Thread: Outer Pecs

I don't see why either cable or dumbell flies wouldn't work.

This has been discussed before, and turned into an argument. Just like "isolating outer bi"

The pec is a muscle, you cannot build one part of a muscle. In order to get size on the "outer pec", you need to build the pec overall.

This begs a question:

If you can't target a particular part of a muscle, then why do people who primarily workout on a machine unable to lift the same amount with free weights?

Neurological differences in performance of exercises...

I like the jay & bob avi

You used to hear that close grip bench press hits the inner chest more and wide grip bench presses hit the outer chest. This is not possible because the pec fibers run the length of the muscle and how can you contract one part of the muscle fiber more than the other.?? I think it either contracts as a whole or it doesn't contract at all.

It would be the same as trying to hit the lower part of your biceps.

Jay & Silent Bob are the bomb!

Great quote: "I think I just filled the cup."

As for the biceps, I thought that you could shape it. I heard/read things like "You need to fully extend your arm on concentration curls, otherwise you will develop a 'short' bicep."

And then what about needing to do certain exercises to create the bicep 'peak'?

Genetics give your biceps peak.

You cannot shape a muscle.

You cannot train half a muscle or certain "parts" of a muscle.

You want to get some good outer pecs, workout with heavy weights and eat solid.

Originally Posted by cfs3

Is there an exercise that targets the outer part of the pecs?

I've done a search and I found two threads, but nothing conclusive. In one thread, someone said that it was physiologically impossible to target a part of a muscle. That didn't make much sense to me. The other thread turned into a flame war...

Thanks for any info!

Flyes
Wide grip presses

Not trying to argue, not trying to start anything...I've read all the posts about not isolating muscle parts and so on.

My simple question is: Why do different exercises for the same muscle? Why do incline press, decline press, flat flys, incline flys and so on? (ok, so it turned out to be more than one question

I'm just wondering if you simply did one exercise, wouldn't that take care of the whole muscle?

H

because you can increase hypertrophy by hitting a muscle from multiple angles, it causes an increase in fiber recruitment within each muscle; however, muscles grow as a whole, not in parts.

I love these. It has been a whole week since one of these threads was started.

aahhhh... my weekly diet of 'inner/outer upper/lower'.

Thanks for the input guys.
Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

Originally Posted by Robert DiMaggio

because you can increase hypertrophy by hitting a muscle from multiple angles, it causes an increase in fiber recruitment within each muscle; however, muscles grow as a whole, not in parts.

To add to Rob's point, other muscles used in various exercises may become fatigued before the target muscle (eg. delts/tris for chest exercises), so it's a good idea to do other exercises that allow you to hit the target muscle better once/if they get tired (eg doing a set of flyes after bench etc...).

If a person wants to believe they can alter various parts of the chest then i'd just let them find out for themselves. If they're so positive it can happen then they'll make themselves see progress, which is fine and dandy by me so long as they're growing all over. I'd follow Gopro's advice.

Your first paragraphs referes to "pre-exhausting", correct?

And yes, I trust Gopro's advice.

Well, not specifically that principle, no.

You can try that if you like, but i was just referring to certain bodyparts becoming more fatigued from certain exercises. For example, i follow up squats with leg presses because my lower back is the limiting factor for my squat weight. By doing leg presses i take my lower back out the equation for the most part.

An example with chest would be doing incline benches, tiring your front delt and so moving onto decline presses or some sort of flye etc...

Originally Posted by cfs3

Your first paragraphs referes to "pre-exhausting", correct?

And yes, I trust Gopro's advice.

Well, I thank you

However, I will not embellish on the whole muscle shaping thing in this thread and just leave it as it is.