Should i isolate chest

Now you're working the lower-chest muscles completely unaccustomed to that volume or intensity, thus turning on a growth signal. Particularly for intermediate-level bodybuilders whose results have flatlined, a simple change like this can elicit new growth when the otherwise-stagnant flat-bench-first approach has long gone stale. Sometimes this is unavoidable, of course, and most of us started out using a fixed bench exclusively.

But over time, it can set you up for frustration. Depending on the manufacturer, fixed benches are usually pretty steep. What happens when an incline bench becomes more vertical? Your bench press gets closer to a shoulder press, meaning the smaller and weaker front delts take on an increasing amount of the load, rather than the pecs. You're probably familiar with that burning feeling in your delts after a hard set of incline bench. There's an easy remedy for this.

Instead of using the fixed bench, go for an adjustable bench instead. You can easily decrease the degree of incline a little or a lot. Most adjustable benches offer a number of bench positions between 0 and 45 degrees, and my advice it to use them all! No one ever said that the flat bench, incline, and decline were the only angles you were restricted to using to fully develop your chest.

Do some sets on the low 15 degree incline, others at the moderate 30 degree incline, and some as high as 45 degrees. It's natural to want to push the most weight you can in your chest training, but there's one area where that becomes especially counterproductive, and that's when doing flyes. Your natural inclination is to find a way in which you can move the weight, and you do that by turning what was supposed to be a single-joint movement back into a multijoint one. This is incredibly common.

Learn the precise motion of fly-type movements and keep your elbows locked in the slightly bent position throughout the set. You shouldn't be able to use much weight with flyes by design, so avoid weights you'll end up pressing.

More pressing simply means more sets of a movement you've probably already done, and a reduction in the crucial pectoral stretch that a properly executed fly produces. This is similar to the last problem, but it's so prevalent on cables it deserves to be called out. As with flyes, maintaining locked elbows that are only slightly bent is key during cable cross-overs. That means the hands should stay out away from the body during the negative contraction, and the outer pecs should contract to help bring them back together.

If your elbows are bent about 30 degrees in the extended position, they should be about 30 degrees at the top! Sure, it's far easier to press them, and move more weight in the process. But save your heroic weight pushing for the bench, where it can produce the biggest anabolic stimulus. If someone gives you crap about the weight you're using on a cable cross-over, it just shows they don't know what they're talking about.

Use a weight you can control, and keep your elbows from extending. Grip width is another area where people tend to get into ruts. Some bodybuilders bench wide like powerlifters for years, even though they'd never dream of entering a powerlifting competition.

How To Do It: Grab onto the handles and then grasp your elbows. Pull the handles down while keeping a slight bend in your elbows. The cable inclined press is a chest isolation exercise that targets the sternocostal portion of the pectoralis major muscle. The cable inclined press is performed much like the cable crossover but with a bench in an incline position. How To Do It: Start by setting the bench in an incline position and grabbing onto the cable handles.

Grasp your elbows while wrapping your arms around them to help support the weight of the exercise. Next, pull the handles across your upper body in an upward motion. The machine fly or butterfly machine exercise is a machine version of the cable fly which targets each side of the pectoral muscle. The exercise is great for those who are not comfortable with the cable fly or who have a hard time getting into the proper position.

How To Do It: Adjust the butterfly machine to a comfortable level and set the weight. Sit into the butterfly machine and grasp the handles. Next, slowly bring the handles together and hold for a second or 2 while squeezing your chest muscles. Finally, bring the weight back to the starting position. The dumbbell pullover is a chest isolation exercise that specifically targets the pectorals.

It is a good variation of the fly, and it is very common in chest workouts where the pectoral muscles are being targeted. How To Do It: Start by laying down on a bench with your feet firmly planted on the ground and your knees bent at an angle of about 90 degrees. Grasp your dumbbells with both hands and lie down on the bench holding them just above your chest. Grab a 10 to 45 pound weight plate and squeeze it with an open palm in the center while pressing upwards. Performing this movement with slow, controlled pacing is key.

You might be used to using dumbbells for flys, but cables or resistance bands can serve a slightly different purpose. This version of the movement is performed unilaterally one side at a time , with an emphasis on the upper-inner pec region. However, emphasis is placed on bringing the resistance further across the body and past the midline, thus extending the range of motion to force an intense peak contraction in the inner pec.

Always keep the elbows slightly bent for full inner pec activation through the desired range of motion. Mix up your single-arm fly work by taking a knee and adding some more movement and core-challenging elements.

Your lower chest and obliques will reap the rewards of your work, too. Start in a half-kneeling position with a cable machine or resistance band anchored slightly above your shoulder.

Grip the handle and squeeze your chest to perform a fly rep, holding in position with your hand at belly-button height in front of your chest. Tighten your core and shift your leg back so that you're in a tall-kneeling position, pause, then shift back into the starting position.

Resist the rotational force with your pecs and core to keep your shoulders and chest square throughout the movement. Take a narrower pushup stance than you normally would, similar to a close-grip pushup.

Then contract your pecs together and hold that squeeze. Keep flexing the inner pecs as you lower down and then return to the starting position with a forceful contraction. With a band in one hand, perform what appears to be a normal pushup.

However, when you get to the top of the rep pick up your hand with the band in it and cross it over the other until you can put it flat on the ground on the opposite side. This will briefly provide an incredibly strong contraction of the chest. Pick up the hand and return it to the starting position. United States.