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Correct form benchpress and activating the pecs

yirara
yirara Posts: 10,196 Member
in Fitness and Exercise

So yeah, when I do benchpresses I basically do them only with my arm muscles and the muscles going from just above the armpit towards the chest. But my main pecs remain asleep. I have no idea how to activate them. I can activate my pecs when I'm sitting, arms hanging down, lower arm horizontal to floor and the elbow behind my back. But obviously I can't do bench presses laying on my belly and the barbel behind my back 😂

I read lots of advice, like
* focus on the pecs: Yeah, I do. They don't do anything
* feet firm on the ground. Every bench is too high for me to do that and hence I usually put my feet on the bench, back still flat, core engaged
* use high weight: I don't have a spotter and my muscles have a habit of suddenly giving up. I once pinned myself to a bench with a barbell, but fortunately it crashed down half controlled.

Anything else I could do? How do I activate my pecs? Would be happy if I could do that just sitting around.

Replies

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,989 Member
    edited March 11

    Your feet should be able to touch the ground? Your thighs can be on each side of the bench which is probably 17" high.

    Based on your description I wonder if you're pressing the bar quite high up on your chest, and/or with a wide grip. The pecs do arm adduction, so a narrower grip means more adduction, plus bring the bar a bit lower your chest. The closer grip will also work the tris more btw.

    How about a supinated grip flat bench with db's? Test it in sitting or lying position with one hand on your pec on the other side, then with supinated grip do a scoop style motion.

    You should also try to "pack your shoulders", by pushing them down when in position, or sliding up the bench to get into position.

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,196 Member
    edited March 12

    @Retroguy2000 I was hoping to hear from you.

    Well, I'm able to touch the ground with my feet, but then I arch my lower back. My core is so weak that I can't do something with my arms/chest and apply pressure to the ground with my feet at the same time. That's why I'd put the feet onto the bench and apply pressure. It's a lot easier and my core remains engaged.

    I don't have enough weights for dumbbells to be honest (like weights on two sides with a barbell vs four sides with two dumbbells) and I can't control them quite so well. Like I said, I had one miserable accident with a barbell before. I can picture things going badly wrong with dumbbells.

    So I experimented a bit without weight. I am able to at least activate my pecs if my upper arms are at less than 45 degrees to my body. But my arms are also ridiculously long* and upper body only slightly on the short side thus the bar would be below the sternum, which I think misses most of the pecs again, and purely mechanically would make lifting the bar more difficult. If the bar is higher on my chest I can't activate the pecs. Will experiment a bit more with grip width. Thanks.

    fun fact: A friend the same size as me once lent my bike for a quick errand during work. She said she never sat on such an uncomfortable bike. I saw that she had to stretch her arms out so far to the front that her body was at a very high angle. Yeah, it's a fairly sporty sitting position, but I sit quite comfortable on it, and nowhere near as stretched out as she 😁

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,989 Member

    I'm able to touch the ground with my feet, but then I arch my lower back.

    It's completely fine to arch your back. Many would encourage it. Only a powerlifter should do the extreme arch they do though. I suspect that having greater stability with your feet on the floor plus a small arch is actually much better than having feet on the bench with no arch.

    I don't have enough weights for dumbbells to be honest (like weights on two sides with a barbell vs four sides with two dumbbells) and I can't control them quite so well. Like I said, I had one miserable accident with a barbell before. I can picture things going badly wrong with dumbbells.

    I'm a little confused what exactly you mean here. It sounds in the first sentence like you don't have enough db weight to make it worth doing, but the second sentence suggests you can't control the db weight that you have. If it's the latter, that's all the more reason to use them. Focus on your weaknesses. Lower the weight to the point where you can use good form for 10+ reps and progress from there. Also, a press with supinated grip like I described earlier, especially if done with more of a scoop motion, would be done with lower weight than a typical press anyway.

