Rippetoe on chest exercises

[deathdroprob]

To Contradict most peopele in this thread, when I threw some Incline Flies into my routine I notcied my upper chest grow wider a tiny bit and I had better "cleavage".

Why not do flies, they dont stop you from doing Press or Dips?

 

[mad_monkey59]

Don't believe the hype dude.

There is no upper, loser left quadrant, right quadrant or what ever the latest BS bb mag is telling you.

The chest muscle is one muscle, the only thing you can do to it is make it grow and if you want it to stand out more remove the fat that is on top of it. You can't change the shape of your muscle no matter how hard you try, lol

Listen to PoweredUp.

"You can target them, but the entire chest muscle is going to move the load, so there is no reason to press from an inclined position (at least not when trying to work the chest). You want to press from the position that allows you to move the greatst amount of weight (flat bench). - Powered Up"

The two of you are actually disagreeing with each other here.

Poweredup is saying you can target upper and lower but the optimal position is flat.

DJeclipse is arguing that you cannot target and it therefore is superfluous.

My argument is that targeting the upper chest is:
a) Possible
b) Beneficial to your development

I don't read BS magazines, I am a scientist, I know how muscles work and I am going to have to respectivly disagree with both of you on this one.



- Don't quote me on this, but it might be interesting to note that I think I read an artical from Madcow which dispelled the inner outer thing, but then agreed with the up and down thing. I had a quick look and can't find it, but it might be worth a plat doing a good search and having a look for it.

 

[PoweredUp]

"You can target them, but the entire chest muscle is going to move the load, so there is no reason to press from an inclined position (at least not when trying to work the chest). You want to press from the position that allows you to move the greatst amount of weight (flat bench). - Powered Up"

The two of you are actually disagreeing with each other here.

Poweredup is saying you can target upper and lower but the optimal position is flat.

DJeclipse is arguing that you cannot target and it therefore is superfluous.

My argument is that targeting the upper chest is:
a) Possible
b) Beneficial to your development

I don't read BS magazines, I am a scientist, I know how muscles work and I am going to have to respectivly disagree with both of you on this one.



- Don't quote me on this, but it might be interesting to note that I think I read an artical from Madcow which dispelled the inner outer thing, but then agreed with the up and down thing. I had a quick look and can't find it, but it might be worth a plat doing a good search and having a look for it.

When I said that you can "target" the upper chest, it was somewhat of a sarcastic comment. My comment was meant to point out that you can target it all you want, but there is no way to isolate that portion of you chest in hopes of growing it more than the rest of your chest. The entire chest muscle is going to move the load.

 

[MetalDead]

Flyes have definitely worked for me. I believe Rippetoe states flyes as useless during HIS PROGRAM. If you follow his program, which is dedicated to doing simple compound exercises that hit lots of muscles, hard, then you don't need to isolate the chest and do flyes. However, if you're on your own program, and you have a chest + triceps day or whatever, then flyes (in my humble opinion) are a very useful exercise in helping your chest grow (I do them after I bench and after I dip).

Also, I am positive you cannot "isolate" the upper or lower chest, that's basically common sense, though I think it might be possible to do certain exercises that work the upper and lower chest harder than when you just do flat bench (though you're still using your entire chest, just the top or bottom is emphasized). I've tried researching this (via the lazy-man's research tool: google) and I just find tons of sites for, and tons of sites against being able to emphasize the top or bottom of the chest. I don't know...

Even if inclines did emphasize the upper chest, I doubt it would be enough to make much of a difference at all.

 

[djeclipse]

Sadly - dj - I think you and I are on an island along with very few others regarding the necessity of the incline bench press.

Unfortunately on this baord and in most gym's yes, we are a small frew.

But here, on this board people actually know what they are talking about, we are not alone, lol

http://www.afboard.com/forum/

 

[djeclipse]

DJeclipse is arguing that you cannot target and it therefore is superfluous.

You miss understood me. I am not saying you can not target the chest, I am saying there is no way to target the "upper, lower, left, right, inner, outter bla, bla, bla.

The chest muscle is one muscle, there is no sections to it. Heavy flat bench with proper form is the best way to make it grow.

Incline bench is not as effective as it incorporates more shoulder recrutiment then when on flat bench.

It is that simple.

 

[djeclipse]

Also, I am positive byou cannot "isolate" the upper or lower chest, that's basically common sense, though I think it might be possible to do certain exercises that work the upper and lower chest harder than when you just do flat bench (though you're still using your entire chest, just the top or bottom is emphasized). I've tried researching this (via the lazy-man's research tool: google) and I just find tons of sites for, and tons of sites against being able to emphasize the top or bottom of the chest. I don't know...

You just contradicted your self here, lol

 

[djeclipse]

- Don't quote me on this, but it might be interesting to note that I think I read an artical from Madcow which dispelled the inner outer thing, but then agreed with the up and down thing. I had a quick look and can't find it, but it might be worth a plat doing a good search and having a look for it.

I would love to see it as I have read just about everything Madcow has written and I don't rememebr that.

 

[PoweredUp]

Flyes have definitely worked for me. I believe Rippetoe states flyes as useless during HIS PROGRAM. If you follow his program, which is dedicated to doing simple compound exercises that hit lots of muscles, hard, then you don't need to isolate the chest and do flyes.

Well just to be clear, Rippetoe emphasizes the exercises that will produce the most strength, which in turn means that they are the exercises that will add the most size. He stresses 5 exercises - the Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Power Cleans, and the Press (military/push). Rippetoe also states that the Barbell Row can be done in place of the Power Clean if desired.

Now, these aren't the only 5-6 exercises that he covers in his book. He also mentions any and all assistance exercises that would be beneficial to the heavy compound lifts. Those include things like rack pulls, front squats, chin-ups, good mornings, incline presses (which again - he states aren't necessary if you do bench presses and overhead presses), dips, hyper extensions, tricep extensions, and curls. When you read the book you can tell that he isn't real high on recommending bicep curls, but says that since he knows most guys are going to do them anyway then he would rather they know the correct way to do them.

Nowehere, and I mean nowehere, are dumbbell flyes mentioned. If they had any benefit for increasing strength, then they would be included in his extremely detailed book.

 

[djeclipse]

Well just to be clear, Rippetoe emphasizes the exercises that will produce the most strength, which in turn means that they are the exercises that will add the most size. He stresses 5 exercises - the Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Power Cleans, and the Press (military/push). Rippetoe also states that the Barbell Row can be done in place of the Power Clean if desired.

Now, these aren't the only 5-6 exercises that he covers in his book. He also mentions any and all assistance exercises that would be beneficial to the heavy compound lifts. Those include things like rack pulls, front squats, chin-ups, good mornings, incline presses (which again - he states aren't necessary if you do bench presses and overhead presses), dips, hyper extensions, tricep extensions, and curls. When you read the book you can tell that he isn't real high on recommending bicep curls, but says that since he knows most guys are going to do them anyway then he would rather they know the correct way to do them.

Nowehere, and I mean nowehere, are dumbbell flyes mentioned. If they had any benefit for increasing strength, then they would be included in his extremely detailed book.

You must spread some Karma around before giving it to PoweredUp again.


Cheers