CHEST AND BACK

[jakeb007]

Hi ,can anyone tell me why that when im doing back or chest i dont feel it in tyhose areas ?the only place i feel it in is shoulders and arms.I dont feel as though back and chest are getting good workouts.Thanks

[bmac_21]

First you should probably tell us what specific exercises you are doing.

but if you are doing a benchpress, a wider grip would help focus on the chest better. And your technique might be off.

[Boss Man]

Yeah if you widen our Grip, you'll get less impact on the Triceps, but you might when Benching, transfer some of that emphasis, back onto Chest.

[standAPART]

You are over-working those areas. One of the first symptoms of over-training is lack of "soreness". Take a break from working those muscles or change the exercise selection.

[kbm292]

If you really want to feel it you have to make sure to isolate the muscles that you are working. By the sounds of it you aren't doing that now and your arms and shoulders are doing the work that you want your chest and back to do.

[milly]

[quote="standAPART"] One of the first symptoms of over-training is lack of "soreness". quote]

Don't understand this one..can you explain, thanks.

[standAPART]

Milly:

Muscles that are frequently used in exercise build a tolerance to the stress due to the nerve pathways adapting to the loads and movements. These muscles become more efficient at performing THAT specific movement and the stimulus is lost. It is sorta like knowing where someone is before they try to "scare" behind a corner or something. You know they are there so your body prepares for a normal reaction, rather than a "excited" reaction. Muscles work the same way. Also, with chest and back muscels...becuase they are large muscles, they tend to have alot of help during movements and tend to not be "isolated". However, I have found in experience, that many young lifters...just over-train the chest and back. Period.

[Boss Man]

Thing is though lack of soreness could be undertraining, I.E. not enough Microtears, or possibly muscles in theory might adapt more, making them less prone to soreness.

A bit like Wrestlers who say after a lengthy period of wrestling, and slamming and whacking of their bodies, they bruise less, or feel it less.

I would have thought, purely from a speculative point of view, overtraining couldn't stop soreness, as if you get a lot of Microtears, why would going beyond a certain point, take away that soreness the tears cause?

That just puzzled me.

[swanso5]

a result of overtraining is that you get weaker from lack of recovery...if your still doing the same amount of wt than the micro tears will eventually get smaller if any at all

[standAPART]

Thing is though lack of soreness could be undertraining, I.E. not enough Microtears, or possibly muscles in theory might adapt more, making them less prone to soreness.

A bit like Wrestlers who say after a lengthy period of wrestling, and slamming and whacking of their bodies, they bruise less, or feel it less.

I would have thought, purely from a speculative point of view, overtraining couldn't stop soreness, as if you get a lot of Microtears, why would going beyond a certain point, take away that soreness the tears cause?

That just puzzled me.

If he is "feeling it more in his shoulders and triceps", then I would assume he is pushing it hard enough to cause fiber tears. If he said I am doing benches presses and flyes and not feeling ANYWHERE, then I would assume exactly what you are. Also, over-training CAN stop soreness for the reasons I stated for neural adaption. Usually over-trainers "don't" go beyond a certain point. They stick with the same volume and stagnant the intensity. Ha any of his numbers increased? PR's? If not, hypertrophy has not occurred and also a result of overtraining (among others including diet & recovery).

[standAPART]

a result of overtraining is that you get weaker from lack of recovery...if your still doing the same amount of wt than the micro tears will eventually get smaller if any at all

100% agree

[swanso5]

If he is "feeling it more in his shoulders and triceps", then I would assume he is pushing it hard enough to cause fiber tears. If he said I am doing benches presses and flyes and not feeling ANYWHERE, then I would assume exactly what you are. Also, over-training CAN stop soreness for the reasons I stated for neural adaption. Usually over-trainers "don't" go beyond a certain point. They stick with the same volume and stagnant the intensity. Ha any of his numbers increased? PR's? If not, hypertrophy has not occurred and also a result of overtraining (among others including diet & recovery

i agree on some points here Stand but...

soreness doens't stop from the "overtraining" effect but more from the overtraining not allowing you to increase wt and therefore if you keep lifting the same wt than nuerally it will get easier

i wopuld also say that most overtrainers go too far beyond a certain point by using forced reps, partial reps they think are full ROM reps and simply too many sets (bench press, incline press than push ups all in one session)

[milly]

To all.

Now I am confused...!!

I thought that with resistance training in general,soreness was an indicator that muscles are being worked . If I don't get any soreness does that mean I am not working muslces effectively?

I am a novice here, so keep it simple!

[swanso5]

to make it simple:

you don't have to be sore for things to happen, i'm hardly ever sore...just make sure that you are increasing wt each sesion and / or increasing reps performed with your current wt until you reach your rep target, than increase wt and go again