Pec building help

NoQuarter

Hi all,

Eating clean and doing some home weights now to build and tone up a little. When i do my arms they get as arnie says, "the pump" and feel like they are going to fall off but i never get the same feeling after doing my chest.

It feels like im engaging the part that connects my arm to my chest moreso! Now i generally do have a bit of a sore chest the next day so i am getting it but i just dont think im getting it as good as i could. I take my time and try focus on form but it just aint happening!

Any tips?

I do a few sets benching dumbells, flys, decline dumbell press and pushups.

Scuba Ste

Only the arms really get that pump feeling, lower back sometimes too. Its not really an indication of anything tbh. Just make sure your getting progressively stronger, can you bench more now than a month ago, well then your stronger, and probably getting bigger. Don't worry about pumps, they're for ballet dancers.

Parsley

What scuba said, but it's possible you're not benching right. lots of people don't use their chests as much as they should when they bench. i'd take a look at that first. if you really want a pump then try cable crossovers.

weeman2

If your trainin hard you can get that pumped feelin that changes to soreness everywhere.

Start by doing isolation movements such as dumbell flyes do 6 sets of 10 reps this icludes 2 for warm up of about 20 reps. keep them controlled and steady this will isolate the pec then do what ever you do normally bench, incline, dumbell press you will feel the sorness in the centre of your pecs and you will get a great pump.

I dont know why anybody would say its only normally arms that get pumped chest, legs and back especially lats get pumped easy when you tain hard.

Isolation movements will really help any body part but be warned they are not fun and it will be a hard workout

Scuba Ste

Ah come on. The OP is asking why he doesn't get a pump in his chest and if that's an indicator of anything. The answer is NO. Do isolation exercises and train harder is not the way to go imo.

Out of curiosity if isolations exercises are hard, what are compounds, easy??

legend365

Super-set

AARRRGH

When I bench I focus on the feeling in the chest muscles and try to engage them as much as possible. I can feel them being used more when I do this.

Immediately after my sets my chest muscles feel big and slightly sensitive.

It's fairly easy to get your benching form right. Just make sure your arms are perpendicular to the floor when holding the bar (midway from the highest point away from you and the lowest point at your chest) and you bring the bar roughly to the nipple region.

Transform

king-stew wrote: »

Hi all,

Eating clean and doing some home weights now to build and tone up a little. When i do my arms they get as arnie says, "the pump" and feel like they are going to fall off but i never get the same feeling after doing my chest.

It feels like im engaging the part that connects my arm to my chest moreso! Now i generally do have a bit of a sore chest the next day so i am getting it but i just dont think im getting it as good as i could. I take my time and try focus on form but it just aint happening!

Any tips?

I do a few sets benching dumbells, flys, decline dumbell press and pushups.

simple question - your age, your weight, height , full training program and weights being lifted.

quoting arnie does not mean that you are doing the right things with your training

NoQuarter

legend365 wrote: »

Super-set

Doesnt work for me?! Again woorks great wth every other body part but not the chest!

AARRRGH wrote: »

When I bench I focus on the feeling in the chest muscles and try to engage them as much as possible. I can feel them being used more when I do this.

This is my problem, i cant really feel the muscles in my brain if that makes sense, I need to work on squeezing the muscles when lifting. When i try to contract the pecs i usually und up squeezing my arm/chest region.

Transform wrote: »

simple question - your age, your weight, height , full training program and weights being lifted.

24, 70kg, about 5'9. In decent shape and have no trouble with any other body part.

Do back/biceps on day one.

Chest/triceps day 2.

Rest day 3.

No need to do legs as my legs are bigger than my torso already. Usually do perhaps 3 exercises on each muscle group. Generally mix it up a bit so i dont get bored. Do every set to fail as its just the way i prefer it.

quoting arnie does not mean that you are doing the right things with your training

Humour is allowed no?


I was serious about training for a few months a couple of years ago and went from being able to bench about 40kgs starting off to benching 82kg (before i got injured). My strenght cam along great but the size of my pecs again lagged behind the rest of my gains.

So i done my chest last night and today my pecs are a bit tender, nothing major, but the area my arms connect to my chest is in agony and everywhere else i worked out is in pain!

I just want that that pain in my chest now! (no soreness on lower chest and i done 3 sets of decline)

Doug Cartel

So basically this sounds psychological to me. The problems you are describing are subjective, and chances are your expectations/ideals are off. Keep in mind that most people have a slightly distorted view of what they actually look like. Don't measure progress by how you "feel" - do it instead by recording the weights you're lifting, your own weight and your body fat %. These are real, objective measures that actually mean something.

Also, I don't think doing every exercise to failure is a good idea, and you should probably do some work on your legs unless you have a very specific plan (and it really doesn't sound like you do.)

NoQuarter

Doug Cartel wrote: »

and you should probably do some work on your legs unless you have a very specific plan (and it really doesn't sound like you do.)

I dont doug and to be honest i dont want one, been there done that before. Right now the plan is to eat clean, do some exercise and just put on some muscle. Not trying to achieve something major here. Just keeping fit and healthy.

I wish it was psychological but i dont think it is. Basically the problem is a cant target my chest properly. Ive recorded all the numbers before, ive watched the rest of my body grow except my chest, it probably grows a bit but while other parts become noticeably larger, the chest doesnt!

