Correct form benchpress and activating the pecs
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
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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.
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@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 😁
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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.
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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
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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 🤣
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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.
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Thanks a lot, hun! Will check it out tomorrow.
Edit: sorry for the 'hun'. It's easier than your username 😖0 -
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.
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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.
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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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Here's a thought … don't use a bench or a barbell.
How about trying lying directly on the floor with one dumbbell. Do one side chest press at a time. Why I suggest this:
- It forces more concentration on the muscles being worked.
- It eliminates the feet hitting the floor issue
- Allows you to firmly have your feet on the floor and your low back firmly pressed into the floor
- With the none working arm, you can press it into the floor
- Allows for a more controlled press and lower because the rest of the body is more stabilized
- Ensure the dumbbell is at the chest (i.e., not at the shoulder or stomach)
- Initially put the upper arm straight out from the body, then lower the elbow about 30 degrees.
Try it to see if it helps with your form and activation.
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Hey, interesting idea! I'll try that.
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You have low range of motion with a lying on the floor press, especially for the pec stretch. You can do a single arm db press while lying on the bench. Balance shouldn't be an issue with 5kg weight, but if it is, hold the same weight in the other hand. Personally, I think anyone is better off doing both arms at the same time, and lowering the weight as required to work on form. If you're just experimenting though, sure why not.
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Yeah, always happy to try out things.
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I have no problem with you calling me "hun". 😉 It's also fine, if you want to use something short, to use "Ann", since that's the actual name I use IRL. 🙂
Personally, if I do bench press at home, I prefer to use dumbbells, because I don't have a rack and can drop the dumbbells more safely if I get into trouble . . . and I have enough dumbbells as of now.
I can't say I endorse this, because I think there are risks, but someone else suggested doing them with a bar and weights but no clips, making it possible to dump the plates to the side if necessary. I think I could injure myself doing that more easily than would be possible using the dumbbells.
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If you're by yourself, no collars and/or safety bars above your neck line are the safest way to do it. People have died by not following those simple safety precautions. The bar can roll on to your neck and without collars, just pushing one side leads to all that weight sliding off. Yeah, you might damage your floor or wall, but at least you're alive to lift another day.
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Oh yeah. I had some nasty accidents doing bench presses. Once my muscles gave up from one moment to the next and the bar crashed (still half controlled) onto my chest. I rolled it down to my pelvis, and then it was stuck there because I have a fairly big pelvis bone. I was the only one in that gym room, thus it was a bit of a problem.
Another time I put the bar back onto the holder in that same *kitten*, not at all maintained accommodation gym and for some reason kept my arms behind my back from over my shoulders while I sat up. The bar rolled off the holder and onto my hands. I didn't know it was possible for me to move my arms back down in a straight line. Embarrassingly, I had a small argument with a personal trainer who was there with her client. She made snarky comments on getting too bulky and getting injured if her client used too heavy weights, like me. So client continued doing reps with those 1kg pink weights. I laughed off the trainer. And then had this accident. Anyway… my hands crashed down with the bar, then the bar crashed onto the ground. Stupid coach made a comment again to her client on not to use high weights and didn't even check whether I was injured. Fortunately I was not. I put the bar and weights back to the holder and walked home. One shoulder felt a bit sore the next day but that was all.1 -
Ugh, those kinds of trainers suck.
I remember Mitchell Hooper talking about how he went from being in the hospital after a gym injury, to deadlifting 265kg (584 pounds) four weeks later, and ofc he went on be the Strongest Man on Earth and has won every major international strongman title, including the Arnold's last week. He has also deadlifted 475kg (1,047lb) in comp. When he was injured, he heard a trainer talking exactly like you described.
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What rep range are you working in? Have you watched anything on proper form and then recorded yourself doing the exercise to see if you look like what they are showing?
