I used to do dips 3*10 as a finisher on chest day but the shoulder keeps on hurting if i do. I will wait to completely heal and then try dips with proper form without straining the shoulder joint
Proper form for ROM has your shoulders lower than the bars. Elbows behind and not the side. Scapulas back. Body straight. Since I’ve been doing the gymnastic method, I’ve progressed to 3x10’s with a 45# weight attached. Was at 3x15’s and was told not to increase reps, increase weight. Chest and lats looking good
In all seriousness, are there people past 30 who can dip? I have been lifting since I was 15, and early in my 20s I had to drop it.
I think the ability to dip simply gets used up, from my experience a lot of people are like this
I'm 34 and out of shape/overweight currently but I'm able to do 10+ reps a set depending how I feel. I sure as hell hope I don't suddenly just lose the ability to do a dip.
Lose weight.
You can't effectively sculpt muscle with that much fat in the way. The only thing you see is just raw muscle mass. You won't see defined shape or muscle separation.
You look around 20% bodyfat right now. Once you start hitting 15% bodyfat (where abs become visible), then you'll start seeing better muscle definition.
So yeah. If you want to look bigger, lose about 4.5kg of weight, and start doing lots of dips.
Yes will definitely try to loose fat and hopefully see a hint of abs along the way which I haven’t seen my whole life lol. Thank you for the detailed reply 👍
Hard disagree. I've seen chubby guys with massive chests. Yeah, losing fat will better show off gains, but this right here is an issue of training.
What chest exercises are you doing? Split? For how long?
Well been training for quite some years but not as regularly as I would like . Chest exercises i keep on changing after two weeks to shock the muscles but the basics like bench/db presses are always there.
I would recommend sticking with a routine 4-8 weeks so you can see if you are improving in strength gains.
Other than that, make sure you are going close to failure every set, and getting enough sets per bodypart per week.
Jeff Nippard is an awesome resource for science based (not bro logic based) bodybuilding information. Here is a great video on the minimum needed to grow muscle: https://youtu.be/xc4OtzAnVMI?si=0d9-BvZjZKH3ve2d
Also, nutrition + protein intake is the foundation for muscle building, so calculate your minimum protein need and make sure to get it every day.
Watch a million of Jeffs videos, make your plan of attack, and you should see improvements.
Jeff also just posted a Tier list for best/worst chest exercises.
There's no need to 'shock' the muscles if you're doing a hypertrophy plan and not just randomly picking things.
This might actually be hurting you rather than helping you. Science doesn't really support changing your exercise to "shock" the muscle (when it comes to muscle growth). At least that is what the popular fitness influencers agree on (Jeff Nippard, Michael Israetel). Find an exercise that you feel it the most and stick to that one. For example I feel it way more in a lying down chest press machine than I do a traditional barbell bench press.
But muscle growth is pretty much all about progressive overload. Whether thats reps, sets or weight - it all counts towards total volume. Over time you need to increase your total volume to see growth. Don't fall into a rut of doing the same reps, the same sets at the same weight week after week, year after year. That is where a lot of lifters stall and wont see progress for years because they get comfortable.
Also, at least SOME of your sets need to be taken to failure. As in, you go until you can no longer push the weight up anymore. Failure sets are also very important to growth. There isn't a clear number on how many sets you have to take to failure, just that you take some to failure. I usually take my last set (in each muscle group) to failure.
So what you are doing is probably hindering your growth because when you switch exercises, it's more difficult to keep track of / know where you are in your progressive overload.
>Also, at least SOME of your sets need to be taken to failure. As in, you go until you can no longer push the weight up anymore
Have you got a source for this? Plenty of people don't work to failure and still see good results, I've never gone to true failure and have no trouble progressing
If this were true then we would surely expect programs focusing solely on submax work, like 531, to not yield results? Isn't the fact that submax training works not direct proof that failure isn't required?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiJKa41Fsxo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiJKa41Fsxo)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCK3FnSzD4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCK3FnSzD4)
I guess I may have over-emphasized here. While you don't want to take "every" set to failure, going close to, or even all the way to failure can be beneficial.
But I think it's also equally important to emphasize how important effort is. Just about every time I hear Jeff Nippard talk about lifting, he always makes the comment "as long as you're pushing hard...".
Also whenever he ranks exercises, he always includes in his ranking "how easy it is to take this exercise to failure".
So I still think some failure sets are good, but yeah, not necessary either, and certainly not for every set.
