Author Topic: Is upper chest training a myth?  (Read 9982 times)

Nails

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #25 on: June 02, 2014, 04:31:04 PM »

ESFitness

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #26 on: June 02, 2014, 04:41:48 PM »
I'm aware of that. What I was getting at is there is no specific exercise for "lower" chest. Not decline, not dips, etc.

believe I've seen EMG 'studies' showing greater activation of the 'upper pec' area (as opposed to incline presses) when doing decline bb presses.. greater still with decline db presses and flyes.

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #27 on: June 02, 2014, 04:46:21 PM »
yes, thats very obvious in this latest shot.


You Kunt was gonna post along these lines.

thebrink

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #28 on: June 02, 2014, 05:07:55 PM »
if the motion is different, even a slight angle, the development of muscles will be different

Its that simple.

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #29 on: June 02, 2014, 05:11:02 PM »
I've been restricted to machine presses (ones girls use), pec flyes (ones girls use...) and cable crossovers for past 5 weeks or so with shoulder injury. Swear chest has gained muscle, I just upped volume and kept rest between sets to 30-40s to make up for lack of intensity from lifting free weights.

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #30 on: June 02, 2014, 05:36:31 PM »

Mobil

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #31 on: June 02, 2014, 08:07:43 PM »
yes, thats very obvious in this latest shot.


ive never seen so many cabinets in a bedroom in my life....
real men= no rubbers

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #32 on: June 02, 2014, 08:28:13 PM »
believe I've seen EMG 'studies' showing greater activation of the 'upper pec' area (as opposed to incline presses) when doing decline bb presses.. greater still with decline db presses and flyes.

When you say activation do you mean phasic/tonic?

ESFitness

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #33 on: June 02, 2014, 08:43:10 PM »
When you say activation do you mean phasic/tonic?

no clue.. I've seen it a couple times.. haven't really put much effort in comparing those types of studies, usually just see them in passing.

from personal experience, I don't get much upper-chest 'development' (results/growth) or what I precieve as stimulation (soreness, a pump, 'feel', ect...) from incline presses... could be from my past sternum, clavicle, shoulder, and neck injuries, but I can't honestly say I've had clients improve their upperchest with incline work either.. the clients who've had good upper chests had good upper chests from the start, and the ones with 'weak' upperchests usually had weak overall chests, and when their overall chest development improved, so did the upper chest.

personally, I get a ton of stimulation in my anterior delts from incline work (bb, db, cable, ect...) and better development top to bottom in my chest with decline pressing (which for many many years I'd avoided like the plague out of fear that it was an unstable position for the shoulder joints).

consider this...

I remember that since AT LEAST 1995, there's been TONS of attention paid to prioritizing the upper chest.. guys advocating starting the chest workout with incline work.. guys NEVER doing a movement that wasn't an incline of some degree... I myself (and a couple former training partners, couple well-known dudes most here would know) went years without ever doing flat or decline work, just focusing on incline...... now, that's been nearly 20yrs of guys prioritizing upper chest, and I've yet to see one guy who's upper chest overpowers his 'lower' chest.

logic would tell me that if training flat or decline work makes the 'lower' pecs overpower the upper, then the opposite would be true if for the past 20yrs, guys have been focusing on their upper chest as much as guys in the 70's and 80's did on their lower.

but, it hasn't turned out that way.

ProudVirgin69

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #34 on: June 02, 2014, 08:46:56 PM »
no clue.. I've seen it a couple times.. haven't really put much effort in comparing those types of studies, usually just see them in passing.

from personal experience, I don't get much upper-chest 'development' (results/growth) or what I precieve as stimulation (soreness, a pump, 'feel', ect...) from incline presses... could be from my past sternum, clavicle, shoulder, and neck injuries, but I can't honestly say I've had clients improve their upperchest with incline work either.. the clients who've had good upper chests had good upper chests from the start, and the ones with 'weak' upperchests usually had weak overall chests, and when their overall chest development improved, so did the upper chest.

personally, I get a ton of stimulation in my anterior delts from incline work (bb, db, cable, ect...) and better development top to bottom in my chest with decline pressing (which for many many years I'd avoided like the plague out of fear that it was an unstable position for the shoulder joints).

consider this...

