I'm in my 40s and never worked out in a gym in my life. I started watching your Channel and started going to the gym. Watching these types of videos that you put out has helped me to know what to do while at the gym. I appreciate this type of content, thank you. 👍🤘🙏
Just started doing this a few weeks ago with 25's, the stretch and activation is awesome. The small guys doing 75's next to me keep giving me funny looks
I started working out at the gym 2 months ago and for the past few weeks, have been watching Dr Mike's videos the day before I do my workouts, just to remind myself of the form, the tips and for motivation. Doing chest tomorrow
@@matthewbusse1059 Shouldn't bother about what others are thinking or even what weight they are doing. You do you, set a progress goal and work towards it. Be the strongest version of yourself. Not the strongest dude in the gym. Never try to ego lift. Little by little, you will reach your goal.
You know he’s legit when he’s say “ there are multiple variations”. That was it for me. Because there is no one specific way to do any movement. So many people with different sizes and shapes. Not everybody will conduct movements the same way. As long as you’re getting a good contraction, and feeling the specific muscle you’re targeting. Good video
So glad to see the scapula section, keeping my shoulder blades locked and pinched wasn’t only fucking with my stability, it was irritating the front of my shoulder as I wasn’t letting them get in their strongest position, down and out (as opposed to down and in)
@@RenaissancePeriodization So in barbell pressing (is that bench pressing?) it's actually recommended to retract your shoulder blades as much as possible?
@@nvmffs If you're talking about flat bench pressing, then yes, that is by far the popular recommendation. "Shoulder blades back and down" is quite possibly the most recited cue in all of powerlifting / bodybuilding. It's to keep the shoulders from having to internally rotate at the bottom of the pressing motion, supposedly (and anecdotally for myself) putting them at greater risk of injury. The reason it works on barbell pressing is because the bar connects your hands, so pressing slightly outwards doesn't make the weight fall out to your sides like it would for dumbbells. I don't know what mike and jared do currently in their incline barbell pressing on chest day, but it looks like their shoulder blades are pretty retracted. Thus it's likely a difference only between barbell and dumbbell, not flat and incline. Lastly there's a video from Eugene Teo recommending to flat bench press without permanently retracting your shoulder blades, but it's a very controversial take. If you're going to try anything like that, I recommend you do it with very light weights and then very gradually and carefully work your way up in weight. The main benefit from my PoV would be to work on serratus anterior and get strong in shoulder protracting, but you can do that in safer positions with other movements. The extremely wide consensus is that you should barbell bench press keeping your shoulder blades back and down the whole time (think lats activated, nice and stable).
this is some actual real advice, i have been going to the gym for about 1,5 years give or take and Dr mike is the only one that says, "try a bunch of stuff" and see how it feels, this is as legit as it can get
Not only outlines the exercise parameters and benefits, but makes it patently clear that it is what works best for your body that works best. Excellent advice. Love it. 💪😎.
Thank you very much for this video! I tend to retract my shoulder blades on this exercise and I've always thought my technique was off. Can't wait to apply this and see if my technique and feeling cleans up!
Lol same! My shoulders were clicking like mad because I was referencing the older Jared video with elbows out 90 degrees. Luckily this one convinced me to try again at around 60 degrees and it’s WAY more comfortable. I’ll take a slightly reduced pec stretch over clicking shoulders any day! 😂
Thanks again! I've been doing seated dumbbell work at 15 degrees in addition to Incline Bench at 30 degrees, and standing Arnold. I feel inspired to try my seated dumbbell at a different angle for the sake of my shoulders since my delts are so well covered.
Hey bro start doing some drop sets if you aren’t already. I bust out the 80s for 10-12 then immediately grab the 35s and try to blast out 20 if you can. It’s making my chest grow like crazy
Mans giving me a top tier kinesthesiology lecture in a faygo shirt. Words cannot describe how much I love this channel. Appreciate the knowledge--as always!
