Cathe, triceps give out....

[booboo]

Dear Cathe,
I have been working out several weeks now. However when doing bench presses with a barbell like in the CTX upper body, my triceps exhaust very quickly, to the point that I don't get to work my chest enough. Funny though, when I use dumbells for presses or flys this doesn't seem to happen nearly as quickly. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you kindly
BooBoo

 

[Fitnessfreak366]

I'm not Cathe, but I'll give this one a try. Could you be placing your hands too close together on the barbell? They should be parallel (like goal posts), not towards the middle. The narrower you hold the barbell, the more you will work the triceps. The wider you go, the more you will work the chest. Check your alignment and see if that helps.
Debbie in OH

 

[kathryn]

First off, when you do flyes, the triceps are not involved much at all, as this is an isolation move for the chest. You can take advantage of this fact by "pre=exhausting" the chest muscles by doing some flyes right before you do barbell bench presses. Then the chest will tire at about the same time as the triceps.

Follow Fitnessfreak's advice on hand placement also. Narrow grip bench presses are more of a triceps exercise than a chest exercise. You should space your hands far enough appart so that when you are at the bottom of the move (upper arms parallel to the floor), your lower arms are perpendicular to the floor.

Also, when you do bench presses with dumbbells, you can bring the dumbells in a bit at the top of the move, squeezing the chest and bringing in the move into the chest. That may be why your triceps don't tire faster than your chest with this move.

 

[booboo]

Ladies,
Thank you so very much for your input. I believe you are both right. I will be trying out your suggestions tommorrow and of which I am sure will solve my problem. Again, thank you!!
BooBoo