What are some lifts you didn't use to rate, but have grown to love?

[thebelovedofgod]

I have recently come back to doing dumbbell flyes after not having them in my program for like a year and damn, they are MASSACRING my chest. I used to rate it as a C-tier movement, now it makes me sore and pumped like nothing else.

What are some lifts you used to dislike, or just not get much out of, but have grown to love?

 

[gronam]

@thebelovedofgod Ex-powerlifter turned bodybuilder: basically all bicep and side delt exercises.

6 years of low bar back squat, barbell bench, deadlift, box squat, barbell overhead press, pendlay row gets really fucking stale to the point that I haven't done any of those movements since switching to bodybuilding.

 

[xerokitsune]

@gronam The guy saying: basically all bicep and delt exercises.

Me: yeah, thst would pretty much do it..

 

[righteousbyfaith]

@gronam I’m in the same boat, 10 years competitive powerlifting and I have absolute zero interest in barbell benching and squatting. And I’m loving training without it. Focused more on RDL’s or SLDL

 

[gronam]

@erigsby Dumbbell bench at varying inclines, machine presses, cable work.

 

[erigsby]

@gronam I’ve really tweaked my shoulder and have been looking to find something other than bench (flat incline) and dumbbell. I have really long arms and have benched with terrible form, pretty much all shoulders apparently lol. I tried incline bench on the smith yesterday and it felt like my shoulder was about to explode. I have no idea what I’m going to do for chest now. I really need to find a connection from my mind to my chest. I have such a hard time feeling anything in my chest.

 

[gronam]

@erigsby Try pec deck, or some kind of machine press. Probably less strain on the shoulder. Also, go lighter for reps and see how it heals.

 

[dawn16]

@erigsby You could try a decline dumbbell press. That tends to take the delts more out of it. Another thing to try is go a lot lighter weight, and really slow down and focus on feeling your chest move, then eventually start going back up once you’ve established that mind-muscle connection.

 

[brianiqllis]

@erigsby Try very light weight on any variation of bench, and perform it extremely slowly, pausing for a second or more at the bottom of the rep.

See if that does anything for you.

 

[erigsby]

@brianiqllis I’ll give that a try. I really need to put my ego to the side. Thank you.

 

[quentsy]

@erigsby Something that has really worked for me lately is pre-exhaustion through something like a very slow cable fly for a few sets so I can “feel” the pecs prior to hitting bench or dumbbell press. By the time I get to pressing, I need much less weight and can focus on slow eccentrics and pause reps at the bottom to ensure scapular rotation. As someone who also had my shoulders dominating my chest pressing movements, I really feel like I’ve been able to isolate my pecs better like this. Give it a shot

 

[erigsby]

@quentsy That’s a really good idea. I’m going to do this Thursday and go from there. If it’s still not doable, I’ll schedule with a PT and see what’s going on. Thanks!!!

 

[rabbi2rev]

@erigsby Learn to push out your chest and "pull back" on shoulder plates and you will feel it

 

[erigsby]

@rabbi2rev I’ll be doing upper body tomorrow and will do my best. After leg day yesterday, I did neutral grip dumbbell press and no pain so that will be my fall back if all else fails.

 

[rabbi2rev]

@erigsby Yeah and when benching Focus on that your shoulders dont make an angel more than 45• too for shoulder health.
If you dont feel it as good as machine Pressing, do more machine pressing but keep that DB/BB pressing for a few Sets a week too just for the feeling.
As time Goes by u will need to try old "shitty" movements that you didnt like just in case you now like it.

 

[erigsby]

@rabbi2rev Will do! Thanks for the info!

 

[rosesred]

@erigsby This happened to me with flat barbell for basically all variations, however I found incline made it way better which is odd it didn’t work for you. If your problem was that it was all shoulders I’ve been getting better at the set up every day by flat dumbbell benchingand slowly working up.

Also- have you tried narrow grip bench? Still works the chest a lot and I find it it soooo much easier on shoulders

 

[erigsby]

@rosesred I haven’t tried close grip but I definitely will. Did some neutral grip with lightweight dumbbells after legs yesterday and felt good. Even got a mini pump from it. I did incline a week or so ago and it wasn’t bad but when I tried it on smith, it was awful. First time using a smith so I’m not entirely sure I was setup properly.

 

[dawn16]

@gronam Same boat for me. I was a powerlifter for almost 2 decades. I haven’t benched, squatted, or did a deadlift in years. I have nothing against it, and will always love it, but there are better ways to actually grow muscle and just be healthy in general. And yeah- bicep curls and laterals are awesome. LOL