I need some excercises that isolate my chest better. I find when benching that my triceps are doing too much of the work. I’m doing some flies that seem to do great for pectoralis isolation but I need to find some more. I’m thinking of dropping bench all together in my workouts. Do dumbbell presses do a better job of isolation?
For those of you who are serious about weight lifting you should try Cell-Tech made by Muscle Tech. Ive been using it for a couple of weeks and I can see a drastic difference in my muscle mass. It’s creatine so you have to decide if you think that stuff is safe or not. There’s some controversy around it. I think it’s fine:beer:
Try cable crossovers while really flexing for a one second count at the peak of the movement. :thumb:
I switch routines week to week. One week dumbells next week barbells.
I havn’t tried cell tech creatine. I was taking the effervescent powder from EAS along with N0X2’s last year - I saw significant gains off of that combo.
Here is a great site showing a ton of other potential exercises using proper form:
Dumb bell presses if done wrong can lend the same result of overusing your triceps, however having to stabilize the weight plus push it can lend to better core strength and more isolated movement.
cable cross overs traditional
cable cross overs where you start with the handles down by your sides and cross upwards
sit down press where you move the weight forward and upward
sit down press just pushing the weight forward
also grab a 45 plate, hold it to where one side is facing you (example the weight lbs. number side) and lift it up until you are staring through the hole.
a military press can also work your “upper” chest.
if your tri’s are hurting then more than likely your grip (hands) are too close. Try spreading your hands apart. It also makes your bench a lil harder so you might not be able to do as much as before. But it will really isolate your chest. Dumbell presses are good as well. Also do incline bench. That actually helped my military press as well. I am up to benching 325 regular and 225 incline. Also before you go up in weight, slow your reps down to maximize your workout at the weight.
depending on your height, when you first grab the bar, your forearm should be perpendicular to the floor. Or maybe slightly wider. Again this is dependant on your height. Also just so you know if you do dumbell flys wrong you could hurt yourself. Do them on a machine if your gym has one, until you get the motion down.
First of all… DO NOT give up bench presses. It is one of the best MULTI-JOINT routines possible and is the best exercise for the chest muscles.
If you feel like your triceps are gettin pumped more than your chest then it clearly indicates two things:
You have weak triceps (also complimented by the fact that you need supplements at such an early stage in gymming. No offense meant whatsoever.)
You do not have control over the motion that is required for the exercise. This means that you do not inhale/exhale properly while doing a bench press + your posture isn’t correct thereby not affecting the chest muscles effectively. Your lower back should automatically and instinctively arch up and create a gap between your lower back and the bench. Plus your grip should be wide enough to give your chest muscles a good stretch. Plus, most important, your elbows should remain perfectly stable and parallel to the rod no matter how heavy the weight. People generally have a tendency to move their elbows inwards towards their chest while lifting a weight more than their lift-capacity which in turn acts like an isolation exercise for your triceps. Get the idea why your triceps are getting more of a work-out?
As for isolation, I would never say that a dumbell press is a better exercise than a dumbell fly. Both are equally good in their own domain. Although, when I could lift 30 kgs. dumbells in each hand while doing dumbell presses whereas I could only lift 17.5 kgs. dumbells while doing a dumbell fly. Clearly indicates there is no correlation.
Another good isolation exercise would be cross-overs on those pulley cables. But you’ll need a lot of control over your muscular motion or you easily injure your shoulders doing that. Not suggested if you’re new at this.
For mass as well as definition, nothing beats push-ups… Do them everyday if you get time before hitting the gym. At least 1 hour before going to the gym. So that when you start your workout in the gym, your muscles are rested.
I used to work out 3 and half years back… Quit an year ago due to a load of issues and a hectic schedule. Will start again in 2 weeks positive.
Oh and I started using creatine recently. And my muscle mass has shot out tremendously. Hopefully there are no side effects. Remember you only use for a certain amount of time
creatine can harm your joints over time though - part of its process draws water into your cells making them bigger, this water detracts from water near your joints causing them to dry out in some people
tuna man - low calories and massive amounts of protein
Not about it’s being legal or not… Dec. 2005, I was hospitalized owing to a chest infection. As you all know they conducted all sortsa tests, including a detailed blood test (they asked me about my history and I confirmed I used to do heavy weights at the gym occasionally without using any supplements). It comes out that the natural creatinine (yes that’s the actual name of the hormone) levels were flying off the roof in my blood. I’m scared of over-heating my blood and over-pumping myself.
It really really scares me. Anyway, help the dude make a decision, mine was just a rant.
OMG…i have been using creatine like 3 years, still i haven’t noticed any side effects but now that you mention that i’m not so sure i want to continue using creatine .
lol…I hope that wasnt solid everyday use. I only use it for like maybe 1.5 months then I am off for like 3 months
LonePhoenix
Thats terrible man. Only thing I have ever done kinda close was work a muscle group too hard and that group actually got stuck in the flex position for like 2 days. It was my biceps to be exact. It hurt like hell…lol
Like mentioned above, in your spare time, do push ups like crazy, that will definitely increase your strength.
If your triceps are hurting while benching, your grip might be too close together. Try spreading out your grip to a little past shoulder length and you’ll really feel the burn on the outside of your pecs. The crossover cables are great too. Also, to work the underside of your pecs to get a good definition to them, make sure to do a decline press, where you lay on an angled bench with your head near the floor and (the bench looks like the sit-ups bench) and do a decline bench press that way…it will really pop out the lower pec.
I use Xyience NOX-CG3 as my supplement and it is simply amazing!!! It’s what the UFC fighters use.
You have weak triceps (also complimented by the fact that you need supplements at such an early stage in gymming. No offense meant whatsoever.)
No actually my tris are huge, I think its cus they have been taking the blunt of the work on bench. Of course they have always been big. Bench Im doing 225 around 6-8 times.
Wow DDD you can really put up some weight!!!
Yeah creatine is awesome, I pretty much exploded the last couple of weeks since using it. It hasn’t even been a month yet. Of course it adds a lot of calories to your diet, at least the cell-tech brand does, especially during preloading when your taking it twice a day.
These are some great ideas guys, I will definitely be using a bunch of them.
I agree my form and hand spacing may be wrong. The gym I go to has great equipment, but its hard to really spread your hands out on the bench bars or you will hit the actual weight holders. I’ll try getting them even wider if possible. Definitely going with the cables and pushups.
ummmmm no… creatine is found in meat. the stuff that you buy is just more purified.
and to the OP check out www.wannabebig.com for anything you want to know about your chest and other muscles. i guarantee that you will find the answer to ur question on there.
What you have in meat (red meat only) is creatinine in it’s natural form. What you get in creatinine supplement labelled as Creatine is creatinine monohydrate and is synthesized. There is no question of purity there. It’s just not natural!
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I can only “skim” through them 