Dumbbell press (a good candidate for "the best" pec exercise if there could ever be one) is one of those exercises where it's so important to put your thinking cap on and make those adjustments to see how much stimulus you can squeeze out of a given weight dumbbell. This is especially true if, like me, you like to work in the lower rep range; it can be so tiring to work with such heavy weight, so do whatever you can to avoid needing a heavier weight than necessary! What are you, training for the incline dumbbell powerlifting championships?
I trainmmy chest exactly like the Doc says we should. You just cannot go heave. My max weight I use 55lbs dumbells at best but optimum rep range is 45lbs. The other guys in the gym use 2x 110lbs but their chest look like crap and they are half my age. I'm ancient. This channel is a wealth of information and even I learn new stuff.
Spot on, I had this realisation and fairly strong for a small guy, wasn't until I really lightened the load and learned to connect, use drops, rest pause etc that I started to 'grow' training for hypertrophy and power lifting isn't the same, even that is more nuanced as some muscles like weight (lats for me) others like lots of blood higher rep (biceps/chest for me). Also dropping the weight I suspect can actually put more weight on the muscle, sure at 65KG I can press 60lb dumbells for 8s no probs, but probably get 30lb on the chest 20lb loaded on the front delts and the rest on my triceps whereas with 45lb probably 35lb on chest and far less on my delts as if the weight is too heavy, the body is amazing and you can be damn sure other muscles will jump in (traps on everything😂😂) . I get it that its a compound lift and the shoulders and tri (back as well weirdly) going to be involved but its a damn chest exercise 😉
Been struggling with shoulder pain from a previous boxing injury (rotator cuff tear)when I do any horizontal press for years (weirdly which even physio's are unsure why OH is way easier) and found that switching dumbbells for kettle bells has not only really helped (I suspect due to the leverage of the KB promoting a degree of external rotation) also allows for a super deep stretch. Would love to get Dr. Mike's view on this, as has been a game changer for me in promoting 'correct form' whilst understanding the differences in human structure mean that its actually slightly and even wildly different from person to person(you wouldn't believe how wide this short guy has to have his feet when squatting to connect, get depth and avoid knee pain)
Thank you, Dr Mike. I focussed on the bottom stretch and felt my pectoralis minor activate more during my five rep strength training. It was truly stimulating!
@@JoshBenware i don't care about how other people train, I care about misinformation spreading. Some influencer will say "only go down to 90 degrees otherwise you'll injure your shoulders" and bunch of clueless people will start doing it and preaching it
Can you explain how continuing to internally rotate at the shoulder past the point of full pec lengthening in order to touch the chest would result in more pec growth?
i uswd to do flies (peck machine seatted flies) with my bb friend and never felt it in my chest properly till i kind arched my back. i dont if its a good idea though
Loved this. I was retracting my shoulder blades which was causing the exact issue the Dr. Mike described here. Can't wait to try incline DB press again and feel my upper chest fire up.
Thanks for the video, Mike. I did these today at the gym, and I haven't really before. My triceps tired out way before my chest did, so I'll try the stretch method next time.
Here is a fun finishier for this. If you like rather high incline. You can use the lower steps as a mechanical dropset. Instead of changing the weight you drop a step... Since you are stronger in horisontal push than vertikal.
I used to do incline at 45° cause I was told by someone that is optimal. Since switching to 30° it 1. Feels more natural 2. I feel it more in my upper chest 3. I can push more weight. Definitely figure out what works best for you as an individual. Great advise.
It's because of Chris Jones and these other bullshit channels talking about retracting the scapula so much. It went over the top. I fucked my shoulders up focusing on the "retraction" and not the fucking lift. Fitness dogma is fucking retarded
I retract my shoulder blades while doing incline DBs and have never had the problem he said, i can lock out just fine without un-retracting them, doesn't feel weird to me. I'm also not arching as much as he was in the bad example so maybe i'm just squeezing them together more gently, who knows
For me limiting the amount of arch and shoulder retraction has worked a lot. I seen Eugene teo talk about not arching and kind of keeping a flat back ( flat bench) and letting your shoulders actually go forward a bit and that’s helped me feel chest more than the standard arch your back pinch your shoulder blades back throughout
Thanks for the video! I had my first proper chest workout in a looooong time. I started going to the gym consistently over the past few months doing barbell and dumbbell presses but hardly ever felt the pump or soreness. 6 hours after my workout i could already feel soreness starting, now 21 hours after the work out the soreness is super there. I’m afraid what the next 24 hours bring hahaha. Looking forward to these gains.
