got critiqued the other day.... :-(

[Max32]

I was told I have quite a bit of potential, but if anything were to jump out that needs to be worked on, it would be my inner chest :rant:

It upsets me b/c I have been trying to bring up my upper and outer chest for quite some time, and think I finally have, but have possibly neglected my inner chest along the way. Just wanting to see what the consensus is on chest exercises/hand placement that best augments this issue. Something else that really may be playing into this is that for the last yr to yr and a half, I have been concentrating on the bottom 2/3 of the movement. I think the contraction really helps with the middle/inner portion, though I have seen good overall size increases from these type of reps.

 

[JonesersRX7]

Here are some threads that have touched on the topic already:

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/exercise-science/39937-inner-chest.html?highlight=inner+chest

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/exercise-science/34602-upper-inner-chest-lagging.html?highlight=inner+chest

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/exercise-science/30552-chest-2x-week-improve-upper-chest.html

There's not much more to be discussed. I am in the save boat! Heavy weights and hardwork....

 

[Apowerz6]

Well For inner chest I use low cable crossovers with a slight bend in arm, and I focus on scontracting and seperating the chest. The second one I do are the Gironda Dips they work lower and Inner chest. One of Arnie's fav's.

on a parallel bar that is 33" wide, if it is not you will not receive the intended benefit from this movement. Anything wider or narrower will not work the pecs as desired. The most important execution of the movement is in the elbows: They must be wide and straight out from the shoulders. The head has to be in a down position with the chin resting on the upper chest and the back should be rounded forward.

VG dips-Cross your feet and make certain they are slightly in front of your face, not back. Dip down as far as possible and return as high as you can. Never change this position as it isolates the pectoral muscles and limits the involvement of the triceps. Performing the movement with the elbows in will emphasize more triceps than pecs.

Very few bodybuilders perform this movement as described. It is perhaps one of the best movements for building and shaping the pecs there is. But, it must be performed correctly in order to obtain the results it is capable of providing. Do not rush the movement, which seems to be a natural tendency. Take your time and get a full stretch at the bottom and contact the pecs forcefully at the top of the movement. Do not begin the movement with the triceps, concentrate on the pecs and allow them to begin the upward motion.

Another breakdown:http://www.bodybuildinglive.com/vincegironda/pages/gironda_dip.html

Some say he was a quack, but I Have been doing these, for a week and a half and I def tell a difference in seperation in my chest, hell even striations so I hope this helps bro...

 

[Max32]

Well For inner chest I use low cable crossovers with a slight bend in arm, and I focus on scontracting and seperating the chest. The second one I do are the Gironda Dips they work lower and Inner chest. One of Arnie's fav's.

on a parallel bar that is 33" wide, if it is not you will not receive the intended benefit from this movement. Anything wider or narrower will not work the pecs as desired. The most important execution of the movement is in the elbows: They must be wide and straight out from the shoulders. The head has to be in a down position with the chin resting on the upper chest and the back should be rounded forward.

VG dips-Cross your feet and make certain they are slightly in front of your face, not back. Dip down as far as possible and return as high as you can. Never change this position as it isolates the pectoral muscles and limits the involvement of the triceps. Performing the movement with the elbows in will emphasize more triceps than pecs.

Very few bodybuilders perform this movement as described. It is perhaps one of the best movements for building and shaping the pecs there is. But, it must be performed correctly in order to obtain the results it is capable of providing. Do not rush the movement, which seems to be a natural tendency. Take your time and get a full stretch at the bottom and contact the pecs forcefully at the top of the movement. Do not begin the movement with the triceps, concentrate on the pecs and allow them to begin the upward motion.

Another breakdown:http://www.bodybuildinglive.com/vincegironda/pages/gironda_dip.html

Some say he was a quack, but I Have been doing these, for a week and a half and I def tell a difference in seperation in my chest, hell even striations so I hope this helps bro...

I will check them out, problem is available dip bars with that spacing....also, ever since I seperated my shoulder dips are not fun:rant: I was told to incorporate the low cable crossovers though. How high do you bring your hands at the top?

 

[Apowerz6]

Yeah Dips are not fun when you have shoulder issues. As far as low crossovers here is the excercise:
http://www.myfit.ca/exercisedatabase/viewanexercise.asp?table=exercises&ID=39

I use stricter form and less bend on my arm, and really focus on my chest doing the work. As the guy is bending his arm a lil to much for my liking as his shoulders are doing most of the work.

 

[theshocker21]

Correct me if I'm wrong or call me stupid but... You cannot shape a muscle AND Pectoralis Major grows as a WHOLE.

 

[jmh80]

Try some flatbench dumbell flyes????

I won't critque you - your chest is waaaaaaaaaay better than mine.

 

[theshocker21]

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/exercise-science/34602-upper-inner-chest-lagging.html?highlight=inner+chest

In this link, Robboe says the same thing I just said. You can't target a specific part of your chest.

 

[Max32]

you can give me all the posts you like, but if you tell me that I have not made a difference in the last couple yrs concentrating on upper chest movements as opposed to flat/decline, I will call bs. Everyone has a predetermined bodytype, but using diffent angles, movements, can do quite a bit in bringing out week points, etc...

 

[Jayhawkk]

I'll have to politely disagree as well. The different angles of chest exercises have not only improved that area but specificallly was felt in the burn and later in the soreness in that part of the chest.

 

[dontknowaboutme]

It was always my understanding that you can target upper/lower pectoralis major, but no other part of the chest. The reasoning for this is that you cannot choose to contract the inner muscle fibers more than the outer, because the chest contracts as a whole. Not to mention, while you can target upper and lower pectoralis major, doing incline for the clavical head will still hit some of the sternal head; like-wise for decline bench.

 

[CHAPS]

Well i don't believe that you can work your upper chest and ONLY your upper chest, i do believe that you can put more stress on your upper chest than on middle or lower depending on the movement. I do low cable flyes but i keep my arms tight to my sides and lean forward a bit and slowly raise my arms while squeezing my chest together than hold it for a peak contraction. I also twist the dumbbells at the top portion of a dumbbell press so my palms are facing each other, and i get a nice squeeze. Also don't be afraid to use a steep incline, i was doing tons of inclines and my upper chest was still lookin weak till i decided to bump up the incline even more, so it looks like i could be training shoulders or chest, it's kinda in between. You just need to focus on squeezing your chest. I also agree with Charles Glasses power presses in the power rack they work well, incline flyes as well. I think you need to go for the peak contraction to really hit those inner fibers, if you look at what Franco and Arnold use to do between sets of chest they'd cross their arms and just squeeze the hell out of their pecs. Also incline cable flyes on a bench work well. Just experiment with the incline, you need a nice steep incline to hit those clavicle fibers. Military presses to the front will even hit this area. If you look at Lee Haney's upper chest alot of it had to do with him doing clean and presses.

 

[Max32]

The more I look at myself while training and pay attention to detail, I am starting to think it was more a matter of not filling out from carb depletion for these photos. On Tuesday while hitting chest, I had cross striations running across my pecs, quite a bit of density/fullness and a pronounced upper chest thickness/clavicular region.