Is benching the most optimal way to get a meaty chest? Or are there other chest exercises as good as benching for natties?
Pecs
Dips are good too.
Bench doesn't hit chest very well.
incline, dips, and flies will hit all of the places that bench will miss
I like dumbbell bench pressing the most for chest
Pushups are nice. Cable flies are good too.
pffft no
Dumbell press and incline press did more for my chest than he barbell versions ever did
Star pushups
CONVICT FOR LIFE
I have a shitty shoulder which prevents me from doing any decline chest work. I do flat bench, incline bench (DB and BB) and flys. Am I gonna make it?
wide grip with a proper bridge hits chest pretty good, user.
Are dips really that good?
I just feel them in the triceps.
...
You have to really focus on using your chest when doing them. I think Athlean-X has a good video on it
You have to do dips with your body straight/ feet in front of you to feel it in triceps more, to feel it in chest more you have to lean forward with your legs behind you (if that makes any sense)
I agree with this
I have a shitty shoulder that keeps me from doing most forms of barbell press, as well as any squats (kill me)
I do DB flat, incline, heavy weighted dips, low and high cable flies, and lateral pushes on the plate machines. To focus on inner chest I do a modified cable press where I focus on pushing inwards and out, if that makes sense. I have a good chest because of all this.
Try to take a slightly wider grip, flatten out your palms, and as with any lift, imagine that particular muscle group doing the work. Start with no weight and figure out how deep you need to go to really feel it, and push up with your chest in mind, like you would with crunches during leg lifts to avoid using hips, or something similar.
Keep your forearms vertical/perpendicular to the parrallels when dipping.this will rock the angle of your upper body forward and engage your chest more. Also focus on pushing your upper arms down and accross closing toward your chest rather than pushing throigh your wrists
This was helpful, thanks guys
There are plenty of articles out there about decline BB being better in almost every aspect than flat.
If youre a total newbie sure hit it every week but as you get stronger focusing on decline, incline BB, and more DB flat is going to build plenty of mass without worrying about fully engaging your chest with flat BB
Incline db press is the greatest pec builder
...
how do I do db flies without snapping my shoulders?
Dips + Incline press are the most efficient combo exercise for chest+tris+front delts. You can replace like 10 diffent lifts with those two alone.
For me, it's dips + OHP + incline bench, once a week each
this
...
>he doesn't bench like pic related
you need a little arch you dyel
you have to lean forward, if you're straight up you're just doing tricep dips, if you suck at dips just do cables, it's the same thing imo
Flat dumbbell bemch, incline dumbbell bench, cable crossovers (dumbbell flyes or pec dec if you prefer one over the other) are all a greater chest workout to me.
Dont, use cables
this, flies are absolute dogshit for me, all I feel is stress everywhere and my forearms get tired, I either cables or do the pec deck machine