Thread: help me build my lower chest!!..

Bro, I do all of the above and can't get my chest right. Genetics are a bitch. On a brighter note my legs and back grow like weeds

The chest contracts as a whole. You can't only contract the lower part. Isolating the lower chest is no more possible than just training one of the muscles in the bicep, you need both to make any contraction. That being said, the best way to increase your lower chest is to make the whole thing bigger. You might want to try doing a heavy exercise, then a stretch exercise, then a rep out. An example of this might be:

Bench 3x5
DB flies 3x10
Incline DB press dropset

The thing that helped me most and I posted somewhere else is to pre-exhaust the chest. I use a pec deck, shoulders against the back rest and ass at the very front of the seat (makes it like an incline fly) Do 3-4 sets, fairly heavy but with a full and slow range of motion.

Then what worked for me was inclines, flats and declines (bar or dumbbells, you pick), 3-4 sets, 8-12 reps every chest day. Start with a new angle every week. Bring up the whole chest and the upper pecs will look fuller as well as developing the lower and mid pec as well.

Do you do your dips with your feet out in front of you?

Decline flyes worked for me

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

The chest contracts as a whole. You can't only contract the lower part. Isolating the lower chest is no more possible than just training one of the muscles in the bicep, you need both to make any contraction. That being said, the best way to increase your lower chest is to make the whole thing bigger. You might want to try doing a heavy exercise, then a stretch exercise, then a rep out. An example of this might be:

Bench 3x5
DB flies 3x10
Incline DB press dropset

I always make it a must to combine different sets into my chest,example being..
flat bench 5x5..
incline or Delcine 3-4x10
Flies3x10..
I just wonder if im not dong enough decline..etc..or maybe I just have bad genetics on The lower part..However Ive never combined incline and decline on the same day.I always do one or the other..

Originally Posted by cshea2

Do you do your dips with your feet out in front of you?

No,I always cross my feet and slightly put them behind me..with my body slightly angled frontwards..should I try changes this up? Im willing to try anything,I have a nice upper and NO lower..I hate it..

Originally Posted by Anabolic5150

The thing that helped me most and I posted somewhere else is to pre-exhaust the chest. I use a pec deck, shoulders against the back rest and ass at the very front of the seat (makes it like an incline fly) Do 3-4 sets, fairly heavy but with a full and slow range of motion.

Then what worked for me was inclines, flats and declines (bar or dumbbells, you pick), 3-4 sets, 8-12 reps every chest day. Start with a new angle every week. Bring up the whole chest and the upper pecs will look fuller as well as developing the lower and mid pec as well.

I will try this out Sunday,sounds very good...thanks anabolic...also should I try muscle confusion...u know start out with a different exercise,rather than flat then decline Then flies..maybe decline, then flat,then flies..something of that nature..does it really matter?..jus curious cause I never change it up..

Look into loaded passive stretching too, it helped me.

Originally Posted by wnabhuge912

I will try this out Sunday,sounds very good...thanks anabolic...also should I try muscle confusion...u know start out with a different exercise,rather than flat then decline Then flies..maybe decline, then flat,then flies..something of that nature..does it really matter?..jus curious cause I never change it up..

I always do the pec deck preexhaust first, always. And I always switch up exercise order, one session is incline first, next may be decline and next flat. I also switch between barbell and dumbbells, if I do incline with a bar and then declines second, I use dumbbells. Make it fun, experiment, be your own test case.

Here is my last chest session so it makes sense,

Pec deck pre-exhaust. 4 sets x 8-12

Incline barbell 4 sets x 8-12

Flat dumbbell 4 sets x 8-12

Decline smith 4 sets x 8-12

Makes better sense when you see it.

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

Look into loaded passive stretching too, it helped me.

Google DC stretches and try them, they are brutal but work great to help stretch the fascia.

The only difference between the two is that you do LPS for 15 seconds at a time 3-4 times and you do DC 60 seconds all at once. Man a whole minute at once of that would suck.

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

The only difference between the two is that you do LPS for 15 seconds at a time 3-4 times and you do DC 60 seconds all at once. Man a whole minute at once of that would suck.

Thanks, I learned something I didn't know. And yes, 60 seconds sucks, but we do 90 cause we are crazy!!

Originally Posted by wnabhuge912

No,I always cross my feet and slightly put them behind me..with my body slightly angled frontwards..should I try changes this up? Im willing to try anything,I have a nice upper and NO lower..I hate it..

