Building inner (medial) chest?

[RealDeal]

Unfortunately, my chest has always been lagging behind other bodyparts. While my arms, back, shoulders & legs all respond fairly well, my chest seems to hit a wall after just a little growth.

The main problem I've noticed is that my upper and outer chest grows more than the inner, or medial, area. This gives my pecs an inward slope, and I'd really like it to have a more level look. If I can't get it BIG then hell, I at least want it to look even at the size I can get.

Anyone have suggestions for exercises targeted at this area? Thanks for any help!

 

[he-man]

try heavy flyes - flat or incline or cable crossovers from the high and low angles.

 

[bignate73]

put on more mass or shoot your parents. its genetics how your chest shapes up. there is no targeting the inner chest ie the origin. the pecs are a fan shaped muscle that orginate at the sternum and clavicle....thats like pulling on a rope and saying you want stress only near where the rope begins.

 

[Cackerot69]

True dat.

 

[WarriorPL]

i have/had a similar problem, it use to be really bad but doing flyes got it a lot better.


~WizKid

 

[goahead]

YUP! it is indeed like trying to pull the rope at a specific point . HOWEVER while not "officially" possible, try and see if u can even out the area using:

- heavy dumbell presses
- heavy flyes

About the "rope theory" . Why not stick to heavy partial reps only if u cannot stress specific fibers.

Well.... general opinion is that not all the fibers will fully contract, so in line with this i think that changing exercises can make a noticable difference WITHIN you genetic bounderies.

I definately can say that my median chest filled up better after i decided to focus on heavy dumbell presses instead of barbells.

I think Cackerot and his followers DO have an important point, that you shouldnt wind up doing countless sets of tiny detailed exercises in oerder to 'bring out the outer tricep head' , but rather stick do as few setrs as possible doing basic exercise. But within this group of basic exerc ises there are still some varibles you can change like range of motion (bb db) flat, incline, decline etc and I still believe, depending on muscle attachments certain exercises work better for certain individuals.

....Lately I started listening more to the HIT advacates... I might take another 6 months of hardcore indoctrination before i become a certified HIT jedi hehe

 

[Cackerot69]

I have to question some of your points:

"About the "rope theory" . Why not stick to heavy partial reps only if u cannot stress specific fibers."

Because using partial range movements the strength transfer to other parts of the lift are small, usually plus or minus 15 degrees. also, even though you may be lifting more weight your muscles are actually contracting with LESS force due to mechanical factors such as leverage. In addition, the Time Under Tension is not long enough unless the partial is performed VERY slowely, which negates the actual purpose of the partial. Partials also do not train the movement through the full ROM, which in certain cases can lead to muscle imblances are injury.

"Well.... general opinion is that not all the fibers will fully contract, so in line with this i think that changing exercises can make a noticable difference WITHIN you genetic bounderies."

What do you mean "fully contract". As soon as a muscle fiber is activated by the nervous system (through motor units) it contracts...You can't contract one fiber more than another fiber. Also, motor units fire on the all-or-none law which means if the innervation fires, the whole thing fires. Changing exercises is a good thing in general (for mass training), but it will in no way change the shape of your muscles. An another note, frequent switching of exercises between sessions is counter-productive to gaining muscle.

"I definately can say that my median chest filled up better after i decided to focus on heavy dumbell presses instead of barbells."

As your chest grows as a whole so will your "inner" chest. Makes sense after all, a muscle will grow across its origin to its insertion...will there be disproportionate growth in the easter latitude of your clavicular pec? Of course not.

"
I think Cackerot and his followers DO have an important point, that you shouldnt wind up doing countless sets of tiny detailed exercises in oerder to 'bring out the outer tricep head' , but rather stick do as few setrs as possible doing basic exercise. But within this group of basic exerc ises there are still some varibles you can change like range of motion (bb db) flat, incline, decline etc and I still believe, depending on muscle attachments certain exercises work better for certain individuals."

Yeah, we do have a point don't we?

"....Lately I started listening more to the HIT advacates... I might take another 6 months of hardcore indoctrination before i become a certified HIT jedi hehe"

I am not an HIT-Jedi. when i hear the words "HIT-Jedi" I think - egotistical close minded individuals. If you ever wandered over to wannabebig.com you would know what I'm talking about. Yes, I think lower volume is better most of the time for most of the population but it's not the best all of the time for everyone.

 

[Tuna Guy]

A muscle fibre does not ron from the origin to the insertion. In that respect one could possibly apply more stress to the inner portion of the chest.

 

[RealDeal]

Sounds like there's some arguement here over the possibility of "targeting" a specific region of a musle. I can see where this doesn't sound phyisically possible, like "how can I make the ___ area of my hamstring bigger?". I'm sure as hell no biomechanical expert, and won't pretend to be.

Could a "separated chest" visually compound my seemingly less-developed medial chest area? By "separated chest", I mean that my pectoral muscles are more widely separated from each other than other people I know & see. I can tap directly on my sternum and when my bf is below 7-8% I can very easily see the muscle insertions at the sternum.

I'm already doing heavy db presses (flat, incl & decline), and cable x-overs. I'll switch to heavy flyes just to see if any results come of it, but I tend to feel those more around my "outer" chest.

And bignate, I AM trying to put on more mass. The more I put on (which is tough as hell) makes me notice this chest deal more.

 

[MonStar1023]

I would suggest trying weighted dips really flaring out your elbows and leaning forward to put more emphasis on your pecs, rather than on your triceps and front delts. Also maybe try heavy decline dumbbell presses or flat dumbbell presses followed by heavy decline dumbbell flyes or flat dumbbell flyes. Be sure to touch the dumbbells together at the top really squeezing your pecs together hard.

A triset that has really got my lower/middle chest growing is dips, immediately followed by heavy decline dumbbell flyes (squeezing my chest hard at the top), followed by either high-cable crossovers (crossing your hands at the bottom of the movement really squeezing your pecs as hard as possible) or pec-deck flyes (really squeezing your pecs at the contraction). This triset really pumps my lower/middle chest up completely and hammers my inner chest all the way. Good luck bro. =D=D