Thread: Inner Chest-Genetics?

you can't target any part of the chest. The pectorallis major is one muscle that contracts one way. You can not work the "inner pec" or the "upper chest" as some have been led to believe.

Yes, muscle attachments are genetic.


Best advice I can give ya: Just keep hammering the chest and when you diet down completely you will hopefully se the defenition that you want.

Yeah, I'm blessed with some good cleavage

Originally posted by P-funk
you can't target any part of the chest.

What??? of course you can.

for example, try doing only incline presses for a year straight. your upper pecs will blow up, and your lower pecs (the "sweep" from your armpit to your nipple) will not develop at all.

to work on inner chest, do close grip chest exercises and cable crossovers/flys

Yeah but he won't devolped the closer looking pec's.. He'll still have the gap.

Enless his chest is just flat, and undeveloped which may be the case

Originally posted by P-funk
you can't target any part of the chest. The pectorallis major is one muscle that contracts one way. You can not work the "inner pec" or the "upper chest" as some have been led to believe.

100% correct!

here is what i have heard: make sure you are bringing the bar all the way down when benching.. sounds logical..

Originally posted by plouffe
Enless his chest is just flat, and undeveloped which may be the case

Haha, lol. I'm remembering that buddy. Payback will come soon!

Originally posted by Flex
What??? of course you can.

for example, try doing only incline presses for a year straight. your upper pecs will blow up, and your lower pecs (the "sweep" from your armpit to your nipple) will not develop at all.

to work on inner chest, do close grip chest exercises and cable crossovers/flys

this statment is so mis-informed.

Originally posted by P-funk
this statment is so mis-informed.

why is it misinformed? you said you can't target a specific area, so i said if you only did inclines, you're lower chest won't develop. Whats so misinformed about that?

because if you do inclines your hole chest will develop...not just the upper portion. The muscle still contracts the same way.

i agree it contracts the same way, but i do think you can "target" certain areas.

Originally posted by Flex
i agree it contracts the same way, but i do think you can "target" certain areas.

that's fine.....I am not going to argue about it.

Go PATS

Originally posted by P-funk
that's fine.....I am not going to argue about it.

Go PATS

good, cuz i dont wanna argue either

p.s. GO PATS

P-funk, I'm just curious...if you can stimulate the whole chest with only one excercise, and according to you it doesn't matter which one... then what is the point of all the different excercises there are for the chest and why all the people including profesional bodybuilders chose to do variety instead of doing only one?
I'm not implying that you are wrong, I'm just confused now.

Originally posted by Mr.No
P-funk, I'm just curious...if you can stimulate the whole chest with only one excercise, and according to you it doesn't matter which one... then what is the point of all the different excercises there are for the chest and why all the people including profesional bodybuilders chose to do variety instead of doing only one?
I'm not implying that you are wrong, I'm just confused now.

thats exactly what i was wondering myself.......

By changing the angle of the bench (ie flat, decline, incline) you are altering the plane of motion you are working in.....flat=transverse, incline=trans-frontal, decline=trans=sagital.

By changing the plane of motion you are working in you are changing the musculature slightly and the muscles which are the prime movers.....examples would be in the flat bench the pectorallis major in the prime mover (transverse plane). For the incline your stress is shiftes slighlty to the anterior delts (more so than in the flat bench). Decline, becasue it is in the trans-sagital plane is recruiting more of the latisimus dorsi and teres major as your shoulder joint is moving in more of an adduction fashion.

Most bodybuilders switch around between the three becasue the THINK they are targeting certain areas. However, most bodybuilders no very little about biomechanics.

It is however important for us to switch around and not stay with one bench becasue it is imprortant to be strong in all planes of motion to balance out the muscles around the joint and create better joint stabalization.


I hope that helped.

peace,
patrick

Thx P, sounds like a logical explanation.

P-Funk, what is your personal chest regimen? Typically I go with:

LOW REP/POWER
Flat DB Press 4x6 last set 1 dropset
Incline DB Press 4x6 last set 1 dropset
Decline DB Press 5x5 last set 1 dropset
Weighted dips 6x4 last set dropset to failure with bw

HIGH REP
Flat DB Press 8x3 last set 1 dropset
Incline DB Press 8x3 last set 1 dropset
Decline DB Press 8x3 last set 1 dropset
Weighted dips 6x4 last set dropset to failure with bw

SUPERSET
Flat DB Press 5x5 superset flat DB flyes 6x4
Incline DB Press 5x5 superset incline DB flyes 6x4
High pulley cable crossovers 6x4
Weighted dips 6x4

Peace.

Right now I train everyhting 2x's per week

My chest workouts switch between heavy/explosive/power days and a light day (high reps or high velocity training..ie fast reps). Exercises very week to week. I have my next three weeks of training written out in my journal if you want all the specifics with regard to exercisesm rest intervals, rep ranges and intensity (precieved amount of effort in relation to 1RM).

So you are saying that a pec-dec, close grip bench press or doing flyes does not target the inner pec?

correct, you cannot 'target' the inner pec.

Originally posted by cpa55
So you are saying that a pec-dec, close grip bench press or doing flyes does not target the inner pec?

Those are good to pre exhaust the chest.

I was under the impression if you change your width of your grip on flat bench press that it actually hits the chest on the inner part a little harder than vs. going with a wider grip.

Originally posted by WebMonkey
I was under the impression if you change your width of your grip on flat bench press that it actually hits the chest on the inner part a little harder than vs. going with a wider grip.

This is the common thought. However, if you look at my early post on planes of motion you will find that this is not so. Actually, taking a closer grip wil move your forearms in closer to your body, changing the angle of the humerus, thus changing the plane of motion from transverse to sagital. Really, by taking a closer grip there is less chest involved and more tricep becasue the torque on the the elbow is increased due to the fact that the eccentric portion is putting you in more elbow flexion.

they say do inclines for upper chest

declines for lower chest

flys/narrow grip for inner chest.... etc

surely it is possible to hit a certain area of the pectoral more so than the rest of the muscle? due to the strain and the directions your hitting it, the muscle would tear differently!?

if you got 2 guys with similar chest shape and experience, told 1 to do inclines for a year and 1 to do declines would their be no difference in their chest development? I don't think so!

I'm not convinced that every exercise hits your muscles in exactly the same way

peace

Not trying to argue with anyone, I am just very interested in this post. If you can't target different areas of say the pec, then why do different exercises? Why not just chose the one exercise that targets that muscle group the most, i.e. with the least amount of help from other muscle groups and just do that exercise?

cpa55, your question have been answered above.