Tips for targeting chest?

[WritingVincent]

I've always had a lot of trouble targeting my chest in chest exercises, even though this is not the case with any other muscle. Not sure why. Right now I'm struggling specifically with dumbbell benching – the reps feel awkward even though I've reduced my weight massively to learn form and the burn seems to be going entirely into arms and shoulders.

Any tips for dumbbell bench press or general tips for targeting in that chest burn? Thanks!

PS: The closest I've gotten to consistently good chest burn was doing decline pushups. For obvious reasons, however, I am eager to make it work with a weighted exercise.

[SuffolkPunch]

Try reverse grip barbell bench - grip as wide as you comfortably can

Also try bayesian cable flys - much better force curve than conventional DB flys.

[mortenhyDK]

I am new so I don't know the name of the exercise, but grap a couple of dumbbells and hold them in front of the chest, palms facing toward you, and press (like the shoulder press). This burns in the upper chest. Also take one dumbbell and imagine that you are doing front raises, but turn the arm as if you did a biceps curl. Lift the arm across the chest.. This also burns the upper chest (sorry I am Danish and my English spelling is not good)..

[chamelious]

Bare in mind "burn" isn't necessarily an indication of growth. You can't really do a press up or a bench press without using your chest.

[BG5150]

Widen your grip.

[WritingVincent]

Thanks guys!

[mortenhyDK]

Thanks for the info, yes I see what you mean with that, but I think it is possible (at least for me) to target triceps when doing bench press so the burn is in triceps and not chest..

[TheShadowMan]

One of the key advantages over barbell benching that the dumbbells have, is the ability to move inward and a better squeeze. To really get the most out the exercise, think of it not as a barbell type path of up and down, but rather a triangular arching path starting wider at the bottom and meeting at the top. Almost like a dumbbell flye, but with pronated arms and not going quite as wide at the bottom of the movement.

[PowerlifterMark]

A lot of time people are missing there chest because their Delts are overactive in their pressing movements. The game changer here is to drop the shoulders and retracting the scapula. This effectively targets the chest.

[5percentnatty]

I've always had a lot of trouble targeting my chest in chest exercises, even though this is not the case with any other muscle. Not sure why. Right now I'm struggling specifically with dumbbell benching – the reps feel awkward even though I've reduced my weight massively to learn form and the burn seems to be going entirely into arms and shoulders.

Any tips for dumbbell bench press or general tips for targeting in that chest burn? Thanks!

PS: The closest I've gotten to consistently good chest burn was doing decline pushups. For obvious reasons, however, I am eager to make it work with a weighted exercise.

Tie a plate to your back and do decline pushups if that works for you. Srs.

[5percentnatty]

Thanks for the info, yes I see what you mean with that, but I think it is possible (at least for me) to target triceps when doing bench press so the burn is in triceps and not chest..

Maybe it youre gripping too close and tucking your elbows in

[BG5150]

FWIW, I doubt you are going to get much "burn" in your chest anyway.

[SuffolkPunch]

I forgot to mention - grip width impacts chest focus. As long as your shoulders are happy with it, try taking a wider grip.

[AstralShawn]

For Dumbell bench press make sure your pinching your shoulders back and lowering them to take tension off the shoulders.Also keep your elbows pointed diagnolly making sure there not too close to your body as that will put more stress on the triceps and too far will put too much stress on the shoulders.

When I do incline bench it targets my chest better and I get a stretch that I dont get on Flat.

But whether your doing incline or flat make sure your squeezing your chest together in order to move the weight.Your triceps should only really help you reach the very top of the rep.

Also try doing a slight hold at the bottom just for a second.

Don't focus on pushing the weight with your wrist/hands.Your grip is just there to load up the chest with stress kind of like a lever.

Your shoulders and Tris will be used inevitably but focusing the tension on your chest and squeezing in order to actually move the weight will minimize the tension on the shoulders and tris.

I hope my advice is clear and helps somewhat lol.