ok so in my work out i do incline, decline and flat bench. but i have oddly underdeveloped innerupper pecs. what are some good excersizes for that? im thinking of bringin the butterfly press back into my work out to, but i can never remember what that works so any help is appreciated thanks
Wow, I'm kinda glad I got the first response here...dude, you're about to get flamed like a Yule log. I'm sorry, I'll try to be gentle. Point 1: There is no reason to do flat bench, incline bench, and decline bench in the same session. Pick one, increase the sets, then if you want to , rotate to another movement in about 4 weeks. Point 2: There is no inner-upper pecs. There is no biceps peak. There is no lower ab. Your chest is your chest is your chest. If you're talking about the part of your body near your collarbones, stick with heavy bench pressing, and include standing overhead presses. That's as good as you can get. Point 3: What's a butterfly press, if it's anything like this movement, you're better off avoiding it, and either doing more sets of some kind of press, or dips, or something where you actually bend and straighten your arms (as in a push-up motion). Best of luck.
lol allright. i appreciate the info, thanks for the help. hey, if im being that stupid then id rather get flamed, i sorta deserve it
There are no lower abs, or biceps peak?! I'm not understanding what you mean by biceps peak, is that a muscle weird people refer to? Or are you saying there is no peak in the bicep when you flex it? And how come we have exercises for the lower abs if there are no lower abs?! ( Asking these questions to be informed, not to be a smart ass : D )
People say lower or upper abs and outer/inner pecs because of localised soreness after certain workouts. It actually has no bearing on how the muscle will grow.
You don't see anyone with ridiculously over developed "lower" abs, and no middle abs Proof enough for me.
So why do we have exercises that target the lower abs more then the upper abs? Crunches seem to work more of my upper abs, and when doing reverse sit ups I tend to get the burn in my lower abs?
Thats precisely what I was talking about - localised soreness or "the burn" does not indicate that one area is being worked and will grow more than another. Train movements not muscles ie. in this case, spinal flexion and hip flexion.
you are no more ignorant than most when starting to work out properly. there is so much BS out there it is horrible.
Actually, I'm pretty sure there are upper and lower pec muscles. It is all pecoralis major, but I do believe your brain can select different bundles withing the muscle to stimulate. I can flex the top half of my pecs without tensing the lower half. Just focus on bringing up your incline bench, pausing at the bottom of every rep. If anything will fix it, that is it. http://www.docmartin.at/Unfallchirurgie/Schulter/pectoralis.jpg
Nope, it's called the All Or None principle. Adam's right. Typically as you move down the sections of the abdominal wall (notice it's one sheet of muscle), you'll have more of a slower-twitch make up and thusly why you don't feel the "burn" as much. Slow twitchers are not sensitive to lactate.
There are good reasons for working incline and decline becnhes, form an appearance perspective you will get a more uniform development and better looking pecs if you make sure you work the whole muscle mass form those 3 angles. Despite what a num,ber of posters here have said, continue. Arnold Schwarzenegger recommends doing all 3 (bulletproof pecs article in last months muscle and fitness) and I for one take his word over anyone on this forum.
All or none priciple applies to individual fibers, not an entire muscle. Like I said, I can flex just the top half of my pecs, keeping the bottom half soft, by raising my arm upward in an incline benching motion. This obviously proves that your brain can select a part of the muscle to be contracted, try it yourself.
Arnold also advocates a super super super high volume and high intensity workout per muscle group which would burn out your underfed and under juiced trainee...but I guess since it's Arnold it has to be right.
I know what you're trying to get at and I tried your test and I felt my entire pectoralis "move" when I raised my arm. The bottom line is this--you cannot go into the gym and decidedly just work the "lower/upper/middle/inner" chest.
Hell it works for me too, i've noticed masive gains these last 3 months working a similar programme. The right nutrition means that most people can benefit from that kind of training. Natural body composition does play a part but end of the day when it comes to body building theres noone whose advice I would trust over The Oak.
I'm pretty sure that blessed is right about the "all or none principal" (lucky me, we're getting into the muscular system in anatomy for the last few weeks of school until break, and my teacher is an ex powerlifter/bodybuilder, so this should be fun....). Even though it feels like it's just your "upper pecs" that are contracting, your lower pectorals are doing it too since it's all one muscle. Now how many fibers are being recruited is probably a different story.
Your comment is ridiculous. First of all, ignore everything you read in M&F and Flex, especially when its called "Bulletproof Pecs". Arnold had amazing genetics and took huge amounts of AAS. Thats the only reason he was able to perform those workouts and grow from them. Not everything he says is a waste, but you have to it with a grain of salt. If everything Arnold did works, and you do everything just like he did, you must be built just like him, right?
There are 2 muscles, but they flex as a whole, you can not work them independently. Just pick a chest exercise and go as hard as you can, consistently adding weight and/or reps every workout. The key to building muscles in progressive resistance, not different angles and trying to isolate different areas of the muscle.