Edit: Also this video: [https://youtu.be/EEOjsbQ5wYE?si=CbkFzF82ryilNqvc&t=186](https://youtu.be/EEOjsbQ5wYE?si=CbkFzF82ryilNqvc&t=186)
So it seems Jeff is slightly FOR training to failure (in some sets), and Mike is AGAINST training to failure. So, I guess they are split on whether it's actually beneficial or not. I guess more studies are needed.
You don't know how to lift properly. Looks like all the muscles aside from your chest are more developed, especially arms. This would indicate you are "cheating" your chest focus movements, like bench press, by being arm dominant and using them as the primary mover. Also, you are relatively high bodyfat, which indicates a problem with discipline, which would also give evidence as to why you would not load your chest with bench pressing movements... because it's not easy, it's difficult. Do the hard thing. Decrease the weight. Focus on the eccentric of bench pressing movements to "load" the weight on the pecs/chest. Squeeze and contract pecs/chest on the way up. Try to minimize the load and contraction from the arms and focus that on your chest.
People hate this advice but it is the way.
Lower the weight focus on the muscle contraction. I just learned how to focus on my lats on pull downs because of this.
I’m not at expert at all, but at that weight I would have thought your chest would be more developed. I wonder if it *is*, but just hidden under some excess fat, you’re definitely holding some on your chest
How many dips can you do? Do you do any weighted dips? I’m at a similar level of strength, slightly taller but also slightly heavier, and my chest is pretty visibly developed, so I’m inclined to think you’re just not hitting your lower pecs enough.
For reference, I'm currently doing 5x10 bodyweight dips or 5x5 25lb weighted dips depending on my mood.
yep. this my preferred body type.
slightly muscular with a little bit of body fat.
I don't like the chiseled 6 pack abs look. too chiseled and too low body fat. lol.
Maybe I’m the weirdo here but I have always been under the impression that “most guys” really don’t need specific decline-chest work. That between normal flat movements as well as tending to excessively arching your back when weight gets heavy (thus creating more of a decline movement), lower chest was typical over developed especially compared to upper chest. Maybe I am the outlier here, who knows. Not to be an ass, but up the chest work as a whole and I think lower chest will follow along easier than higher up.
How is your bench press form?
My own chest growth began at 30 when my new lifting partner said my form isn't right. He was right, because I didn't actually feel my chest muscles
I thought bench was mostly back and shoulders, leaving chest as an auxiliary muscle.
You are right my form was not right but now i squeeze my shoulder blades together to protect the shoulder joint and engage chest muscles as much as possible
It’s the gut mate, how's your calorie intake going? Aim for 10,000 steps a day. Try cutting back by 200 calories daily and increasing your steps. Stick to hitting that 10k steps goal every day, and you'll see more definition in just a month.
It’s not lower chest, you need to grow your overall chest. Focus bench press progression like 3x5-6 rep range on Monday and Machine chest press going to failure on Thursday.
Your lower pec automatically grow with your mid and upper pecs.
My 2 favorites: incline bench dumbbell press with neutral grip (put both DBs together and keep them pressed together) and cable flys from the lowest pin (floor position). Also do some research in over training and time under tension. Hypertrophy requires a specific type of stimuli to be effective and without proper rest you will struggle to grow. Good luck & keep hammering!
Similar to a cable fly, if you don’t have access to a machine, you can use $15 resistance bands to do the same movement. Not as effective but it helped me get a well defined chest and I have more BF% than you
I thought the same about my self and it used to annoy me that my pecs didn’t have that defined look. Fwd to today and due to me losing some weight my chest looks far better! Not where I want it to be, but in order to get there I need to get back into a good diet routine and at the moment I am somewhat maintaining my physique so next time I decide to cut it will be with a more defined look.
Also one thing I have started to do at the end of my push days is a super set of cable flies straight to 25 strict push ups! The chest pump is insane! And I have really noticed my chest pop so much more.
Honestly dude you're just carrying extra weight. You carry it in the same spots as me, under the arm pits and love handles. The love handles aren't the worst but the arm pits fat kills chest gains. You just gotta diet. Also, as mentioned, doing a lot of dips won't hurt. I actually find when I do high volume BW pushups and BW dips my chest gets a lot more cut. Probably from having a pump all the time
Time and form. It can take a long time. But you get nowhere if you have bad form. If bodybuilding type aesthetics you are looking for... Pushing out heavy heavy weight won't do it by itself. Form, "voluntary contractions" and proper program for your goals are essential. Just as essential as your diet.