I remember that since AT LEAST 1995, there's been TONS of attention paid to prioritizing the upper chest.. guys advocating starting the chest workout with incline work.. guys NEVER doing a movement that wasn't an incline of some degree... I myself (and a couple former training partners, couple well-known dudes most here would know) went years without ever doing flat or decline work, just focusing on incline...... now, that's been nearly 20yrs of guys prioritizing upper chest, and I've yet to see one guy who's upper chest overpowers his 'lower' chest.

logic would tell me that if training flat or decline work makes the 'lower' pecs overpower the upper, then the opposite would be true if for the past 20yrs, guys have been focusing on their upper chest as much as guys in the 70's and 80's did on their lower.

but, it hasn't turned out that way.

Excellent post.

Big Chiro Flex

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #35 on: June 02, 2014, 08:51:33 PM »

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #36 on: June 03, 2014, 02:51:52 AM »

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #37 on: June 03, 2014, 05:36:46 AM »
no clue.. I've seen it a couple times.. haven't really put much effort in comparing those types of studies, usually just see them in passing.

from personal experience, I don't get much upper-chest 'development' (results/growth) or what I precieve as stimulation (soreness, a pump, 'feel', ect...) from incline presses... could be from my past sternum, clavicle, shoulder, and neck injuries, but I can't honestly say I've had clients improve their upperchest with incline work either.. the clients who've had good upper chests had good upper chests from the start, and the ones with 'weak' upperchests usually had weak overall chests, and when their overall chest development improved, so did the upper chest.

personally, I get a ton of stimulation in my anterior delts from incline work (bb, db, cable, ect...) and better development top to bottom in my chest with decline pressing (which for many many years I'd avoided like the plague out of fear that it was an unstable position for the shoulder joints).

consider this...

I remember that since AT LEAST 1995, there's been TONS of attention paid to prioritizing the upper chest.. guys advocating starting the chest workout with incline work.. guys NEVER doing a movement that wasn't an incline of some degree... I myself (and a couple former training partners, couple well-known dudes most here would know) went years without ever doing flat or decline work, just focusing on incline...... now, that's been nearly 20yrs of guys prioritizing upper chest, and I've yet to see one guy who's upper chest overpowers his 'lower' chest.

logic would tell me that if training flat or decline work makes the 'lower' pecs overpower the upper, then the opposite would be true if for the past 20yrs, guys have been focusing on their upper chest as much as guys in the 70's and 80's did on their lower.

but, it hasn't turned out that way.

Great post, in fact its pretty much thread end.

Donny

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #38 on: June 03, 2014, 05:50:41 AM »
yes ..Excellent post and i agree 100% about Decline press

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #39 on: June 03, 2014, 05:57:38 AM »
no clue.. I've seen it a couple times.. haven't really put much effort in comparing those types of studies, usually just see them in passing.

from personal experience, I don't get much upper-chest 'development' (results/growth) or what I precieve as stimulation (soreness, a pump, 'feel', ect...) from incline presses... could be from my past sternum, clavicle, shoulder, and neck injuries, but I can't honestly say I've had clients improve their upperchest with incline work either.. the clients who've had good upper chests had good upper chests from the start, and the ones with 'weak' upperchests usually had weak overall chests, and when their overall chest development improved, so did the upper chest.

personally, I get a ton of stimulation in my anterior delts from incline work (bb, db, cable, ect...) and better development top to bottom in my chest with decline pressing (which for many many years I'd avoided like the plague out of fear that it was an unstable position for the shoulder joints).

consider this...

I remember that since AT LEAST 1995, there's been TONS of attention paid to prioritizing the upper chest.. guys advocating starting the chest workout with incline work.. guys NEVER doing a movement that wasn't an incline of some degree... I myself (and a couple former training partners, couple well-known dudes most here would know) went years without ever doing flat or decline work, just focusing on incline...... now, that's been nearly 20yrs of guys prioritizing upper chest, and I've yet to see one guy who's upper chest overpowers his 'lower' chest.

logic would tell me that if training flat or decline work makes the 'lower' pecs overpower the upper, then the opposite would be true if for the past 20yrs, guys have been focusing on their upper chest as much as guys in the 70's and 80's did on their lower.

but, it hasn't turned out that way.
Good post , but the upper portion of the chest does not hold the same amount of fibres as the lower or outer sections of the pectorals , it's a very thin area so you would never get over development
of the upper portion hence why you don't see it.