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I hope I do. I found some info that doing chest press with long arms isn't super easy due to mechanics. I know I mostly use my deltoids, probably some of my rotator cuffs and part of the triceps if I just follow standard online instructions and angles, and my pecs don't contract at all. I can feel that when doing one-sided ones and when doing with both sides I have no idea how to use the pecs. Flies on the bench seem to do a bit more, but again not with arms at 90 degrees to the upper body but at a slightly lower angle, which again isn't ideal.
Taking another step now as well: seeing if I somehow can connect my pecs better to my brain. Like, I had a very bad fracture on my upper arm, and after months of trying to get better my brain simply forgot how to use part of my upper back muscles on that side. I compensated by using all sorts of other muscles when lifting that arm and doing some other movements. Had to relearn that these back muscles existed. Maybe I'll get somewhere with that.1 -
Ok, just flexing my pecs whenever I think about it seems to be doing something: sometimes they do actually flex. It's just so strange that you try to flex some muscles and there's just a huge, big hole where the energy seems to go to, but muscles remain relaxed and don't move. Did a strength session again yesterday, and the result with bench press was the same even though I improved on posture: feel on ground, slightly arched back, contracted shoulders: my upper arms, parts of my lower arms and deltoids hurt, chest did as good as nothing. Meh.
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So just did a form check: squats, deadlifts, romanian deadlifts and rows are probably fine. Bench press: don't do what they're supposed to be doing. Overhead press: causes orthostatic hypotension and massive blood pooling like everything overhead. Meh. Form seems to be overall fine though.
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You didn't feel pecs with supinated grip and scoop style movement of arm? Just sitting in my chair here, I can feel it when doing that. Even more so lying flat on bench.
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Yeah, I have really big problems flexing my pecs in any way. I never really noticed this before, but then there were boobs in the way. Now that they're gone I realize I have no idea how to actually use my pecs 😐️
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Drop the bench press and do pushups for a while. If your core is as weak as you say, you need exercises that improve that weakness. Pushups will work the pressing muscles while engaging/strengthening the core. Get to the point you can do 10-15 quality pushups then try reintroducing the free weights.
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Well, I can't do pushups, and I've never managed to do 10-15 anyway because I have a muscle condition that leads to stiff muscles after a few reps. I train with weights because I can do the same number of reps with weight as bodyweight as my muscles stop working at the same point. I can work towards 5-8 pushups, but that will take months. I do work towards pushups, but I don't think my pecs are doing much either.
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With that comment, you need to be working on pushups even more. Forget about a barbell or dumbbells for the time being and work on pushups. Start with wall pushup, progress to pushups off a bench then ultimately on the floor.
This article with videos shows good form and progressions. Go at your own pace
https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/push-up-progression-plan/
This is also a great core exercise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0_DoicHg2E
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Oh, I can do turkish get ups with a light kettlebell if need be. Or get up laying flat on the floor with arms on my back. It's just I'll never be able to do more than 5-8 reps until I need a break because that's the defect in my muscles. Thus nope, I'll never be able to do 15 push ups, or 100. Or walk up stairs without pausing every few steps. But if I keep intensity low enough, don't lift up my feet properly, there's no wind and no incline, no sand and no pot holes I can run, and I hope I'll get back to 10km, and then back to half marathon distance. All in snail pace.
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If you have some medical issue, if you don't mind sharing, it may help with better suggestions.
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Well, I'm waiting for genetics to come back though various tests show something. Too early to call it by it's proper name. But I'm born with it, it hasn't gotten worse since (or minimally) nor gotten any better regardless of how much I train. My problem is that my muscles get stiff and start to hurt with each repeated contraction, and once I pause they relax again, once I continue they get stiff and start to hurt again. Which means, training for many reps is useless for me, even if it's with the lightest rubber band or bodyweight. Seriously, I can do a max of 8 bodyweight squats on good days, and the same number with a barbell. The weight I can use for that will go up as I get stronger; the number of reps will not. My question really was just: what am I doing wrong with my bench presses. I got a few good ideas, but I guess I somehow have to connect the pecs to my brain. To my knowledge i have no other muscles with similar problems, other than on my back from the long months recovering from an accident. And I eventually got muscle control back.
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