Kept wondering why I didn't feel anything I did in my chest - turns out I wasn't getting deep enough for a good stretch and had my elbows in a bad position for me. Thanks for the help!!!
Been taking the deep stretch very seriously lately, max possible depth going wider on the way down to do so, pausing in that deep stretch. Currently my bread and butter chest movement. Getting better at it has improved both of my weekly barbell benches (flat and incline), reliably. Tears my pecs up every time even with just 2-3 truly hard sets
Thank you so much! I have always had the issue of not feeling my chest during my bench press until I saw this video particularly the Elbow Angle. I'm one of few people who have to tuck in their elbow to feel the chest (I can barely feel my chest in a 45-60 degree elbow position and I can't feel my chest at all beyond 60 degree)
You can also think about the line of force being perpendicular to the muscle you want to hit. Higher up you go, more front delts. People also contort themselves on the incline bench with their butt up, making that line of force with respect to body like that of a flat bench. Ego is usually the culprit, which can be solved by starting at ~70% of flat dumbbell weight. You can always add more if you're finding it difficult to reach desired RIR within a certain range
Thankyou for this video. I need to try these variations. I have trouble getting my shoulders to grow especially with the width of my shoulders from lateral raises.
This was an exilet video. It really illustrated some very good queues. I have been having difficulty feeling one pec dude to a shoulder tear. Hopefully this will help bring in my lagging pec.
In the event that you progress well enough and the dumbbell gets "big" enough where clearance become an issue when touching the side of the pecs? What would you do? - Add intensifier techniques? Swap movement for like a cambered bar?
4:30 yeah Mr Mike, but isint locking the elbows mostly triceps dominant as they finish the movement and the pecks themselves work at most at the bottom half of the movement ?
Knuts on Doc... I'm pushing 70, you have been a huge, positive influence. I've dropped 28# fat while gaining mass. Common sense is not common 😅 Thanks for SHARING
You sir are a God among men. You've learned me quite a few lessons lately, answered questions, and have greatly reinforced my confidence in corny dad jokes.
Regarding the shoulder blades: I think a lot of people confuse engaging the lats with retracting the shoulder blades. IMO you definitely want to mindfully stabilize your shoulder though and not just fully relax everything
I noticed that when i curl my fingertips into my hand a little and try to press through my knuckles instead of the heel of my palm, i feel my upper chest waaaaaay more
Great video. Thank you. I can be a little OCD and I forget that what it says in the textbook (research) may not be what works best for me. I recently saw a video by "Hypertrophy Coach" called "Incline Presses a Waste of Time?", his argument is you don't need incline presses because flat hits the upper chest too, and the chest just will grow overall from flat bench presses. He said he's never seen a guy who has a big middle / lower chest and no upper and then he prioritized the upper chest and then got a big upper chest. He said whenever someone says they don't have a good upper chest it's because they have no chest. What say you, Dr. Mike? Is a big upper chest on some guys really just genetics and not because of a lot of incline pressing?
I alternate each chest day between which compound I start with, flat or incline. Last was flat, but I finished with just 40lb db incline like this video. I've never done that much depth with incline and my shit was more sore than usual, and I used weight I curl with even.
I got up to doing the 100s for my dumbbell press, got up to 12 reps. 100s are the biggest my gym has, and I kind of hate barbell pressing, so I was trying to figure out where to go next. I was however only touching the weights to my chest. Found this video, and on the next chest day I selected the 80 pounders instead. Went as deep as I could possibly go on the stretch. Also decided to slow down the eccentric even more, I was usually pretty good about doing that controlled, but just slowed it down even more. Held about 1 second pause at the top and bottom too. Got 8 reps out of it. Did 3 sets of that and felt absolutely cooked, but also had the biggest pump I've had in months. And holy crap the DOMS the next day was like the first time all over again. Like A Virgin by Madonna, if you will. Now to work back up to the hundos doing it this way.
