Not feeling my chest at all during presses

[Lennart]

Hey there. I guess I lost my chest because I just cant seem to find it. At least during presses. I know that most presses are more a lengthened position exercise while flyes are more heavy on the contraction and therefore flyes can be felt better by most. I feel my chest during flyes. But no matter what I do I dont feel my chest at all during any press (DB Press, Smith Press, Chest Press Machine..). I try to follow all the form and setup tips from the videos but still it’s just all front delt and triceps that I feel.

Is there anything I can do? I’ve thought about doing flyes first and only go to the presses after so that my chest is preexhausted and I will finally feel it during presses instead of my delts/triceps. Havent tried it yet but is this a valid idea? I’m also VERY open for any other suggestions because my chest is really really weak (even though my pressing isn’t even that bad).

[Brian A]

Joe has some great chest activation drills in this app – perhaps try those out if your not already doing them. Starting with flys can be a good option also to try and dial in that mind muscle connection. But all-in-all make sure your form is good and perhaps introduce some sort of tempo to your pressing (slower eccentrics; pauses in the stretched position and focusing on contracting the chest throughout the press). Also, (this worked for me) I had a problem feeling my chest as well, but did realize I felt it pretty well in the mid portion of the push. I actually used tempo push ups frequently in the position (or within the range of motion I felt it the most) and gradually worked up to feeling my chest work throughout the entire range. This transferred over well into all my other pressing for chest.

[Joe]

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