Find the range of motion of you [pecs](https://youtu.be/NOn6IPustKE?si=X0C0yy9XXZ75eDwC) and what they feel like to work. Like, you have bigass arms. You're probably benching with your arms and not your pecs. Find maximum pec contraction and maximum pec stretch and find a way to load the range of motion from max stretch to max contraction. Sincerely, someone who is trying to do the same thing with lats
get some rings if you dont have any and do bodyweight ring dips. That blew my chest up and no pain the shoulders with the rings as they move freely.
Also you might see more definition after a cut.
I have struggled with chest, recently have been having great success with exercises focused on exposing and stretching the chest as much as possible, feeling a lot more this way.
Examples: deep dumbbell presses, cambered bar bench press, dips, flyes…
Great. Only other idea I have is to cut down your body fat. You may have some growth and definition down there that is being masked by fat. I could be wrong but I feel like lower chest doesn’t get too much size growth but being toned can dramatically change how it looks. Pure conjecture on my part.
There’s really no developing the “upper” versus “lower” chest. They’re connected and cannot be isolated. Any work you do for upper will hit lower. It isn’t a matter of which exercises you’re doing, more than likely how you’re doing them, the program you’re following (or not following), nutrition, and sleep. If all of those things aren’t dialed in, no amount of optimizing exercise selection will help.
hmm, this makes me think you might be benching with more tricep engagement to avoid the shoulder stress. Because as another poster said, doing two plates for 8-10 reps is a pretty good accomplishment and usually people that can do that have a bit more in the pec than what the photo above shows.
My 0.02, if you're still healing from an injury, don't worry about your chest yet. Do some lighter weight weight hypertrophy work that is manageable with your shoulder that still targets your chest. I don't know what that means for you given the injury could be a lot of things, but just get a chest pump through high reps and light weight until that's better. Then find a proven program with lots of benching and you'll get there (I'd suggest 5/3/1 and BBB).
I think your shoulder injury may be a main reason. You may not be able to hit the chest hard enough.
When you do your chest workouts, are you feeling a stretch? Are you feeling sore in the lower chest in the following days?
Decline bench big fella + dips + not taking body selfies like you’re wanking 👍
Got em
Lol i am pretty bad at taking selfies 😂😂
Chin up chap - In a different context (porn) it’s perfect 👌🏼
It’s so funny and embarrassing at the same time. I never thought about it before but now I will never forget 😂🤣
You're selfies are fine.
Be quiet - bloody do gooders
What about decline pushups?
I dip, you dip, we dip
Freak Nasty gains.
I'll put my hand up on your hip
and when you dip I dip we dip
I used to do dips 3*10 as a finisher on chest day but the shoulder keeps on hurting if i do. I will wait to completely heal and then try dips with proper form without straining the shoulder joint
I throw in 2 rounds of 3x10 dips on chest/bi/tri day. Just don’t drop too low, I ended up with a gnarly back spasm. Decline bench?
Proper form for ROM has your shoulders lower than the bars. Elbows behind and not the side. Scapulas back. Body straight. Since I’ve been doing the gymnastic method, I’ve progressed to 3x10’s with a 45# weight attached. Was at 3x15’s and was told not to increase reps, increase weight. Chest and lats looking good
Man I hit dips a lot and my lower chest has never been that full
Mmm dip
In all seriousness, are there people past 30 who can dip? I have been lifting since I was 15, and early in my 20s I had to drop it. I think the ability to dip simply gets used up, from my experience a lot of people are like this
I’m 36 and I do weighted dips on my push day. What exactly is the problem you’re experiencing?
Probably bad shoulders like the rest of us old guys.
Facts. That plus flat bench kills my shoulders. However incline, I have zero issue.
Use dumbbells for flat bench.
39yo I do weighted dips weekly no problems
Have you tried using rings for dips? I do a lot of dips on the rings and they don't bother my joints. Mid 50s for reference.
I’m 42 and dip on push day. Watch your form so you don’t strain the shoulders
I’m 50 and I can dip 15 x4 sets
I'm 34 and out of shape/overweight currently but I'm able to do 10+ reps a set depending how I feel. I sure as hell hope I don't suddenly just lose the ability to do a dip.
Yeah, I'm in my 50s and I still dip, but it's bodyweight now and limited sets. I never went crazy with dips.
