everytime i bench i don't feel any soreness in my chest at all. does that mean it's not working?

no pain no gain right?

with track practice and all i haven't really been lifting. mostly just core and leg work. school's out now and i don't have a gym membership yet. all i have at home is a bench, a bar, and some dumbbells. i've been doing A LOT of core and leg work for track. idk what my body fat percentage is but i can tell you that i'm very toned. the problem is my chest and my back. you might laugh at this, but if you look at me from the side my abs really stick out, like a good 2-3 inches in front of my chest. my upper back is pretty much non existent. help!

No, it actually is working even without the soreness because you are still working out the muscles. Soreness is not a good indicater when it comes to knowing whether you have made progress or not. People usually use progressive training to indicate if they are improving in most physical activities, such as weight training.

Heres an example of progressive training : MONDAY, you bench press 150 pounds many times as you can and you do 10 reps. The next time you bench press (Wednesday if you feel you have rested long enough), you try to do 11 reps. This is a method you can use when weightraining

Good to hear you are doing a lot of core and leg work, but are you working out any other parts of you body? post your workout routine(the exercises you do, how many sets and reps, days you workout, etc.) and im sure other members will help you with that.

I don't know my routine by heart. My coach has papers with our workout and I'm pretty much lost without it. I don't really remember the weight and number of reps to tell you the truth.

We did squats, deadlifts, and leg presses. We did v-ups with a medicine ball and some other stuff that i don't know the name to. Basically we sat on the floor holding a medicine ball, turned to the side, then using just our trunk, turned to the other side fast and threw the medicine ball.

We also did (side crunches? idk the name) for our obliques. We did this thing where we laid on our stomach and lifted our legs and chest off the ground while holding a medicine ball.

A CRAPLOAD OF PLYOMETRICS.

That's what i can remember for now. We didn't do much upper body work except for push-ups. There would be occasional benching and curling, but not much upper body work. I just need help building my chest. My pecs and upper back are underdeveloped compared to the rest of my body. I don't really need any help with my legs and core because I still run and do ab work with dumbbells over the summer so that should take care of that. I'm not looking to get huge. I just want my chest to be in proportion with the rest of my body. Like i said before, if you looked at me from the side my abs are about 2 inches in front of my chest and my upper back is barely there.

EDIT: This has nothing to do with the thread. We did one legged squats (without weights) and I hear a kind of grinding noise in my knee. There's no pain at all. I don't feel a thing. Should i get it checked out or is it normal?

anyone?

are there back exercises that don't require equipment? anything like a pushup or something that i don't need ANY equipment. just my body

ha, yeah. Pull-up, Chin-ups, wide grip pull-ups

i consider that equipment lol. i mean any exercises for my back that requires nothing but my body. like pushups and sit ups. all i need is my body and the floor. no equipment. not even a pullup bar.

Okay, then grab a broom stick (or a mop handle, or something simular), and do an inverted row (wide and narrow grip). Slap the handle between two chairs, crawl underneath (face up), and pull (overhand grip or underhand grip)

Or

Two mop handles (or something simular), get two chairs (if you have telescoping ones or some that can go higher than waist high--the better), and do dips (bending at the knees).


Two suggestions,


Chillen

hi...I'm a complete weight training noob but I do have this problem, because my arms tire out before my chest gets a proper workout when I bench, and this is the solution i found that worked for me...and since it really focuses on the chest maybe it might help you. I know you said no equipment but you mentioned that you bench, and if you can bench you can do this with the same equipment.
When you bench, the standard movement is to lift up, kind of like a pushup, right? Instead, while laying flat or slightly inclined and holding the weights, extend your arms straight out to your sides, like they were bird wings. Then, keeping your arms straight, you can slowly bring your hands up together, using your chest only (so without moving your elbows). Then bring them back down.

I do the same thing but lie on my stomache instead to work on the upper back muscles.

I have long arms, and I think that messes up my leverage or something because benching seems to put so much more emphases on my biceps than my chest, and this excercise transfers that "bad" (but for a workout, good) leverage to my chest. But you might want a second opinion on this if you want to try it because I just made it up myself, so it might not be completely safe.

yeah, that sounds a lot like flys. if you are talking about what i think you're talking about. I don't see that machine in a lot of gyms though. It isn't in mine for instance

also I wouldn't worry too much about not hitting your chest as hard as you would like during benches. If your form is right (which it might not be, so I'd double check that) then you're working the chest muscles, even if you don't feel it. I personally feel very tired in my arms after benching, but not so much in my chest. But it doesn't bother me anymore, since I know by now that I'm still getting a decent workout from it, since I can bench a good deal more now than, say, a year ago, and have noticeably more muscle in the chest.

Probably better with a shovel or something a little thicker.. Nevertheless, good idea/advice chillen.