2 requests I would love to see a video just about elbow angles and their effects for the most common exercises. I would ask for future videos in this series to have different camera angles during the movements or for the camera person to walk around more to better showcase your amazing instructions. Thanks Dr. Mike!
I tried these with reversed grips (not fully, but close) on a one step up incline (about 10 degrees on that particular bench). Nothing ever worked for me this well.
Dr. Mike continues the "it depends" series and I LOVE IT!
After a couple years of lifting I intuitively understood it's mostly autoregulation and not what all those instagram form police channels show
@@Shvabicu exactly and all of the excercise are good.....
@@Shvabicu to o
yuh
"There are many right answers" Dr Mike is clearly a Doctor of philosophy too.
@@ShermanKyle Oh thank you.
Literally what PhD means in fact
@@ensnaredbyflesh1030 Indeed
@@ShermanKyle Hey! Thanks for the props! - Dr. Mike
@@RenaissancePeriodization you do great work doc!
"I am a freight train of stability and strength" is my daily mantra
Amazing
what does this mean
@Tomyum19 😂😂
Freight train or fright train?
Cause it wasn't clear to me. ;)
@@pdannysan13 freight train means a train that carries cargo
I'm in my 40s and never worked out in a gym in my life. I started watching your Channel and started going to the gym. Watching these types of videos that you put out has helped me to know what to do while at the gym. I appreciate this type of content, thank you. 👍🤘🙏
Amazing, keep up the work! - Dr. Mike
This is beautiful!
Just started doing this a few weeks ago with 25's, the stretch and activation is awesome. The small guys doing 75's next to me keep giving me funny looks
I started working out at the gym 2 months ago and for the past few weeks, have been watching Dr Mike's videos the day before I do my workouts, just to remind myself of the form, the tips and for motivation. Doing chest tomorrow
@@matthewbusse1059 Shouldn't bother about what others are thinking or even what weight they are doing. You do you, set a progress goal and work towards it. Be the strongest version of yourself. Not the strongest dude in the gym. Never try to ego lift. Little by little, you will reach your goal.
You know he’s legit when he’s say “ there are multiple variations”. That was it for me. Because there is no one specific way to do any movement. So many people with different sizes and shapes. Not everybody will conduct movements the same way. As long as you’re getting a good contraction, and feeling the specific muscle you’re targeting. Good video
I love this series. It’s giving me the confidence to try things that work for me instead of years of doing “perfect form” someone else’s way
So glad to see the scapula section, keeping my shoulder blades locked and pinched wasn’t only fucking with my stability, it was irritating the front of my shoulder as I wasn’t letting them get in their strongest position, down and out (as opposed to down and in)
Yeah man, it's a common carryover from barbell pressing that doesn't ... carry over! - Dr. Mike
yeah me too, I tried inclined DB pressing yesterday and kept getting weird clicks on my shoulder, very annoying. Now I know why! Thanks Dr. Mike
@@RenaissancePeriodization So in barbell pressing (is that bench pressing?) it's actually recommended to retract your shoulder blades as much as possible?
@@nvmffs If you're talking about flat bench pressing, then yes, that is by far the popular recommendation. "Shoulder blades back and down" is quite possibly the most recited cue in all of powerlifting / bodybuilding. It's to keep the shoulders from having to internally rotate at the bottom of the pressing motion, supposedly (and anecdotally for myself) putting them at greater risk of injury. The reason it works on barbell pressing is because the bar connects your hands, so pressing slightly outwards doesn't make the weight fall out to your sides like it would for dumbbells.
I don't know what mike and jared do currently in their incline barbell pressing on chest day, but it looks like their shoulder blades are pretty retracted. Thus it's likely a difference only between barbell and dumbbell, not flat and incline.
Lastly there's a video from Eugene Teo recommending to flat bench press without permanently retracting your shoulder blades, but it's a very controversial take. If you're going to try anything like that, I recommend you do it with very light weights and then very gradually and carefully work your way up in weight. The main benefit from my PoV would be to work on serratus anterior and get strong in shoulder protracting, but you can do that in safer positions with other movements. The extremely wide consensus is that you should barbell bench press keeping your shoulder blades back and down the whole time (think lats activated, nice and stable).