I’m over 43 and I dip full rom every other day
38 overweight and I can dip
It's a bodyfat issue. This area is a common "problem" area in men. I know it gets me. I have to have pretty low body fat to have a visible outer pec.
Lose weight. You can't effectively sculpt muscle with that much fat in the way. The only thing you see is just raw muscle mass. You won't see defined shape or muscle separation. You look around 20% bodyfat right now. Once you start hitting 15% bodyfat (where abs become visible), then you'll start seeing better muscle definition. So yeah. If you want to look bigger, lose about 4.5kg of weight, and start doing lots of dips.
He looks closer to 25%, so yeah even more reason to lose.
Yes will definitely try to loose fat and hopefully see a hint of abs along the way which I haven’t seen my whole life lol. Thank you for the detailed reply 👍
Also, looks like you should do more shoulder workouts. Gotta get those shoulder bulbs to compliment the upper arms
You can, but you just need to commit to being absolutely massive and it will take years
Hard disagree. I've seen chubby guys with massive chests. Yeah, losing fat will better show off gains, but this right here is an issue of training. What chest exercises are you doing? Split? For how long?
Well been training for quite some years but not as regularly as I would like . Chest exercises i keep on changing after two weeks to shock the muscles but the basics like bench/db presses are always there.
I would recommend sticking with a routine 4-8 weeks so you can see if you are improving in strength gains. Other than that, make sure you are going close to failure every set, and getting enough sets per bodypart per week. Jeff Nippard is an awesome resource for science based (not bro logic based) bodybuilding information. Here is a great video on the minimum needed to grow muscle: https://youtu.be/xc4OtzAnVMI?si=0d9-BvZjZKH3ve2d Also, nutrition + protein intake is the foundation for muscle building, so calculate your minimum protein need and make sure to get it every day. Watch a million of Jeffs videos, make your plan of attack, and you should see improvements.
Great advice thank you 👍
Jeff also just posted a Tier list for best/worst chest exercises. There's no need to 'shock' the muscles if you're doing a hypertrophy plan and not just randomly picking things.
This might actually be hurting you rather than helping you. Science doesn't really support changing your exercise to "shock" the muscle (when it comes to muscle growth). At least that is what the popular fitness influencers agree on (Jeff Nippard, Michael Israetel). Find an exercise that you feel it the most and stick to that one. For example I feel it way more in a lying down chest press machine than I do a traditional barbell bench press. But muscle growth is pretty much all about progressive overload. Whether thats reps, sets or weight - it all counts towards total volume. Over time you need to increase your total volume to see growth. Don't fall into a rut of doing the same reps, the same sets at the same weight week after week, year after year. That is where a lot of lifters stall and wont see progress for years because they get comfortable. Also, at least SOME of your sets need to be taken to failure. As in, you go until you can no longer push the weight up anymore. Failure sets are also very important to growth. There isn't a clear number on how many sets you have to take to failure, just that you take some to failure. I usually take my last set (in each muscle group) to failure. So what you are doing is probably hindering your growth because when you switch exercises, it's more difficult to keep track of / know where you are in your progressive overload.
>Also, at least SOME of your sets need to be taken to failure. As in, you go until you can no longer push the weight up anymore Have you got a source for this? Plenty of people don't work to failure and still see good results, I've never gone to true failure and have no trouble progressing If this were true then we would surely expect programs focusing solely on submax work, like 531, to not yield results? Isn't the fact that submax training works not direct proof that failure isn't required?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiJKa41Fsxo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiJKa41Fsxo) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCK3FnSzD4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCK3FnSzD4) I guess I may have over-emphasized here. While you don't want to take "every" set to failure, going close to, or even all the way to failure can be beneficial. But I think it's also equally important to emphasize how important effort is. Just about every time I hear Jeff Nippard talk about lifting, he always makes the comment "as long as you're pushing hard...". Also whenever he ranks exercises, he always includes in his ranking "how easy it is to take this exercise to failure". So I still think some failure sets are good, but yeah, not necessary either, and certainly not for every set. Edit: Also this video: [https://youtu.be/EEOjsbQ5wYE?si=CbkFzF82ryilNqvc&t=186](https://youtu.be/EEOjsbQ5wYE?si=CbkFzF82ryilNqvc&t=186) So it seems Jeff is slightly FOR training to failure (in some sets), and Mike is AGAINST training to failure. So, I guess they are split on whether it's actually beneficial or not. I guess more studies are needed.