Concentrate on movements that put more tension on the mid to lower chest like flat and decline and do no incline work and you will have a droopy looking chest that visually from a bodybuilding perspective
will make the person look narrow.

Someone like Serge Nubret and Franco Columbo could get away with doing just flat work and there pecs were thick from top to bottom , thats genetics but most are not so lucky.

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #40 on: June 05, 2014, 07:42:11 AM »
arnold chest was awesome yet his inclines were way too steep for conventional thinking . neither he nor nubret did declines . as far as i know .

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #41 on: June 05, 2014, 07:51:20 AM »
In them days not many did Decline press or flys but Roy Callander did. Itīs a very overlooked exercise. the chest is really worked over a full range of Motion with
 out killing your shoulders. Most People can use more weight on Decline press too.

Simple Simon

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #42 on: June 05, 2014, 07:58:19 AM »
In them days not many did Decline press or flys but Roy Callander did. Itīs a very overlooked exercise. the chest is really worked over a full range of Motion with
 out killing your shoulders. Most People can use more weight on Decline press too.
Agreed, if you must bench press, use declines, they stress the pecs way more than flat or incline.

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #43 on: June 05, 2014, 08:06:18 AM »
For "upper chest" training, etc. I present to you EMG results and information here:

http://suppversity.blogspot.com/2011/07/suppversity-emg-series-musculus.html

Personally, I find that I get a much better contraction, pump and "squeeze" when I do an incline cable cross type movement than compared to simply doing barbell or DB inclines.

Amazingly, decline activated all 3 muscle portions of the chest best in the EMG results and MANY people overlook decline work thinking it targets only "lower chest" which is incorrect.



Inverse = decline

I'm going to go ahead and award myself best post of this thread and put this baby to bed.

Simple Simon

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #44 on: June 05, 2014, 08:08:09 AM »
For "upper chest" training, etc. I present to you EMG results and information here:

http://suppversity.blogspot.com/2011/07/suppversity-emg-series-musculus.html

Personally, I find that I get a much better contraction, pump and "squeeze" when I do an incline cable cross type movement than compared to simply doing barbell or DB inclines.

Amazingly, decline activated all 3 muscle portions of the chest best in the EMG results and MANY people overlook decline work thinking it targets only "lower chest" which is incorrect.



Inverse = decline

I'm going to go ahead and award myself best post of this thread and put this baby to bed.

your avi clearly demonstrates this.

Big Chiro Flex

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #45 on: June 05, 2014, 08:08:32 AM »
For "upper chest" training, etc. I present to you EMG results and information here:

http://suppversity.blogspot.com/2011/07/suppversity-emg-series-musculus.html

Personally, I find that I get a much better contraction, pump and "squeeze" when I do an incline cable cross type movement than compared to simply doing barbell or DB inclines.

Amazingly, decline activated all 3 muscle portions of the chest best in the EMG results and MANY people overlook decline work thinking it targets only "lower chest" which is incorrect.



Inverse = decline

I'm going to go ahead and award myself best post of this thread and put this baby to bed.

That's great and all with all your science fair mumble jumble but the real question is what do you look like in a thong  ???

Alpine

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #46 on: June 05, 2014, 08:29:28 AM »
your avi clearly demonstrates this.


This is NOT how you congratulate the victor or show appreciation for the top notch quality content I provide to the dim witted patrons of this forum. I'm taking time away from my MVA mangled clients and literally losing money to feed my addiction spoon feed you idiots knowledge to set your minds free!

That's great and all with all your science fair mumble jumble but the real question is what do you look like in a thong  ???

Like Rolan but without the disgusting 1970s porn stache and a better tan.

drmarkp

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #47 on: June 05, 2014, 08:56:38 AM »
Franco

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #48 on: June 05, 2014, 09:02:09 AM »
Franco

Lol at thinking they actually wrote their own articles.   ;D

Donny

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Re: Is upper chest training a myth?
« Reply #49 on: June 05, 2014, 09:14:13 AM »
Lol at thinking they actually wrote their own articles.   ;D
exactly