Don't Make These Mistakes If You Want Strong And Rock Chest
Have you ever struggled to grow your chest or felt like your progress
is really slow?
Don't Make These Mistakes If You Want Strong And Rock Chest
There is a high chance you are making one of these five Chest
training mistakes that are slowing you down and hindering your
progress! Let’s break down each one so you know how to tackle these
mistakes and improve your chest gains!
1-Mistake - Make these mistakes if Rounded Shoulders
The first mistake when it comes to training your chest is rounded
shoulders. Due to our lifestyle habits we often slouch, whether that’s
prolonged sitting in front of a computer or looking down at your phone,
there is a high chance your shoulders are rounded forward throughout the
majority of your day.
The biggest problem with slouching is that when you enter the gym and
you try to train your chest. You are already locked into an unfavorable
position where your shoulders are rounded forward, your chest muscles
are tight and there is little room for them to stretch and contract
while performing exercises.
Taking the bench press as an example, if you lay down to perform the
movement but your upper back is rounded you will be unable to correctly
execute this exercise, the muscular tension will move away from your
chest to other muscles meaning that you’re not actually training your
chest but rather the surrounding muscles like your shoulders and upper
traps.
What you want to do instead is to expand your rib cage, pulling your
shoulders back and down, lifting your chest up, and keeping an upright
posture while perfuming exercises, to help you better target the chest
muscles.
2-Mistake - Make these mistakes if Weak Lower Traps
The lower traps are positioned between your shoulder blades. These
muscles help you retract your shoulders back and pull you into the
correct position while training. The problem is that not a lot of people
focus on developing these muscles and if they are weak you will struggle
to pull your shoulders back into the correct position, which is
necessary for you to improve your chest.
Exercises that can help you develop the lower trap muscles are the
Prone Y, Reverse shrugs and bridge exercises. Your chest Gains depend on
your ability to retract the shoulders back and down while training, so I
would suggest including some of these in your routine!
3-Mistake - Make these mistakes if Upper Trap & Shoulder Dominance
If your body is in the wrong position while training your chest, the
tension will move to the surrounding muscles rather than your chest. In
most cases, this is going to be your shoulders and upper traps. This is
mostly caused by the mistakes mentioned above, rounded shoulders and
weak lower traps, therefore fixing those issues will help you improve
your position and allow you to shift the tension from the shoulders and
traps to your chest.
Be causes of where you feel the tension while training, this will give
you a good idea as to what muscles you are using while working out.
During chest exercises you should be able to feel the pump in your chest
first, then your shoulders or traps secondary. This brings us to the
next mistake, which is…
4-Mistake - Make these mistakes if Lack Of Tension In Your Chest At The Top Of The Movements
Most guys just focus on the number of reps and sets they suppose to
perform during the exercise, completely forgetting about the need to
develop a strong mind-muscle connection with the areas that you're
trying to develop.
Instead of just focusing on reps and sets I would also strongly advise
you to start paying attention on how to position your body in order to
be able to increase the tension in your chest muscles while you train.
This would often mean that you would have to lower the weight and try
out a few different positions on the exercise in order to be able to
find the best one that allows you for maximum contraction. The better
your mind-muscle connection with your chest the better gains you are
able to promote. Quality over quantity.
5-Mistake - Make these mistakes if Small Range Of Motion
A full range of motion would mean that you can stretch your muscle from
the point of its origin to the point of its insertion. The greater your
range of motion the more muscle fibers you will target during your
workouts.
If you're struggling to develop your chest, you are most likely a victim
of one of these mistakes and I hope this blog post is helpful in
clarifying what you’re potentially doing wrong and how to fix it.