Thank you so much for this, there is so much to learn. Please never stop this series :)
Well I hope we can keep them cranking, but there are only so many exercises! - Dr. Mike
this is some actual real advice, i have been going to the gym for about 1,5 years give or take and Dr mike is the only one that says, "try a bunch of stuff" and see how it feels, this is as legit as it can get
Thanks!
This is excellent. Just tonight I implemented the step of not retracting my shoulder blades, and the dumbbell press hit my upper chest so much better.
The shoulder blade tip really helped me.
I identify with your cauliflower ear Dr. Mike. 52 years old and BJJ keeps me young!
Not only outlines the exercise parameters and benefits, but makes it patently clear that it is what works best for your body that works best.
Excellent advice. Love it. 💪😎.
This is already my favorite chest exercise, and I think I'm going to like it even more after I incorporate the tips I learned in this video. Thanks!
3:20 "I haven't, but I'm trying"... Pure comedy
Thank you very much for this video! I tend to retract my shoulder blades on this exercise and I've always thought my technique was off. Can't wait to apply this and see if my technique and feeling cleans up!
Was literally doing these yesterday and thought about Dr. Mike doing a video and I open up to this today. It’s like he knew 👀😳
Lol same! My shoulders were clicking like mad because I was referencing the older Jared video with elbows out 90 degrees. Luckily this one convinced me to try again at around 60 degrees and it’s WAY more comfortable. I’ll take a slightly reduced pec stretch over clicking shoulders any day! 😂
Awesome tips Dr Mike. I had to do incline dumbbell pressing today and I noticed the difference immediately. Thanks Doc.
Excellent! - Dr. Mike
i love the music and the transitions
I'm learning so much from this channel than from all the personal trainers I had in my life.
Thanks again! I've been doing seated dumbbell work at 15 degrees in addition to Incline Bench at 30 degrees, and standing Arnold. I feel inspired to try my seated dumbbell at a different angle for the sake of my shoulders since my delts are so well covered.
Thanks Dr. Mike. Incline DB Press has never worked super well for me, but I'll give it another shot with these tips
How did it work out brotha❤
Awesome! To the point, reliable, funny and friendly. Dr. Mike is a god damn G!
This vid came out right on time for my upper pec training. Thanks Dr. Mike!
Hey bro start doing some drop sets if you aren’t already. I bust out the 80s for 10-12 then immediately grab the 35s and try to blast out 20 if you can. It’s making my chest grow like crazy
Mike has helped me lift so much better. Thank you RP
Tried this today and I've never felt my upper chest stretch like that. Thanks doc, just when I thought I knew it all, you never cease to amaze!
Everytime i watch a video, i learn new stuff. You are a blessing!!
This has become one of my fave chest exercises for sure.
Yeaa frr same for me
Mans giving me a top tier kinesthesiology lecture in a faygo shirt. Words cannot describe how much I love this channel. Appreciate the knowledge--as always!
Being tall may make it easier to put your feet on the ground, but it also makes it harder to get into a Lamborghini.
Tall guys don’t need to have a lambo to get laid 😂🤝🏼
Dumbbell press (a good candidate for "the best" pec exercise if there could ever be one) is one of those exercises where it's so important to put your thinking cap on and make those adjustments to see how much stimulus you can squeeze out of a given weight dumbbell. This is especially true if, like me, you like to work in the lower rep range; it can be so tiring to work with such heavy weight, so do whatever you can to avoid needing a heavier weight than necessary! What are you, training for the incline dumbbell powerlifting championships?
I trainmmy chest exactly like the Doc says we should. You just cannot go heave. My max weight I use 55lbs dumbells at best but optimum rep range is 45lbs. The other guys in the gym use 2x 110lbs but their chest look like crap and they are half my age. I'm ancient.
This channel is a wealth of information and even I learn new stuff.
