@greamelexon Thanks, I’ll try it but I’m only 15 and I mostly just work out at home and at one of the 3 weightlifting gyms at my school but right now I can only use the one with limited equipment but later this year will have access to one with much better and a much larger variety of equipment.
@davenigeria Film yourself doing it and share that people will be able to critique your form more it could be your not fully coming up or going down, your hands are too wide, could be your hands are too high or low. Really no one can tell you exactly why without a video showcasing your form and expecting a proper answer without one is like throwing a dart at a board while drunk in the dark. For me what made mine engage more in the movement was bringing my elbows in some more
@davenigeria It’s possible that your shoulders and chest can be tight, causing you to mainly use your triceps and shoulders when you press. Dunno why it happens but it happens.
Try this before a chest press movement
I know you don’t have shoulder pain, but after doing extensive warmups from this small video, I feel my chest contracting much better. If this video does help you, ask and I will list some stretches and exercises you can do to permanently fix the problem.
It’s also possible that your form is wrong. Try looking up form videos on youtube for any exercise you plan to do.
@davenigeria If you go to a gym usually the front desk will have a pair you can borrow if you ask. I’d highly recommend buying a set of bands on Amazon or something. Not very expensive, useful for a lot of mobility exercises, and you’ll usually find most videos like that expect you to have one. I can link the exact set that I bought if you want.
For now though you could try making sure your form is perfect and using dumbbells for a dumbbell bench. Those always give me a better contraction as well, although you can’t move as much weight once you get to really big numbers.
@vewu I’m only 15 so I only go to the school gym and workout at home, even though they are pretty good gyms they don’t have any of those bands I don’t think and I think the only things for chest they have is bench press
@davenigeria Hmmm I see. I had the same issue a few years back until my parents let me get a gym pass. Well I can tell you the stretching routine I posted for someone else that fixed my chest personally. Of course just because it worked for me doesn’t mean it will work for you. But it’s also healthy so theres no real downside to trying.
If you try this, keep in mind that 1. you’ll have to do this for a few days at least to notice any results.
And 2. If you do any deep stretching right before you workout, you’ll be weaker. I’d try to stretch after working out, or more than 3 hours before. I’ll post the stretches I do in a bit.
If you don’t have a foam roller for the fifth stretch you can also get on your knees, face a chair, put your elbows on the chair, and let your chest drop towards the floor. Doesn’t work as good but better than nothing.
Also you could try these to get a force on your muscles similar to what the band would do.
Use a light weight at first I’d say 3 sets of 10 reps on each arm. Not as fast as the guy in the vid. You can also do this exercise laying on your side. I’d do it before stretching.
@gforce165 I don’t know, I mean I asked multiple people to look at my form and they changed some things but it didn’t help and they said at the end that my form was good but still no activation
