb bench. i understand that the mechanics between bb and db will be different, but what he told me was news to me: that in a bb bench, emg electrical studies show the following order of involvement in the bb bench: leading the way is triceps, followed by anterior delts, followed by pecs, followed by lats.

pecs where 3d in the order.

i know this is not directly applicable to db's, but i offer it to suggest that feeling it in the delts is not a bad thing.

[SchrutedIt]

Whenever I do db bench i never feel it in my chest, always in the front of my shoulder. What am I doing wrong?

shoulder dominance... try harder to think about hitting your chest and watch elbow position and hand position... try doing reverse-grip DB presses and see how that works out for your chest. should take out some of the front delt work... actually, it's not really completely reverse grip, more like v-grip with the palms of your hands facing your nipples and the DBs in a v-shape pointing toward you crotch. sorry, best way i could describe it.

[Appetite]

Try tucking your elbows in if your not.

This is poor advice. Dont do this. Make sure your elbows are flared.

If your shoulders are taking over the lift it means they are sitting to far forward. Practice pulling them back (pulling your shoulder blades together) during the lift. While you are getting used to this practice holding your shoulder like this while you are sat on the bench between sets.

As another good tip dont go till lockout. Limit yourself to the bottom 2/3rds of the movement.

[aleexman]

Try tucking your elbows in if your not.

good advice. I had to tuck my elbows in just a little and it relieved pain in my shoulders and made the weight easier to lift. Felt better all round.

[arsenal1]

try taking the dumbbells down wider

[Appetite]

good advice. I had to tuck my elbows in just a little and it relieved pain in my shoulders and made the weight easier to lift. Felt better all round.

tucking elbows in = more shoulder and less chest.

[danjward]

I feel the excercise alot more everywhere including my chest if I squeeze and contract whilst lifting. Try that maybe?

[ICurlLOL]

hmm some conflicting advice. Im going to focus on the mind muscle connection and not do full lockout. Will try both wider and elbows tucked to see which one I like better. Thanks guys

[boathead]

hmm some conflicting advice.

yup, that's what you'll get around here!

i read an anecdote, forget where, but it went something like this:

if you took all the top trainers, and put them in one room, and took all the trainees, and put them in another room, all the trainers would agree on everything, and all of the trainees would disagree on everything.

[robertmm94]

tucking elbows in = more shoulder and less chest.

your an idiot.
flaring your elbows is also going to **** up your shoulders.
tuck your elbows. not all the way. 45-60 degree angle. dont do 90 degree. right form > anything

[boathead]

he may be an idiot, i wouldn't know, but not about this. elbows in will recruit more delt and more tricep.

elbows flaired, will recruit more pec, if that is what you are trying to, inartfully, say. and, stress the shoulder joint, different from a muscle called a deltoid, a bit more.

[JasonDB]

yup, that's what you'll get around here!

i read an anecdote, forget where, but it went something like this:

if you took all the top trainers, and put them in one room, and took all the trainees, and put them in another room, all the trainers would agree on everything, and all of the trainees would disagree on everything.

An interesting point. A lot gets lost in translation when we discuss ideas in purely text on a forum. I've had massive arguments on forums with other "gurus" and "experts" (as though any of us have truely mastered all there is to know about bodybuilding) however once you sit down with the same person and discuss the ideas face to face you find that you agree on 95% of things when it is put into a meaningful perspective with a more rapid exchange of ideas... yet the same two people were calling each other morons on a forum just weeks before and considering the other complete unyielding in their ideas.

Forums are too limited of a means of communication... and there will be more parrots and people with minimal real world experience chiming in creating confusion (someone who has been working out 2 years is still a novice who is just now grasping the basics).

I think the largest cause of confusion on this forum even among those with many years of experience is not that we disagree on what works, but that we disagree on what the exact goals are of the people we talk to or the means by which the principles we agree on are being implimented. It is often comparing apples to oranges and debating on what color the fruit is we are discussing. It causes misunderstandings of what another has said or ment.

We mix up people who are novices, intermediate and advanced bodybuilders, people who are bulking or peaking for a show, people who just want to look good and people who want to compete or prep for a professional photo shoot all in the same thread. Most people place themselves in a higher category of experience than their body is currently in as well, which again clouds things. It can be quite a mess.

[ltbs]

This is poor advice. Dont do this. Make sure your elbows are flared.

If your shoulders are taking over the lift it means they are sitting to far forward. Practice pulling them back (pulling your shoulder blades together) during the lift. While you are getting used to this practice holding your shoulder like this while you are sat on the bench between sets.

As another good tip dont go till lockout. Limit yourself to the bottom 2/3rds of the movement.

Wrong about the elbow flare, pulling your shoulder blades together naturally brings your elbows in and won't allow them to flare

tucking elbows in = more shoulder and less chest.

which also makes this ^^ wrong, tucked elbows = less flare, less shoulder stress.

[RAG3]

Whenever I do db bench i never feel it in my chest, always in the front of my shoulder. What am I doing wrong?

Try dropping the incline a little, not quite flat bench, not quite decline; and make sure your using proper form, one thing I switch to as DB rotation Bench, when the DB's are at your chest, hands are perpendicular to your body, when the DB's are extended, Hands are parallel with your body, lets you get that extra contraction across the chest.

[boathead]

Wrong about the elbow flare, pulling your shoulder blades together naturally brings your elbows in and won't allow them to flare



which also makes this ^^ wrong, tucked elbows = less flare, less shoulder stress.

guys, why is it so hard to understand that "shoulder" can mean the shoulder joint, and it can mean the deltoid muscles. this fellow clearly was suggesting that elbows in would recruit more delt, and less pec. and that is true.

elbows flared will recruit more pec, but will stress the shoulder JOINT more.

[blkbelt42]

This is poor advice. Dont do this. Make sure your elbows are flared.

If your shoulders are taking over the lift it means they are sitting to far forward. Practice pulling them back (pulling your shoulder blades together) during the lift. While you are getting used to this practice holding your shoulder like this while you are sat on the bench between sets.

As another good tip dont go till lockout. Limit yourself to the bottom 2/3rds of the movement.

urine idiot