Chest isolation help

Just cancelled my gym membership and started doing chest+tris back+bis shoulders+legs 123*123*. I am running a diy TRT which I also just started. I want to get the most out of my first couple months on. I have a power cage with lat pull down/pull up and a couple sets of dumbells.

I can hit every body part good but bench doesn't seem like a great chest excersise. Without a peck deck what would a good chest+tris day look like? I do dumbell flys but just don't feel the isolation i think I should.

Right now I do
Decline bench 3*10
Dumbell flys 2*10
Regular bench 3*10

Skull crushers/ super set tricep pushdowns/dumbell extensions
3*10/3*10/3*10

I'm not sure how heavy to go with the flys or how far to come down. That position puts a little strain on my rotator cuff. I'm doing my bench at 155 reg and 175 decline, but My flys I'm just using 30 lb db's. Does that sound too light?

Personally,I would drop the decline altogether and do more inclines..incline flys and/or incline dumbbell press..Add some EXPLOSIVE push-ups to your routine,and increase the volume in your intensity with your lifts,and lift till failure..good luck

I suggest the opposite.... I feel much more pec activation with declines dumbells. Also ems studies have shown that declines heavily work the entire chest including the upper chest. I have way better development with decline work than inclines or even flat bench. Tapered dips with medium grip tears my chest up. Also ring push-up are a great finisher and the pumps from them are exceptional!

velociraptor44 said:

I suggest the opposite.... I feel much more pec activation with declines dumbells. Also ems studies have shown that declines heavily work the entire chest including the upper chest. I have way better development with decline work than inclines or even flat bench. Tapered dips with medium grip tears my chest up. Also ring push-up are a great finisher and the pumps from them are exceptional!

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Every exercise will always [/FONT]hit every part to some extent[FONT=Verdana, Arial]. Therefore I agree that declines will work the entire chest,just as the inclines and flys will do the same by working the lower,upper,inner,outer,northern,eastern,southern and western parts of the chest and all there in-between.. But, certain exercises can indeed put slightly more training emphasis on one part than another.IMO[/FONT]With regards to the OPs concern here, he really needs to choose an exercises that best allows him to actually train that target muscle group (as opposed to just his shoulders/triceps), and train it in a way that will achieve progressive results and activate his pecs to there fullest. I would suggest to him on choosing an exercises that feels right his body, results will prove whats right for him.

Here's an article that may provides some great detail on his concern,I highly suggest that the OP reads it. It may be a solution to his exact problem!
by Lyle McDonald- @ http://www.bodyrecomposition.com
[h=1]Benching with the Pecs[/h]There are a lot of problems people have in the gym but one of the more common is the complaint of “I can’t feel my pecs when I bench”. In the majority of cases, this is simply because the person was never taught to bench press and use the pecs.Some gurus even go so far as to say that the bench press sucks for chest development, which usually means that

1. They never learned how to use the pecs while benching.
2. They never figured out how to teach anybody to use the pecs while benching.

Both of which are fairly poor reasons to completely discount an exercise.In fact, I suspect one of the reasons bodybuilders became so enamored of cable crossovers following benching is because they weren’t using their pecs to bench in the first place. So they would throw around a bunch of weight to impress their buddies and then go get some actual pec stimulation on the crossover cables.In any case, in two simple steps I’m going to teach you how to bench with your pecs.I want to make it very clear that what I’m describing primarily applies to individuals benching for either hypertrophy or general fitness. Some of it applies to powerlifting bench pressing but there are different issues involved there and that’s not what I’m talking about. So, please no nasty comments about how “That advice sucks when you’re benching 700 lbs in an open backed denim shirt.”To understand what I’m going to describe, you need to understand what the pecs actually do. While they have several other minor functions, their primary function is to pull the upper arm (the humerus) across the body towards the midline. That’s what cable crossovers, flyes or the pec deck train. For the technically minded, this is called adduction (in this case it’s actually called horizontal adduction but I’ll spare you the distinction). Adduction means bringing something towards the midline of the body.Now, when you bench press, if you actually watch the upper arm, it is pulled across the body. Just like on the pec deck, flyes, etc. The difference is what’s going on at the elbow which is bending and extending. This is most of what screws people up.As well, people often think of the bench press conceptually as ‘push the bar away’ from the body. Invariably what this does is make it a front delt and triceps exercise, the pecs aren’t involved. I found years ago working with clients that telling them to ‘push the weight away’ made them use delts and triceps. Teaching them the following got their pecs involved. At that point, I worked mainly with beginners and I could get them doing this in two sessions tops.So, to use the pecs in benching means learning to pull the arms across the body while you’re benching.This has to occur while you’re doing two things

