Hey guys.....new to the forum......might as well start off with a question.
I am trying to get back down to the 160-170 lbs I was in highschool and when I am working upperbody I am having trouble working my pecs. It seems like all the work is being done by my shoulders and joints. I dont know if that makes sense, but when I get done working out my joints in my shoulders hurt and I dont feel a thing in my pecs. I have tried using barbell, dumbells, different width grips. I also have a very hard time with the pec deck. Same thing.....feel like joints in shoulders are doing all the work.
Any ideas?

Yes i know exactly what your doing. Your taking a close grip on the bench press. You have to have your hands at a 45 degree angle (in between arms to the side and the front of your body). Make sure your squeezing your chest together as you come up. Squeeze inward on the bar. Good chest work includes bp, incline bp, decline bp, db flyes, pushups, and pullovers.

Sounds to me more like poor form. A close grip bench press if done correctly shouldn't still be hurting the joints

So first off, its worth taking a look at your form.

Secondly, you might be trying to do too much weight. There are no prizes for benching the heaviest, and none for hurting yourself.

Personally I got much better results when I switched out from barbell benches to dumbbell benches, try that.

I dont think my grip is too close. I use the markers towards the outside of my bar and put my middle finger right on the marker. I also know that I am not trying to do too much weight. Since I dont have a spotter I have to make sure I dont do that. I put just enough weight on that my 10th rep is difficult.
Thanks guys.........I will use everything you guys said and maybe give dumbells another try and maybe talk to one of the other guys in the gym to watch my form and see what they think.

Yeah, I just dont lift it like with my arms...I do what Champr23 said, I squeeze my chest together, sort of like using my chest to lift it now my arms.

Are you working your entire body? Your body needs to grow and develop together, your stabilizer muscles may not be developed well enough.

I can only think of two things excluding what have previously been said:

1) Any history of shoulder joint pain? Maybe your range of motion isn't is great as others (you don't have to touch your chest with the barbell).

2) Perhaps the barbell is going up at an awkward angle (instead of straight up, maybe leaning back towards the direction of your head or opposite, towards your legs).

I have a friend who can't do too much due to a bad shoulder (some trauma when he was a kid or something).

Well, good luck figuring it out.

I did pitch a ton in highschool and had some shoulder pain. Spent everyday before practice with my arm/shoulder in ice water. That could be the problem, but I still need to find a form that I can use to work out my pecs.
Thanks guys!

i have this same problem with benches which is why i don't do them anymore...tri's and front delts are too strong for chest so they take over...lower the wt and slow tempo down so that you feel the chest working...only lift half to three quarters of the way up...do continuous reps with no pauses...take a very wide grip...all these together should get you feeling something

See if you can work on a pec deck, or something where you can line up some cables and do crossovers. Focus on keeping the arms straight, and just squeezing in with your pecs. Pecs don't really develop by themselves, it's actually the connection through the shoulder that develops. If you can flex your pecs, you'll notice that it comes from the inside of the shoulder. Actually from the rotator cuff, which yes is mostly what it used when throwing.