    So I experimented a bit without weight. I am able to at least activate my pecs if my upper arms are at less than 45 degrees to my body. But my arms are also ridiculously long* and upper body only slightly on the short side thus the bar would be below the sternum, which I think misses most of the pecs again, and purely mechanically would make lifting the bar more difficult.

    That all makes sense. If you have access to them, maybe cables would work a lot better for you. Another possible option is dips while leaning forward more, although they can be hard on the shoulders if you're not careful. Deficit pushups might work for you too, except they're hard to progress, but if you struggle to do a few of those then you have plenty of road ahead for progression. If none of those work for you, then you might be stuck with the bench press angle you've described, and you might need to lower the weight at first until you're strong enough in that range of motion.

  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,415 Member

    You might try some dumbbell flyes as well. Either a set before you bench to activate your pecs or as a replacement for a while. You don't necessarily need to use dumbbells specifically. You can either hold the weights for your barbell in your hands or even just use a couple of vegetable cans if you have those around. When I was training, I found that was a good way to get the feeling of my pecs activating before I'd bench. As far as bar placement, I aim for my nipples. For me that's about the midpoint between a high bar placement around the bottom of my clavicle and above the end of my sternum

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,196 Member
    edited March 12

    Thanks guys!

    So I experimented a bit more:

    arched back: Check! That improves things.

    Dumbbells: I don't have enough disks to stock them to suitable weights. I could do presses with two 5kg disks in my hands, but that's all I can do. The next step up would be 10kg, and I can't control them anymore and start to do crazy, uncontrolled things. They are too thick to hold properly anyway. But just using the 5kg disks improves my movements by a lot and I feel that I actually do hit my pecs a bit better (no, not with the disk 😂) I think it also kind of solves the problem of having a comfy position somewhere between clavicle and belly button. Need to think about how to rotate my wrists with that and whether that has some influence.

    Also thanks for all the other advice. No cables, but I'll see how I can hit my pecs a bit better. Pushups is certainly one of those exercise where my pecs go to sleep while my upper arms are dying. I just don't know where to leave all of those arms when doing them and then unwrap them again to get off the ground while my pecs are still not engaging 🤣

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,545 Member

    If you want to increase the challenge but have too big a weight increment to handle, you might find something useful in Nossmf's "30+ Tips to Increase Strength Training Intensity" thread. I'd link it, but that's not easy on this device. You can find it in the "Most Helpful Posts" part of this "Fitness and Exercise" part of the Community, and I know you know how to navigate your way around here.

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,196 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48525533#Comment_48525533

    Thanks a lot, hun! Will check it out tomorrow.

    Edit: sorry for the 'hun'. It's easier than your username 😖

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,989 Member

    Dumbbells: I don't have enough disks to stock them to suitable weights. I could do presses with two 5kg disks in my hands, but that's all I can do. The next step up would be 10kg, and I can't control them anymore

    Are these loadable dumbbells that you can buy more plates for? If so, buy a set of 2.5's and 1's. Or look on Amazon for "micro plates", there are lots of options for small weights to add to dumbbells, including ones that clip on to fixed dumbbells if needed. Or if it's an adjustable dumbbell set you're talking about, they maybe offer a magnetic micro plate add-on at their site.

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,196 Member

    Yeah, I know. They are rather expensive. My bar and the dumbel bars I got with them have an unusual diameter. That makes it so difficult. Just bought two more heavier disks for deadlifts and squats, second-hand (I was lucky), and they were still rather expensive.

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,989 Member

    There are cheap hacks you can explore to add micro weights:

    • Chain. It's as cheap as $1 per foot in our hardware chains here. That plus a carabiner and S-hook is how I made my own super cheap "belt" to do weighted pullups. Wrap the chain around the db handle or barbell handle, and if most of the chain is on the floor when you're on the bench, that's a way to add intensity, since it will get harder as you raise the weight. Then without the chain, that weight will feel lighter in future, and should help you advance to the next weight increment.
    • Coins in pantyhose. Tie ends around db handle.

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