I cannot for the love of me activate my pecs. whenever i bench or do dips, i never feel it in my pecs...

bench more

I couldn't "feel it" in my pecs until I was at 185 for reps

How does it feel being considered an oldfag now

wide or close grip bench for pec activation?

...

Try to hit your shoulder blades together, keep them squeezed as far back and together as possible as you lay down on the bench, keep them like that throughout the set.

I really lol at chestlets

W I D E
Close is for triceps mostly.
Though I do the w i d e at the end of my chest workouts because my delts have already been taxed enough from everything else that I feel I primarily use my chest on it.

/thread

'Myron pecs bro.

Some tips:
>Do some flyes (machine or otherwise) and try to really feel the pecs, it'll help you realize what the chest purpose is.

>When benching, take a wide grip. REAL wide, I say that because you may think you're already gripping wide but you're probably overestimating it, an actual proper grip will feel really wide before you get used to it.

>Do the eccentrics SLOWLY, don't rush the bar to your chest, actively fight its descent.

>Really try to narrow the grip at the top, of course your grip width won't change since your hands are fixed on the bar but the act of trying to move your hands together is exactly the movement the chest is supposed to do, in technical terms adducting the shoulders, in simpler terms, hugging.

>And just keep doing it, so long as the numbers are going up, your chest will grow. It can be hard to feel your chest when you have no chest at all, but once you do you can pretty much see for yourself what exactly the chest does in the mirror when you simulate the bench press movement, and once you see it for yourself, almost magically you'll know how to use your chest to bench.

Before you can flex the pectorals without arm movement, one must of learn how to do so WITH arm movement:

Go in front of a mirror, and bring the arms together as shown in the picture.

Then strain the chest as if you were going to bring your elbows together, whilst simultaneously pulling apart with your arms. You should be able to see the contraction in the mirror. Once you have secured contraction—i.e. the contraction is visible—slowly decrease the pressure of the hands, retaining the muscular contraction in your chest.

After you have been practicing this for a few days, combined with concentration of your will, you will be able to isolate and contract the pectoralis major muscles without any arm or hand movement at all.

Your pecs are fast twitch fiber, you don't have to do some grudging heavy pressure movement, you need fast explosive movements against moderate resistance.

Wide grip is better if you have good form, but its easy to mess it up. Start off with your arms just shoulder length apart and try keeping your chest puffed up when you bring the bar down and when you push up

will try this. thanks anons

pray for my pecs

>search "scapula"
>search "pack"
>nothing

you fuckers are retards and are going to get OP injured with bad bench form.

are you talking about or something else?

Yes, he's saying it right. Keep shoulders back and down. Otherwise you'll bench with your fucking shoulders, like OP is literally saying. The fact that every post on this thread isn't repeating the same advice just shows how fucking retarded this userbase is. Look at what people here are saying for fuck's sake.

>do flys bro
>squeeze your pecs in the mirror
>wider grip, no closer grip
>keep benching until you get heavier numbers
>just keep doing it

...

op here. i already try my best to pack my shoulders, and i'm still not feeling my pecs. could i be doing it wrong, or is it that, combined with the rest of the thread?

>do flys bro
>squeeze your pecs in the mirror
>wider grip, no closer grip
>keep benching until you get heavier numbers
>just keep doing it
Literally all of these things work.
Yes good form is the basis of all of this.
Sometimes I assume people are using the correct form because it takes 5 seconds of google-ing to get you on the right track.

pecs are spread on a larger area, they are definitely going to have more elastic energy.

It clearly has nothing to do with his shoulder packing you faggot. All he needs to do is learn how to contract his pecs through muscle control, so I gave the only reasonable advice in the thread.

I bet you've been working out for less than a month you stupid faggot. I never felt my chest when I did bench and all that shit yet they exploded over time

I never felt it on flat bench but I always feel it on decline. Try it out

okay, friend :-)

I used to have this issue, here's what helped me a lot.

1.) Chest flys like the others in this thread said. Go lighter than usual and squeeze in the middle for a second or two and imagine you have a grape in the middle of your pecs that you're trying to pop.

I also like to turn my thumbs outward a bit as well as that tends to feel really nice.

2.) Ditch Barbells for a while. Start doing dumbbell everything and I guarantee you'll start feeling it, what changed my life was dumbbell flat bench. I got the juiciest chest pump from doing that and it does wonders for your stabilizers.

Do those in your next chest workout and you will feel the juiciest chest pump.

Gl

Do you live on the equator?

no, but im from central america

why ?

People on the equator are sideways

If your form is right, then you're activating your pecs, you don't need to "feel" them activating, you shouldn't need to feel them in pain, they're still doing their job regardless.

For me the best cue was: flex your whole body, and I really mean the whole body. Start with your feet - push against the floor, squeeze your hamstrings and glutes, brace your core, take a deep breath, puff your chest out and only then unrack. As counterintuitive as it may sound, you should be feeling your lats working in this position but that's the thing, you have to be stable to get the chest working right. Once you are set, grip the bar as hard as you can and do your rep. Only breathe with your elbows locked.

I used to be like you before I started doing this - my triceps and shoulders were doing most of the work, it felt wrong and my weight was shit. Work on making it a whole body movement and it will improve

This right here, even on dumbbell press, it was helpful

fpbp

you may be doing bench and dips wrong

you could try doing pushups or dips right after doing a bench press

That explains your FMLN pasamontañas (balaklava).

underrated post

This man is correct, back AND down.

For months I just pulled them back, which gives a slight shrug unless you're pulling down. Doesn't use the chest at all. Got frustrated and switched to weighted dips entirely.

Guy at work told me & showed me to pull down & and I felt my pecs get used in bench for the first time ever, at a measly 1pl8. I was up to 205 with like zero chest activation. Feels great now, and more importantly, no shoulder pain.

Pull back AND down. Maintaining this through the lift is crucial. Think about bending the bar into an upside-down U shape in front of you using your shoulders. This also keeps your elbows from flaring too wide, another bench no-no.

You need to pump some blood into the muscle before peforming compound exercises you dingus. I always do warmup exercises up to 40reps which pump blood into the main muscles worked because doing 3 warm up sets for bench may help you to work with your working weight but not activate the muscles.

Im in the same boat as you op but lots of good advice here, cant wait to bench tomorrow

learning to contract his pecs while not benching, then incorporating that into lifting weight is good advice, faggot