Press With Your Chest, Not Your Shoulders

My chest has always been one of my weakest body parts. My shoulders have always been one of my best. That is not an accident. I am shoulder dominant. Every chest press I do gives my shoulders a chance to take over. They take it unless I set the movement up to stop them.

Most of the chest questions I get are about grip width, how low to bring the bar on incline, flyes, and pec deck setup. They all point at the same job. Do not chase the number on the bar. Make the chest do the pressing.

1. If your shoulders take over, you're not training your chest

Some people's chest takes over on every press. Some people's shoulders do. I am in the second group. It shows up on pressing and on back work.

For whatever reason, on any movement my whole life, my shoulders want to take over. Any pressing movement, any back movement.

That is why I do not judge a chest press by the number on the bar. On an incline Hammer Strength press I can bring my hands in. I move a lot more weight. It feels great. That weight is not going to my chest.

With my hands narrow, for someone who's kind of shoulder and arm dominant and who's had a weak chest, I can move a lot of weight that way and it's fun, but I'm only kidding myself if I think my chest is doing the pressing. This grip width hits my chest harder.