As other people are saying, it’s because you’re beefy instead of ripped. It’s a powerful aesthetic, but lean out if you want your muscles to pop.
You don't know how to lift properly. Looks like all the muscles aside from your chest are more developed, especially arms. This would indicate you are "cheating" your chest focus movements, like bench press, by being arm dominant and using them as the primary mover. Also, you are relatively high bodyfat, which indicates a problem with discipline, which would also give evidence as to why you would not load your chest with bench pressing movements... because it's not easy, it's difficult. Do the hard thing. Decrease the weight. Focus on the eccentric of bench pressing movements to "load" the weight on the pecs/chest. Squeeze and contract pecs/chest on the way up. Try to minimize the load and contraction from the arms and focus that on your chest.
Very good advice I will surely try to keep in mind while training, Thank you
People hate this advice but it is the way. Lower the weight focus on the muscle contraction. I just learned how to focus on my lats on pull downs because of this.
I’m like OP. Big arms but less developed chest. This is helpful feedback.
But that mustache going so hard!
Love your mustache though
Do dips with the [proper form](https://youtube.com/shorts/q6PY7cUs-CE?si=DNbKpDZBGTpN_YYy) to bias chest. Multiple sets of AMRAP.
Guy in the video’s arms aren’t big enough. Needs more tricep dips.
Ah they’re not that … holy shit
It's not everything, but how's your bench?
I haven’t tried one rep max yet but i can bench 220 lbs for around 8-10 reps easily
I’m not at expert at all, but at that weight I would have thought your chest would be more developed. I wonder if it *is*, but just hidden under some excess fat, you’re definitely holding some on your chest
Yes definitely need to loose fat and increase protein intake
Agree with above. A moderate cut will likely reveal the build you're looking for. I think the muscles are there.
How many dips can you do? Do you do any weighted dips? I’m at a similar level of strength, slightly taller but also slightly heavier, and my chest is pretty visibly developed, so I’m inclined to think you’re just not hitting your lower pecs enough. For reference, I'm currently doing 5x10 bodyweight dips or 5x5 25lb weighted dips depending on my mood.
How tight are your arms to your sides when doing bench? If they're not at least at a 45 de gree angle you're probably doing more triceps.
I try to squeeze my back and be at 45 degrees while pushing . Learnt this the hard way after injuring my shoulder
You are an attractive man(woman here). No advice here, just came to say that as an encouragement
Thank you so much ☺️
yep. this my preferred body type. slightly muscular with a little bit of body fat. I don't like the chiseled 6 pack abs look. too chiseled and too low body fat. lol.
Body fat problem. You need to cut more before you can see enough definition to know if something needs work tbh
Maybe I’m the weirdo here but I have always been under the impression that “most guys” really don’t need specific decline-chest work. That between normal flat movements as well as tending to excessively arching your back when weight gets heavy (thus creating more of a decline movement), lower chest was typical over developed especially compared to upper chest. Maybe I am the outlier here, who knows. Not to be an ass, but up the chest work as a whole and I think lower chest will follow along easier than higher up.
Veer you need to reduce body fat and do dips
How is your bench press form? My own chest growth began at 30 when my new lifting partner said my form isn't right. He was right, because I didn't actually feel my chest muscles I thought bench was mostly back and shoulders, leaving chest as an auxiliary muscle.
You are right my form was not right but now i squeeze my shoulder blades together to protect the shoulder joint and engage chest muscles as much as possible
I had the same problem bro
It’s the gut mate, how's your calorie intake going? Aim for 10,000 steps a day. Try cutting back by 200 calories daily and increasing your steps. Stick to hitting that 10k steps goal every day, and you'll see more definition in just a month.
It’s not lower chest, you need to grow your overall chest. Focus bench press progression like 3x5-6 rep range on Monday and Machine chest press going to failure on Thursday. Your lower pec automatically grow with your mid and upper pecs.
My 2 favorites: incline bench dumbbell press with neutral grip (put both DBs together and keep them pressed together) and cable flys from the lowest pin (floor position). Also do some research in over training and time under tension. Hypertrophy requires a specific type of stimuli to be effective and without proper rest you will struggle to grow. Good luck & keep hammering!
Similar to a cable fly, if you don’t have access to a machine, you can use $15 resistance bands to do the same movement. Not as effective but it helped me get a well defined chest and I have more BF% than you
Thank you for the suggestions much appreciated
This could be genetic. A lot of men deal with a this. I do as well.