Spot on, I had this realisation and fairly strong for a small guy, wasn't until I really lightened the load and learned to connect, use drops, rest pause etc that I started to 'grow' training for hypertrophy and power lifting isn't the same, even that is more nuanced as some muscles like weight (lats for me) others like lots of blood higher rep (biceps/chest for me). Also dropping the weight I suspect can actually put more weight on the muscle, sure at 65KG I can press 60lb dumbells for 8s no probs, but probably get 30lb on the chest 20lb loaded on the front delts and the rest on my triceps whereas with 45lb probably 35lb on chest and far less on my delts as if the weight is too heavy, the body is amazing and you can be damn sure other muscles will jump in (traps on everything😂😂) . I get it that its a compound lift and the shoulders and tri (back as well weirdly) going to be involved but its a damn chest exercise 😉
But I want to get stronger…. I don’t really care about size that much
Been struggling with shoulder pain from a previous boxing injury (rotator cuff tear)when I do any horizontal press for years (weirdly which even physio's are unsure why OH is way easier) and found that switching dumbbells for kettle bells has not only really helped (I suspect due to the leverage of the KB promoting a degree of external rotation) also allows for a super deep stretch. Would love to get Dr. Mike's view on this, as has been a game changer for me in promoting 'correct form' whilst understanding the differences in human structure mean that its actually slightly and even wildly different from person to person(you wouldn't believe how wide this short guy has to have his feet when squatting to connect, get depth and avoid knee pain)
Genius Dr. Mike 😇.. thank you for improving our training daily/ regularly 🙏
Thank you, Dr Mike.
I focussed on the bottom stretch and felt my pectoralis minor activate more during my five rep strength training. It was truly stimulating!
Incline dumbbell is one of my favorites. Amazing SFR personally
"different variations of awesome" positiv and inspirational quote of the year.
Awesome video, sick and tired of folks half repping their incline dumbbell presses, not even touching the chest.
Yes, I worry so much about other people too!
@@JoshBenware i don't care about how other people train, I care about misinformation spreading. Some influencer will say "only go down to 90 degrees otherwise you'll injure your shoulders" and bunch of clueless people will start doing it and preaching it
I think its good that other people dont get any gainz, makes me look bigger.
Everyone's biomechanics are different, so what works for someone might not work as well for someone else 🙄🥲😉
Can you explain how continuing to internally rotate at the shoulder past the point of full pec lengthening in order to touch the chest would result in more pec growth?
Mike is just a legend. Funny without being funny. 🤣 Need more of these. Bible of technique
Liked for you being so knowledgeable and not being stuck in the mindset that one thing works best for everyone I hate people who think like that.
Shoulder - Chest - Traps section looking real good Mike 🎯🙌
I need something like this for flys. I feel my delts getting hammered way more than my pecs with the flys.
i uswd to do flies (peck machine seatted flies) with my bb friend and never felt it in my chest properly till i kind arched my back. i dont if its a good idea though
You don't need to do flys at all to get a big chest. Just do more bench sets; that movement is simpler and safer.
Appreciate the solid info and sense of humor. Giving these a shot tonight cause my upper chest is lagging with just flat bench. Great video!
Intro was siiiiick. RIP scott the video guy…. So sad he hear he passed
Edit: it has come to my attention that Scott the video guy may still be alive
Where did you hear that?
Loved this. I was retracting my shoulder blades which was causing the exact issue the Dr. Mike described here. Can't wait to try incline DB press again and feel my upper chest fire up.
Best advice iv ever heard regarding training chest. Which is something I really have struggle with activating .
6:01 when you buy your girl an ice cream but not the exact one she wanted and now she regrets her life choices and questions her future with you
Thanks for the video, Mike. I did these today at the gym, and I haven't really before. My triceps tired out way before my chest did, so I'll try the stretch method next time.
Been waiting for this one. Thanks Doc!
Here is a fun finishier for this. If you like rather high incline. You can use the lower steps as a mechanical dropset. Instead of changing the weight you drop a step... Since you are stronger in horisontal push than vertikal.
Wow. What an amalgamation of knowledge and humor.
