Bench Technique

[MidniteRambo]

The chest portion of my workout yesterday was :

Warm Up:  diamondback push ups
Bench:      1 warmup set, 6 sets, pyramid the weight 6-12 reps, shoulder width grip
Pec Dec:    6 sets 10-12 reps
DB Incline:  5 sets 6-10 reps

but today I feel it in the wrong place, mainly my delts with some joint soreness to boot.  Is there something in bench technique to take the stress off the shoulders and put it wherte it more properly belongs on the chest?

[pobrecito]

Try bringing the bar down a little lower on your chest. But also realize, bench does work a lot of shoulders.

[Jr. Yates]

I think 6 sets is a little high.

[texasRUSH]

speaking from personal experience...that's a little excessive...even if you're only working your chest once a week...

[dontknowit]

Go for 3 serious heavy sets after a decent warmingup. If you feel confident do 4.

I you press for example 100 kg(%) for 6 reps;
take your time doing a couple of decent warmingups, but don't waste your energy with endless reps or endless moderate sets. Do them light and go for 3 sets.

after that do 80, 90 and 100 kg(%) and try as many reps as you can.

The same for incline, one set to get comfortable with the excersise, and you don't even need a additional weight, the barbell is just fine, after that three sets.

Again, if you feel comfortable, add only one set and make sure the load is high enough.

[MidniteRambo]

Thanks for the responses.  Consensus seems to be cut down on number of sets.

[texasRUSH]

my chest day as of yesterday looked like this..i do this twice a week

bench: 135x20x1 (warmup), 225x10x1,315x10x1,365x6x1
pec dec: 2 sets of 10 with the whole stack...210lbs
vertical bench press machine to failure....one set of about 18 reps with 300lbs

and that's IT! i try to keep my total number of working sets to about 7-8 twice a week