Yah, give it a try. I find your chest really dominates the lift when you lean in and have your feet straight out in front, rather than crossed.

Originally Posted by Anabolic5150

Thanks, I learned something I didn't know. And yes, 60 seconds sucks, but we do 90 cause we are crazy!!

I do mine in between sets instead of at the end of the workout, there's a reason for this and I can't remember right now.

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

I do mine in between sets instead of at the end of the workout, there's a reason for this and I can't remember right now.

Whatever works for you works. I can't stretch between sets because most of the time I can't breath LOL. The stretching after for me helps me recover and keep a bit more flexible at my old age.

Originally Posted by Anabolic5150

Whatever works for you works. I can't stretch between sets because most of the time I can't breath LOL. The stretching after for me helps me recover and keep a bit more flexible at my old age.

I hear that. I'm sure both work just fine. When I do HIT training I can't get up after a set of squats. I couldn't even think about stretching. I am doing a less than failure sets right now though, so it's no big deal for me. I love HIT and I can't wait to do it again, but it was time to switch things , you know? Anyways, here's an article about LPS for anyone interested. The answer I was looking for before was that loaded stretching can help increase power as oppose to regular light stretching that decreases power.
Stretching & Muscle: Does Stretching Increase or Descrease Muscle Power?

Thanks so much guys,there's alot of helpful advice in here..I will be giving it all a try..

Decline benches wide elbows out dips all stress the lower pecs more but more than that, the decline presses elicit more fibers than any otehr chest exercise...... (I have to get the reference but read it recently)....

If you look at Steve Reeves (hercules movies) or Vince gironda, you can see waht tons of dips do! Wide sweeping chest across the bottom.

Yes, you ought to do a balanced workout for yoru chest but you can also try to take out flats for declines/dips/cable cross overs.....

regarding teh stretching thing. If someone stretches before a workout in a way that is harsh, it will decrease muscle power at the time
BUT, the type of stretching that will cause hyperplasia and muscle fiver splitting is done AFTER you do your workout and are into flushing the muscle with pump and you gto off of the bounce, in a fly, it is at the extreme stretch, you do 1/4 rep bounces off the stretch. X-Reps use this stretch, Larry Scott and otehrs in teh past have used it, I am a firm believer of them!

Originally Posted by carmineb

Decline benches wide elbows out dips all stress the lower pecs more but more than that, the decline presses elicit more fibers than any otehr chest exercise...... (I have to get the reference but read it recently)....

If you look at Steve Reeves (hercules movies) or Vince gironda, you can see waht tons of dips do! Wide sweeping chest across the bottom.

Yes, you ought to do a balanced workout for yoru chest but you can also try to take out flats for declines/dips/cable cross overs.....

And that's exactly what I want...a nice wide sweeping bottom..right now I have a flat pancake bottom chest..it sucks..

Originally Posted by carmineb

regarding teh stretching thing. If someone stretches before a workout in a way that is harsh, it will decrease muscle power at the time

LPS studies show that it only decreased strength when it was light stretching, because it relaxes the muscle. When you use weights to stretch the muscle cannot relax because it is fighting the weight while in a stretched position and showed there was actually a 9.4% increase in strength. It's in that link I provided.

you can target heads of a muscle group independently. post way above is wrong. decline presses get a bad rap these days but it worked for me. i have good genetics but i also have extremely developed pecs because of how i lift. you need to think it out and work in controlled movements. be creative, what works for one man may not work on the next

Again, As usual...What Are You Eating? You can do all the exercises in the world....

Originally Posted by antisocialcreep

you can target heads of a muscle group independently. post way above is wrong. decline presses get a bad rap these days but it worked for me. i have good genetics but i also have extremely developed pecs because of how i lift. you need to think it out and work in controlled movements. be creative, what works for one man may not work on the next

No it's not. Muscles either contract or relax. You can't selectively contract part of a muscle. Or in this case, the three muscles in the chest. They either all contract or none of them do. Try to flex your upper chest and touch the bottom part of it. It will feel contracted just as the top does. Inclines move more of the work load to the shoulders and still uses some chest but certainly doesn't build the upper chest any more than the rest of it.

Originally Posted by antisocialcreep

you can target heads of a muscle group independently. post way above is wrong. decline presses get a bad rap these days but it worked for me. i have good genetics but i also have extremely developed pecs because of how i lift. you need to think it out and work in controlled movements. be creative, what works for one man may not work on the next

Really?

Prove it.

Originally Posted by Built

Really?

Prove it.