I used to do incline at 45° cause I was told by someone that is optimal. Since switching to 30° it
1. Feels more natural
2. I feel it more in my upper chest
3. I can push more weight.
Definitely figure out what works best for you as an individual. Great advise.
I was guilty of the shoulder blades being squeezed for this movement, thanks for informing me on this!
Amen I was always like wtf if I tuck the shoulder blades when I press they slide out making me feel really unstable and takes focus off the movement
It's because of Chris Jones and these other bullshit channels talking about retracting the scapula so much. It went over the top. I fucked my shoulders up focusing on the "retraction" and not the fucking lift. Fitness dogma is fucking retarded
Powerlifter movement. Doesnt squeeze / contract the chest much
I retract my shoulder blades while doing incline DBs and have never had the problem he said, i can lock out just fine without un-retracting them, doesn't feel weird to me. I'm also not arching as much as he was in the bad example so maybe i'm just squeezing them together more gently, who knows
Thanks Dr.Mike. I am watching and putting it to practice in the Caribbean island of St.Lucia
For me limiting the amount of arch and shoulder retraction has worked a lot. I seen Eugene teo talk about not arching and kind of keeping a flat back ( flat bench) and letting your shoulders actually go forward a bit and that’s helped me feel chest more than the standard arch your back pinch your shoulder blades back throughout
Same here
Thanks for the video! I had my first proper chest workout in a looooong time. I started going to the gym consistently over the past few months doing barbell and dumbbell presses but hardly ever felt the pump or soreness. 6 hours after my workout i could already feel soreness starting, now 21 hours after the work out the soreness is super there. I’m afraid what the next 24 hours bring hahaha. Looking forward to these gains.
Man, im spamming these targeting the muscle videos before each workout, these are freaking gold!
great video, best i've seen and i've been looking for a solid incline tutorial because i've never felt my upper pecs
Great timing as I'm currently specializing the upper chest using the RP Custom Templates (which are awesome BTW).
I'm so glad you like it! - Dr. Mike
Kept wondering why I didn't feel anything I did in my chest - turns out I wasn't getting deep enough for a good stretch and had my elbows in a bad position for me. Thanks for the help!!!
Been taking the deep stretch very seriously lately, max possible depth going wider on the way down to do so, pausing in that deep stretch. Currently my bread and butter chest movement. Getting better at it has improved both of my weekly barbell benches (flat and incline), reliably. Tears my pecs up every time even with just 2-3 truly hard sets
Great video👍
I like it how you encourage people to experiment with different variations because one size does not fit all.
Thank you so much!
I have always had the issue of not feeling my chest during my bench press until I saw this video particularly the Elbow Angle.
I'm one of few people who have to tuck in their elbow to feel the chest (I can barely feel my chest in a 45-60 degree elbow position and I can't feel my chest at all beyond 60 degree)
You can also think about the line of force being perpendicular to the muscle you want to hit. Higher up you go, more front delts. People also contort themselves on the incline bench with their butt up, making that line of force with respect to body like that of a flat bench. Ego is usually the culprit, which can be solved by starting at ~70% of flat dumbbell weight. You can always add more if you're finding it difficult to reach desired RIR within a certain range
I like how he always points out the variables of each lift...which is real life.
Thankyou for this video. I need to try these variations. I have trouble getting my shoulders to grow especially with the width of my shoulders from lateral raises.
I've noticed having issues with my clavicles (ganglioma formed) if I don't depress my scapula. Anyone else?
Thanks Dr Mike. dumbbell incline is King for developing Upper / Middle chest.
God this is such an amazing series. Thanks a bunch!
Fantastic video, covering all the angles. Thank you Dr. Mike!
My pleasure! - Dr. Mike
Great tips - thanks for sharing! Would love more dumbbell specific exercises as I don't have access to a gym..
This was an exilet video. It really illustrated some very good queues. I have been having difficulty feeling one pec dude to a shoulder tear. Hopefully this will help bring in my lagging pec.
In the event that you progress well enough and the dumbbell gets "big" enough where clearance become an issue when touching the side of the pecs?
What would you do? - Add intensifier techniques? Swap movement for like a cambered bar?