1. Extending at the elbow
2. Keeping your shoulder blades pinned back. This is important because, as soon as your upper back rounds, you will have little success using your pecs. I’ll detail this aspect of bench pressing in a future article.

So here’s how to learn to bench with the pecs. You should be doing this immediately prior to bench pressing, you’ll need to strip some weight off the bar if you want to learn how to do it right. Don’t worry about your muscles falling off, your pecs will be getting a better stimulus with the lighter weight. Since we were at home when I decided to write this piece, my lovely model is showing this movement standing up. You’ll be sitting on the flat bench you intend to use.Step 1: Figure out what the pecs doFor this part, I want you to put one of your hands on the opposite pec (i.e. left hand on right pec as shown below). Now perform a dumbbell flye movement as shown below. Focus on feeling the pec pulling the upper arm across the body. As above, this is what happens when you do flyes or the pec deck. This step is just to get you feeling what the pec is doing.

Note in the second picture how you can see the pec activating as the upper arm is pulled across the body.Step 2: Do this while performing a bench press movement
After 2-3 repetitions of the exercise in step 1, I want you to perform a bench press movement. So bring the arm back and bend at the elbow until you’re in the position that you’d be in the bottom of the bench. Now perform a bench movement, extending at the elbow but do it while thinking of “pulling” the upper arm across the body. You should feel the exact same thing you felt in step 1. This is what should happen when you have the bar in your hands as well. This is shown below.

Again, as she’s about halfway through the bench in the second picture, you can clearly see the pec firing.Clearly you’d continue with this action as you completed the full bench pressing movement.After 2-3 repetitions of Step 2 (more if you need it), immediately lay back and bring out the bar for bench pressing. Pull your shoulders back underneath you, get your chest up, and try to do the exact same thing you did in Step 2: lower the bar to your chest and then focus on pulling your upper arms across your body as you “press” the weight up.Do 8-10 repetitions (as noted, you should be using a fairly light weight) and make sure you feel your pecs firing. If you need to, repeat step 1 and 2 above between sets of benching until you really have it nailed. You’ll need to work with relatively lighter weights for a few workouts until it really becomes habitual but you’ll be targeting your pecs much better than when you were just “pushing the weight up” and using nothing but front delts and triceps.Good luck with your muscles.

That guy in the pic shouldn't give training advice.... he looks like a freshman tennis player.

velociraptor44 said:

That guy in the pic shouldn't give training advice.... he looks like a freshman tennis player.

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Lol took the words right outta my mouth bro.

Everyone trains differently and has a different perspective of what an actual great chest day entails. For me I rotate between the 3 benches and alternate between db and bb. Regardless of which is better all serve a purpose and hit specific aspects of the muscle. And at the end I always flye and hit a crossover. Jus my 2 cents.

Dumbbell press ten sets of ten. That will do it.

Heavy hitter said:

Dumbbell press ten sets of ten. That will do it.

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Wow no shit huh. I bet that would be great to use as ur chest workout for 2 weeks then change it up. Not bad

And I'm speaking for me. I alternate dumbbell to barbell on chest days. Don't do as much dumbbell as I should. Ima go for that shit. I like the way that sounds

I'm constantly alternating. regardless of heavy days or high rep days I don't stop till i break the muscle down.