Not feeling Bench press in my chest

deadybai

I have started back lifting recently having not done anthing properly for about 6 years. SO you could say I am a beginner.

I think I have a problem with my bench press and not being able to feel it in my chest. I seem to feel it mostly in my front delts and arms.

I have watched videos on form and I feel I am doing everthing right (arching your back, feet on the floor, squeezing your chest.

Any advice on how to fix this?

Is it just a case that the chest muscle has become too weak and that I will feel it more when it starts to grow?

Black Sheep

There are a couple of general observations to make, some of which might be relevant to you, but without seeing you bench it's hard to be certain.

Although 'mind muscle connection' and feeling a contraction in a muscle can be a useful guide it is not definitive and it's possible that even though you don't feel your pecs working hard when you're benching, they could still doing a lot of work or enough work to make the movement worthwhile. If your bench goes from 60kg to 120kg (for sake of argument) your chest will have grown.

It's true that some people, depending on limb length, might use a large amount of tricep and / or front delt when benching. I refer again to point 1 ... Even for those people the bench press might still be worthwhile for them, because the reality is that their chest is still being recruited into the movement ... It's not possible to bench without the chest any more than it's possible to deadlift without the glutes.

However, and maybe this is where you're going, it's fair to say there are two occasions where maybe if you aren't getting as much chest involvement in the bench as other people, (1) if strength is the goal and you are weak at the bottom of the movement, off the chest, (2) if physique / hypertrophy is the goal and the chest is a lagging body part.

A couple of options then arise:-

You can widen your grip, which theoretically will make it more chest. It's definitely worth making sure you aren't very narrow at least. Also make sure you're going to depth. A partial bench is going to be more tricep.

You could pause at the bottom of the movement, or do a spoto bench where the bar pauses an inch OFF the chest, both aiming to increase the chest contraction and portion of the movement off the chest.

After that if you still feel it's not a good movement for you then traditional alternatives which are considered to offer greater potential for the chest:- A converging machine press, seated converging cable press, DB bench (Again try to get that converging path and contract at the top). You could also stay with the straight bar and try a decline bench and see how that feels. Where equipment is limited you could try deficit push-ups or hand release push-ups, both with the hand position reasonably wide.

Not to bamboozle you but you could also keep benching for strength development but then have your supplementary movements be more chest focused - pec dec, DB flyes, cable flyes etc.

Ush1

If you have good form I would say its possible that your front delts and triceps are the weak link and your chest is strong. Happens in a lot of compound movements such as rows or pullups where your biceps or grip will fatigue before your back does. I also find doing extra warm sets helps with mind to muscle connection as the muscle is better stretched and warmed up making it easier to focus on the contraction.

Reps4jesus

As black sheep said, i think the spoto press is a great way to feel it more in the chest. Also I notice I really feel it when lowering the bar very slowly (for a 5 count) with a slight pause.

Also, unless you are planning on competing in powerlifting there is no reason you have to do flat barbell bench pressing. Do dumbbells, incline or decline bench, machines etc and see if you are getting better results with them

Cill94

I have never felt bench in my chest really unless I do an incline / spoto press. Everyone is different in this regard.

It's still not exactly clear how much 'feeling' a muscle works equates to growth. I think you probably give yourself the best of both worlds if you just do any compound pushing exercise that gives you a decent chest contraction.

That could be dumbbells, barbell incline, dips, or even just push-ups.

Mr. CooL ICE

Only time I ever felt bench in my chest was when i changed from ring finger on ring to index finger, i.e. widening grip by an inch. And then after 2-3 sessions, didn't feel it again.

It sounds like you've been paying enough attention to your form that it is probably a non issue.

Mellor

“Feeling” an exercise is overrated.

If you are benching BW+ you are using your chest. You simply went moving bench numbers with delta or triceps.

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120286055#Comment_120286055

I agree with this for the beginner stage, but there seems to be a point of diminishing returns. I know some guys who can barbell bench 140+ with pretty meh pec development. Maybe you could make the argument that that's partially to do with the technique they use.

For me personally I've increased my pec size quite a bit in the last year by starting to incorporate more exercises that really let me feel them work like flyes, db incline bench, and dips. I still BB bench for general strength.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120286631#Comment_120286631

What I mean it, the guy benching 140kg isn't doing that without recruiting pec muscles. He might not have developed size as much mass as the BB targeting chest isolation. But inversely, the guy targeting size above all else is probably lacking in strength (or technique).

Overall I think people put too much stake in the idea lof mind muscle connection, feeling a lift in a muscle, the "burn", DOMs etc

Tefral

I always felt my chest muscles were sore after doing incline and decline dumbells rather than benchpress.

I have my arms all the way out to the bar support when i am benching as i have unporportially long arms like a Monkey. Great for deadlifting, not so much for bench.

Widening your grip will defintely help, id look into incline and decline too.

If you read Schwarzeneggers excercise book, he was big into pull overs, incline and decline and cable crossover / flys rather than the traditional bench and his chest was like a barrel.

Black Sheep

Soreness usually just comes down to there being some novel stimulus going on that my body has to adjust to. A change in programming, coming back off a layoff, sometimes particularly DOMS-producing movements like bulgarian split squats... It comes and it goes.

When I did CrossFit I was always sore, and I think one of the reasons was the whole thing was inherently novel and it was something that was chased deliberately, there was a lot of talk about paleolithic hunters not following 12 week programmes.

Flye variations are the quintessential isolation movements for bringing along the chest but I always felt like they tugged at my shoulders and for me personally what has probably contributed the most to my chest development is just shitloads of pushups of all kinds, particularly deficit and hand release pushups where you're challenging the chest at the bottom position.

I know pullovers were beloved of the old-school lifters for chest, but I think that's disputed now, people would say they are more lats. I don't do straight arm pullovers but what I will say is that PJR pullovers done with a dumbbell are a fantastic tricep exercise.

If someone just has a barbell and wants to stay with a compound movement to help their chest then there are good variations like paused bench, spoto bench that have already been mentioned.