Why is my bench press so bad?

Never did me any harm, I've been doing isolation exercises since day one. If you're training your entire body then an imbalance of volume is going to create a physique imbalance, not the type of exercises you pick. Absolutely nothing wrong with isolation exercises, many of them are very productive. Get your heavy compounds in and then work some isolations around them, that's the rule.

As I said, compound movements are the key foundation. And yes, there's a role for isolation work. Things like posterior deltoids are hard to target and grow. Calves also, benefit from specific iso work. I'm not saying it doesn't have it's place. Just saying, i think in general, most people fairly new to training, best off sticking to a full body, compound, max muscle distribution, workout 2 or 3 times a week, standard. And learn how to cook, feed, eat well, and get optimum sleep. And loving beautiful sexual relations. It will make your brain happy.

Narrower grip = more abduction and ROM. It's a myth it targets triceps and delts over chest. It puts your shoulders in a better position, acts as a cue for pinching your shoulder blades and increases the range of motion and stretch reflex.

Edit: some people do CGBP like a skull crusher (almost) which is where some people think it targets the tris more. If you keep your forearms vertical, you will be doing a safer exercise with a larger ROM than a WGBP.

dw i went from bench pressing 90kg to 30kg now.

thats what happens when you pause your gym sessions for 2 years

Narrower grip = more abduction and ROM. It's a myth it targets triceps and delts over chest. It puts your shoulders in a better position, acts as a cue for pinching your shoulder blades and increases the range of motion and stretch reflex.

Edit: some people do CGBP like a skull crusher (almost) which is where some people think it targets the tris more. If you keep your forearms vertical, you will be doing a safer exercise with a larger ROM than a WGBP.

Makes a bit more sense now you've gone into detail. Your original posts gave off an "avoid all compounds for the first 5 years" vibe which I had to comment on. My physique wouldn't be where it is now without isos. I'm a proponent of arm isolation, and some exercises like lateral raises for delts or dumbbell flyes for pecs have played their part, and straight-armed pulldowns are great for lats, as are leg curls for hammies. Just as a few examples.

As I say, make sure you get your basics in, then if you wanna throw in some isos as well, within sensible volume limits, then chances are it's only gonna help.

Yes, I'm a huge proponent of dumbbells. The growth and development of stabilising muscles particularly in younger trainers, specially in the early few years, it's so important.First few years, where possible, always replace dumbs for bars. Get your stabilising muscles grown.

Yes, I'm a huge proponent of dumbbells. The growth and development of stabilising muscles particularly in younger trainers, specially in the early few years, it's so important.First few years, where possible, always replace dumbs for bars. Get your stabilising muscles grown.

I actually trained exclusively with dumbbells (and a bench and pull-up bar, of course) at home in my first year, made outstanding gains. I still pick dumbbell exercises over their barbell counterparts in a lot of cases tbh. Dumbbell bench, rows and shoulder presses to name a few.

You mean bars for dumbs? Dumbbells are harder to stabilise?

You're right in saying that the closer the grip doesn't necessarily mean that stress is taken away from the pecs and placed more on the front delts and tris. It does though, more often than not, work out that way. Why? Form. The function of the pecs is to bring the elbows from the side of the body to out in front. So having the elbows out to the side (rather than in close to the body) is pretty much vital in placing most of the stress on the pecs as opposed to the shoulders and triceps taking most of the work. With most people, having a close grip and having the elbows out would be pretty ****ing uncomfortable on their wrists, and the natural is to have the elbows in - the function of the front delts is to bring the elbows from the sides to the front and the triceps to extend the arm, so naturally they'd take the work in this position. Whereas, with a wider grip, the elbows flaring out is natural and it's the pecs' job to bring them from the side out in front of you, hence the pecs are going to get working to a much greater degree.

Shi.t are you a sport psy?

Sounds, like you really know your stuff. I'm interested casual, in any medical or chemical related field. I find this research fascinating.

Not even close

Well you've been dropping proper intelligence bombs. You sound so versed in the medical field? Are you an undergrad at med-school? post grad doing research?

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. I'm an undergrad in physics.

EDIT: I learn most of my stuff from people on the internet, journal entries and research papers.
EDIT 2: There's also a 50 something year old guy at my gym that has worked in active research for a long time. Even written a few books. That, plus there's been loads of intelligent people at my gym, including the under 18 world record holder in the bench press that I've trained with a bit.

You can do. But I wouldn't recommend it. It'll invariably lead to problems of differences in muscle mass distribution in the future. Imbalances of ratio. Rookie error like doing 30 sets of pecs and bi's every training day

Question: have you trained for five years?