Ps, i do cardio for the legs, absolutely no interest in doing weights on them.

Remmy

king-stew wrote: »

Ps, i do cardio for the legs, absolutely no interest in doing weights on them.

say again?

brianthebard

Cardio is for your heart not your legs. /nitpick.

Now that that's taken care of, I think you need to experiment a bit. I recently found that I can feel my chest muscles working in the bench press a lot more with a narrower grip, even though you're often told that a wide grip targets them more. I think Jayoo has had some success recently supersetting flyes with bench. Everyone is different and you have to find the exercise which allows you to get your pecs moving the weight, whether it be dips or supersets or changing form or different bench variations.

Doug Cartel

king-stew wrote: »

I dont doug and to be honest i dont want one, been there done that before. Right now the plan is to eat clean, do some exercise and just put on some muscle. Not trying to achieve something major here. Just keeping fit and healthy.

I wish it was psychological but i dont think it is. Basically the problem is a cant target my chest properly. Ive recorded all the numbers before, ive watched the rest of my body grow except my chest, it probably grows a bit but while other parts become noticeably larger, the chest doesnt!

Ps, i do cardio for the legs, absolutely no interest in doing weights on them.

Get a proper exercise plan, quit obsessing with your pecs.

Magic Eight Ball

king-stew wrote: »

No need to do legs

Workout fail!
There is always a need to do legs.

NoQuarter

Remmy wrote: »

say again?

Magic Eight Ball wrote: »

Workout fail!
There is always a need to do legs.

When i run up a hill with a backpack on i consider my legs pretty much done.

What i said was i wont do WEIGHTS on them.

Thanks for the off topic contribtions though fellas. Most helpful. Just what i was looking for.

NoQuarter

Doug Cartel wrote: »

Get a proper exercise plan, quit obsessing with your pecs.

Worst reply yet.

I come to a fitness forum asking for tips on how to work my pecs better as they are lagging behind and thats your advice? to Ignore them?

Just wow.

Doug Cartel

king-stew wrote: »

Worst reply yet.

I come to a fitness forum asking for tips on how to work my pecs better as they are lagging behind and thats your advice? to Ignore them?

Just wow.

You need to set proper objectives with measurable results, and form some plan to meet those objectives. From what you've said in your posts, it doesn't sound like you are anywhere close to this. Your current objectives are too vague and unmeasurable, and it sounds like you're pottering about doing random stuff with no direction or coordination.

What objective measure are you using to tell your pecs are lagging behind?

NoQuarter

No objective measurement at all, its all subjective, but that doesnt mean im wrong. Although i suppose my training buddies(the last time i tried to bulk) also agreed that the chest wasnt building at the same rate as the rest of my body. So thats an objective viewpoint.

Im not in any way trying to achieve what i have before but but its as simple as this, my "pottering" is producing results to all the other body parts im working on bar my chest...again.


Basically i know what works for me to build muscle, but my chest seems to have its own set of rules.

Any techniques on getting mind-muscle coordination to my chest. I cant seem to sqeeze the pec at all.

Transform

Remmy wrote: »

say again?

wow just wow

Transform

king-stew wrote: »

No objective measurement at all, its all subjective, but that doesnt mean im wrong. Although i suppose my training buddies(the last time i tried to bulk) also agreed that the chest wasnt building at the same rate as the rest of my body. So thats an objective viewpoint.

Im not in any way trying to achieve what i have before but but its as simple as this, my "pottering" is producing results to all the other body parts im working on bar my chest...again.


Basically i know what works for me to build muscle, but my chest seems to have its own set of rules.

Any techniques on getting mind-muscle coordination to my chest. I cant seem to sqeeze the pec at all.

at 70kg and 5ft 9 you are never going to have impressive pecs as there is just no way you have enough muscle there - i suggest you get bigger and focus on getting stronger.

Arnie did not have a problem 'feeling' his chest as he had a big enough chest to feel. You can feel it in the arms because they are such a small muscle group and really matter very little.

Overall i couldnt give a toss (any neither should you) about chest muscles etc as the vast majority of people that obsess over it tend to get shoulder injuries from excessive benching and those that have a bigger chest from all that benching have terrible rounded soulders.

You want a bigger chest and to feel it in the chest more then put on some muscle.

Brian?

Feeling a "pump" is not important for building muscle at all. The important things are planning, structure and progression.

Plan to get stronger and eat more, when you can bench 2xbodyweight with perfect form you can start worrying about whether your chest is lagging.

At 70kg worrying about a particular muscle lagging is pointless, you aren't carrying enough mass for any part of you to lag.

The best way to gain the mass you need is by working your legs, running up hills doesn't count. The best excercises to gain mass are squats and deadlifts, you'll be able to put on mass without them but it'll be a lot slower. You also need to make sure you're working your back heavy as well, that's where the deadlifts help as well, weak lats can limit your bench.

Whether your pecs lag is completly subjective as you say, so post up some pictures if you truly believe its the case and you might well get more targetted advice, if indeed it's needed.

Brian?

king-stew wrote: »

Basically i know what works for me to build muscle, but my chest seems to have its own set of rules.

It really doesn't.

king-stew wrote: »

Any techniques on getting mind-muscle coordination to my chest. I cant seem to sqeeze the pec at all.

You're worrying too much about it. Concentrate on getting stronger, if you're benching your chest is working.