Not being able to hit chest...

[tbombz]

where do you lower the bar to? alot of people recently stated going crazy for bench press where you lower the bar to a point  higher up on the chest or even to the neck.  actually, you should be lowerig the bar to your lower chest or even as low as right above the sternum. the natural plane for the bench press is a reverce c, curving towards your head as you go up.

[Firemuscle]

Guys, for sometime now it seems as if my chest workouts don't seem to get my chest muscles worked.  My delts and triceps seems to do most of the work.
My workouts are usually incline bar, incline db, flat db, cable crossovers.  Reps are usually around 8-12 range.

Thoughts? 

 Just go super wide grip. Put your hands REALLY far apart and bench. Start with light weight. It'll fry your chest.

[coltrane]

Thanks for all the advices fellas.  Tonight's chest workout will be as follows:

Incline barbell--slightly wider than shoulder grip.
Flat barbell--again, slightly wider.  I hate flat bar, but I need to change it up for a few weeks.
Flat DB--higher rep, sets of 15 with max weight.  Failure at 15.  Fast reps, no slow up/down here. (only 3 sets)
Incline DB--same as flat db.
Dips
Pec-dec--forarms against pads pec-dec machine (thanks JPM)

[Donny]

Just go super wide grip. Put your hands REALLY far apart and bench. Start with light weight. It'll fry your chest.

load of rubbish. this advice is as shit as "Arnolds Mr o wins".. donīt do a wide grip in benches. Your shoulders are open to injury. Use a medium grip and save your joints.

[tbombz]

Thanks for all the advices fellas.  Tonight's chest workout will be as follows:

Incline barbell--slightly wider than shoulder grip.
Flat barbell--again, slightly wider.  I hate flat bar, but I need to change it up for a few weeks.
Flat DB--higher rep, sets of 15 with max weight.  Failure at 15.  Fast reps, no slow up/down here. (only 3 sets)
Incline DB--same as flat db.
Dips
Pec-dec--forarms against pads pec-dec machine (thanks JPM)

go with shoulder width, no wider. you get a more deep pec stretch and contraction with a narrower grip.


focus on declines and remove the incline stuff.  you have trouble hitting your pecs and inclines involve to much shoulders. declines remove the shoulders and isolate the pec.


again, lighten up the wieght and work on good form.

[Firemuscle]

load of rubbish. this advice is as shit as "Arnolds Mr o wins".. donīt do a wide grip in benches. Your shoulders are open to injury. Use a medium grip and save your joints.

 You just gotta go light weight and high rep. I do it in the 20 rep range. Combined with other chest movements it'll fry your chest really well.

[Hulkotron]

Might consider Dips for chest/pec's. Unlike the flat or incline press, with dips you are pressing down and along the body.  Some will find (if given a true effort on dips) that dips hits the chest better than pressing outward and away from the body, as with using flat/inclines (BB or DB).

Gironda perfected dips to a art, so might do some research on that.  Gripping with knuckles facing forward stretches and calls into play a whole different feel to chest/pec training. . Another advance dipping style is having the knuckles facing inward.  These methods seem to hit the upper, as well as the lower pecs for most guys.

The Pec Deck can be a rewarding chest/pec builder. Want the Pec Deck that places the elbows on the pads, rather than gripping the handles out and away from the body. With elbows on the pad you get more of a direct influence on the chest/pecs. With the hands way out a lot of the direct line of force is lost, meaning less influence of the chest/pecs directly. Either style PecDeck is good, but elbows on pads would be first choice.  

There are a couple ways of using DB flys, rather than the conventional methods, that will focus on hitting the chest/pecs also. Good Luck.

To add to this, I find that my chest feels more isolated on one of those dip machines (with a weight stack and a chair you sit in) rather than on the dips where you actually raise and lower your body, so maybe give the machine a try too.

[Donny]

go with shoulder width, no wider. you get a more deep pec stretch and contraction with a narrower grip.


focus on declines and remove the incline stuff.  you have trouble hitting your pecs and inclines involve to much shoulders. declines remove the shoulders and isolate the pec.


again, lighten up the wieght and work on good form.

100% spot on...