Bench Press - Upper back sore, chests feel nothing.

[Waosan]

I used to do bench press with bad form and put a lot of strains on my anterior deltoid. After some researches and practices, I think I finally got the right form down.

With proper form, is my upper back supposed to feel sore? And my chests didn't feel anything after workout. Chests used to feel really sore with my old bad form.

[kanis999]

It sounds like you just have a weak upper back, so it is good that you're taking care of it now. You'll feel your chest once your stabilizers catch up.

[Thewix]

I used to do bench press with bad form and put a lot of strains on my anterior deltoid. After some researches and practices, I think I finally got the right form down.

With proper form, is my upper back supposed to feel sore? And my chests didn't feel anything after workout. Chests used to feel really sore with my old bad form.

I suggest you take a video and post it on here and get people to critique it, that way you get much more informed advice.

[TKD]

If you are feeling it in the upper back thats a good thing as your shoulder blades should be tight together bunching up your traps.


You are probably tucking your elbows in a bit right?

I never feel sore in the chest, but I never really go higher than 5s.

[Waosan]

I suggest you take a video and post it on here and get people to critique it, that way you get much more informed advice.

I wish, but I don't have a recorder and too shy to ask people in the gym to help me.

[Waosan]

If you are feeling it in the upper back thats a good thing as your shoulder blades should be tight together bunching up your traps.


You are probably tucking your elbows in a bit right?

I never feel sore in the chest, but I never really go higher than 5s.

Yes, elbows at 45 degree, and forearms straight up. My elbows used to be at 80 degree and forearms weren't straight up.

I slightly arch my shoulder blades together. Not too much, but just enough that I can lie on the bench without extreme arching my lower back.

[vanessavalium]

I was researching this as well, wondering if I was doing it right. The lower part of my traps as well as my rhomboids are sore as hell! I had a mild arch to my back as well. I only really felt a slight bit of soreness in my outer pec, but the other muscles are super sore today! I'm glad I'm not alone. I changed my form as well.

[Jam177]

Used to happen to me when I used to work. I either was squeezing (retracting and depressing) my scapula too hard or it was weak. I did train my upper back as well (followed well known routines and learnt good form before going to the gym/used the bar). My upper back was decently strong, was rowing 80kg (controlled) which was the same as my working weight with bench. Not sure if it has to do with anything but my dead lift was almost twice as strong as my bench. I think the thing that affected me was tight rotator cuffs so I had to squeeze my scapula really hard to take the load off even more off the shoulders. Started getting back into training and still have this issue, eventually I came across this thread.

[blazy4lyfe]

this post is from 03-07-2012, i think OP already found his answer unless he never looked into it lol