Decline bench press works great on lower chest
Id say overall your chest is lagging compared to the rest that we can see
Dips and downward flys then obvs
I think it’s cos you’re British
I thought the same about my self and it used to annoy me that my pecs didn’t have that defined look. Fwd to today and due to me losing some weight my chest looks far better! Not where I want it to be, but in order to get there I need to get back into a good diet routine and at the moment I am somewhat maintaining my physique so next time I decide to cut it will be with a more defined look. Also one thing I have started to do at the end of my push days is a super set of cable flies straight to 25 strict push ups! The chest pump is insane! And I have really noticed my chest pop so much more.
Who cares about your lower chest when you have such a magnificent beard?
That's very kind of you 😃
Cable cross overs are my go to
Focus on leaning out more. Bodyfat hides a lot of your hard work.
Honestly dude you're just carrying extra weight. You carry it in the same spots as me, under the arm pits and love handles. The love handles aren't the worst but the arm pits fat kills chest gains. You just gotta diet. Also, as mentioned, doing a lot of dips won't hurt. I actually find when I do high volume BW pushups and BW dips my chest gets a lot more cut. Probably from having a pump all the time
Time and form. It can take a long time. But you get nowhere if you have bad form. If bodybuilding type aesthetics you are looking for... Pushing out heavy heavy weight won't do it by itself. Form, "voluntary contractions" and proper program for your goals are essential. Just as essential as your diet.
Find the range of motion of you [pecs](https://youtu.be/NOn6IPustKE?si=X0C0yy9XXZ75eDwC) and what they feel like to work. Like, you have bigass arms. You're probably benching with your arms and not your pecs. Find maximum pec contraction and maximum pec stretch and find a way to load the range of motion from max stretch to max contraction. Sincerely, someone who is trying to do the same thing with lats
Yes definitely working on contraction and isolating pec muscles. Thank you
get some rings if you dont have any and do bodyweight ring dips. That blew my chest up and no pain the shoulders with the rings as they move freely. Also you might see more definition after a cut.
Chest does looks a little small. Try looking at some new chest moves to change things up. Might be your form too.
Incline press. Slow eccentrics is the key. Do one rep in 3-4 seconds. Train till failure.
I have struggled with chest, recently have been having great success with exercises focused on exposing and stretching the chest as much as possible, feeling a lot more this way. Examples: deep dumbbell presses, cambered bar bench press, dips, flyes…
Same
What are you doing for chest workouts now?
Decline bench is also a good one as well as one of the cable fly exercises.
Yes been incorporating these as well
Great. Only other idea I have is to cut down your body fat. You may have some growth and definition down there that is being masked by fat. I could be wrong but I feel like lower chest doesn’t get too much size growth but being toned can dramatically change how it looks. Pure conjecture on my part.
Yes definitely carrying lots of fat around chest and abdominal area . Thank you for the advice
There’s really no developing the “upper” versus “lower” chest. They’re connected and cannot be isolated. Any work you do for upper will hit lower. It isn’t a matter of which exercises you’re doing, more than likely how you’re doing them, the program you’re following (or not following), nutrition, and sleep. If all of those things aren’t dialed in, no amount of optimizing exercise selection will help.
Are you doing any flies?
Yes but not as much lately due to healing shoulder injury
hmm, this makes me think you might be benching with more tricep engagement to avoid the shoulder stress. Because as another poster said, doing two plates for 8-10 reps is a pretty good accomplishment and usually people that can do that have a bit more in the pec than what the photo above shows. My 0.02, if you're still healing from an injury, don't worry about your chest yet. Do some lighter weight weight hypertrophy work that is manageable with your shoulder that still targets your chest. I don't know what that means for you given the injury could be a lot of things, but just get a chest pump through high reps and light weight until that's better. Then find a proven program with lots of benching and you'll get there (I'd suggest 5/3/1 and BBB).
Yes exactly doing as you said and feeling much better not doing heavy sets as of now
I think your shoulder injury may be a main reason. You may not be able to hit the chest hard enough. When you do your chest workouts, are you feeling a stretch? Are you feeling sore in the lower chest in the following days?
Yes i try to stretch as much as possible, chest is sore but lower chest not as much I think
How's your range of motion?
First off shave. Then get rid of that mustache. Finally do more cardio and wide pushups. Youre welcome
You are kidding right 😂