- Joined
- Jan 15, 2012
- Messages
- 2,586
So my chest has always been a weak point, and especially in regards pressing movements I have always struggled to isolate the chest and keep the shoulders out of the movement. I would focus so hard on keeping the shoulders out, and I would never succeed. Well a few weeks ago I decided to try a new variation on shoulder press, in an attempt to do the movement with a bit more safety/stability in the shoulder joint and rotator cuff. What I did was basically start doing very steep incline dunbell presses, and what I found is that while my front delts definitely get hit, my upper chest really gets blasted as well. Now I've realized that I can do flat bench press and, rather than focus on keeping the shoulders out of the movement, I just focus on doing as much as I can with my chest and don't worry about how much my shoulders help out. As a result my pecs are firing much stronger than they have before, starting to fill out nicely, and strength is climbing. I guess this is another example of how overthinking and trying to isolate too much can actually be detrimental, whereas just focusing on the basics of the movement and not worrying about getting a little help from accessory muscles is a much better option.