Use the fly machine
Best video on incline pressing I've seen yet.
4:30 yeah Mr Mike, but isint locking the elbows mostly triceps dominant as they finish the movement and the pecks themselves work at most at the bottom half of the movement ?
Thanks Dr. Mike! Great series for review
Knuts on Doc... I'm pushing 70, you have been a huge, positive influence. I've dropped 28# fat while gaining mass. Common sense is not common 😅 Thanks for SHARING
You sir are a God among men. You've learned me quite a few lessons lately, answered questions, and have greatly reinforced my confidence in corny dad jokes.
Great video (pace, content with explanations)! Thank you.
Dr Mike, please make a video on flat dumbbell press. I’ve been feeling my forearms while doing DB press not my chest for some reason😢
Regarding the shoulder blades: I think a lot of people confuse engaging the lats with retracting the shoulder blades. IMO you definitely want to mindfully stabilize your shoulder though and not just fully relax everything
John meadows suggested doing them at the lowest incline possible, I found that also works best for me
Yep, saw that video today, 30 degrees.
I noticed that when i curl my fingertips into my hand a little and try to press through my knuckles instead of the heel of my palm, i feel my upper chest waaaaaay more
Great video. Thank you. I can be a little OCD and I forget that what it says in the textbook (research) may not be what works best for me. I recently saw a video by "Hypertrophy Coach" called "Incline Presses a Waste of Time?", his argument is you don't need incline presses because flat hits the upper chest too, and the chest just will grow overall from flat bench presses. He said he's never seen a guy who has a big middle / lower chest and no upper and then he prioritized the upper chest and then got a big upper chest. He said whenever someone says they don't have a good upper chest it's because they have no chest. What say you, Dr. Mike? Is a big upper chest on some guys really just genetics and not because of a lot of incline pressing?
I alternate each chest day between which compound I start with, flat or incline. Last was flat, but I finished with just 40lb db incline like this video. I've never done that much depth with incline and my shit was more sore than usual, and I used weight I curl with even.
I got up to doing the 100s for my dumbbell press, got up to 12 reps. 100s are the biggest my gym has, and I kind of hate barbell pressing, so I was trying to figure out where to go next. I was however only touching the weights to my chest. Found this video, and on the next chest day I selected the 80 pounders instead. Went as deep as I could possibly go on the stretch. Also decided to slow down the eccentric even more, I was usually pretty good about doing that controlled, but just slowed it down even more. Held about 1 second pause at the top and bottom too. Got 8 reps out of it. Did 3 sets of that and felt absolutely cooked, but also had the biggest pump I've had in months. And holy crap the DOMS the next day was like the first time all over again. Like A Virgin by Madonna, if you will. Now to work back up to the hundos doing it this way.
I swear these always come out at the perfect time
Wow this is a humbling experience. Pressing half the weight now. Would love one of these for the lat prayer
Thanks Dr Mike. You're awesome 👍
Flat bench press please!
Pleasssee
Don't do it .
Incline . Decline
@@johnpashley8015 lame
@@johnpashley8015 reverse grip bench is better than incline KEK
Just max out, doing that we target just getting JACKD AND STACKD Lesgooo.
2 requests
I would love to see a video just about elbow angles and their effects for the most common exercises.
I would ask for future videos in this series to have different camera angles during the movements or for the camera person to walk around more to better showcase your amazing instructions.
Thanks Dr. Mike!
Yes, I like to do different angles. It all works
By the way, great info.
By watching your video on lats I can finally stimulate mine to grow at 64 years old.
good timing I was just adding this exercise
The incline level is also depending on how much you arch while incline pressing
I get confused if these are exercise tutorials or snippets from Dr. Mike’s new comedy special. Never change.
Literally perfect. Thanks, great video
I tried these with reversed grips (not fully, but close) on a one step up incline (about 10 degrees on that particular bench). Nothing ever worked for me this well.
Ive heard that Faygo soda really targets upper chest too; just what people are talking about anyway. Will probably hit the vending machine later
Just be sure to hit it at about a 30 degree angle.
Good tips as always! Thanks Dr Mike!