# How do I work the inside edge of chest



## thedude007 (Sep 4, 2004)

For some reason the middle of my chest, right where the two pex meet and between my upper and mid chest muscles, isnt very developed. How do I work right where my pex meet in the middle of my chest.


----------



## Du (Sep 4, 2004)

I have the same problem. Ive found if you put the pulley at the bottom and do cable crossovers upwards, it hits them good.


----------



## sabre81 (Sep 4, 2004)

i take dumbbells and put them together with palms facing inwards.   Then ly on a flat bench and press keeping falms facing inwards.


----------



## DeadBolt (Sep 4, 2004)

You can't fill in the gab with any certain excercises, you just need to try and make your chest as massive as possible.  Genetics suck sometimes!  By making your chest muscles(pecs) larger you may be able to make it look like you have filled the gab but you will never be able to only work that portion of the muscle.  Thats like only working your upper abs or only working your lower abs, doesn't work.


----------



## Du (Sep 5, 2004)

Its true that you cant work just one part of a muscle. But in my reading, in my experiences, you can emphasize a certain part of the muscle more when lifting a certain way. In the case of the inner chest, why is it that it feels different when lifting the way I mentioned earlier? Also, why is it that the inner chest is more sore after I lift using the lift I mentioned above?


----------



## Duncans Donuts (Sep 5, 2004)

Lets not get into this discussion again..


----------



## babylon (Sep 5, 2004)

close grip bench presses will work your inner chest


----------



## Du (Sep 5, 2004)

I heard squats work them good.


----------



## Rocco32 (Sep 5, 2004)

No, it's calf raises for inner chest LOL


----------



## BoneCrusher (Sep 5, 2004)

Plus you must eat tons of lasagnia ...


----------



## Rocco32 (Sep 5, 2004)

Don't forget porn will make it grow too! Oh, we're talking inner chest. Ooppps.


----------



## DeadBolt (Sep 5, 2004)

du510 said:
			
		

> Its true that you cant work just one part of a muscle. But in my reading, in my experiences, you can emphasize a certain part of the muscle more when lifting a certain way. In the case of the inner chest, why is it that it feels different when lifting the way I mentioned earlier? Also, why is it that the inner chest is more sore after I lift using the lift I mentioned above?



Its all about recruiting different muscle fibers and such.  Once adjusted the body will no longer get as sore.  Same reason we keep changing our routine, to keep the body guessing.  But if you want a more detailed answer search there have been many posts on it, right now I have to be up in 4 hours to go away for the day so I need some rest lol.


----------



## babylon (Sep 6, 2004)

"Building The Inner Pecs 
Don't worry if your pecs aren't as full as you'd like, as many of you already know, the pectorals are often the slowest muscles to grow and can be very difficult to fully develop-especially if you're fairly new to bodybuilding. Even after developing good form on flyes and bench press, you may still find it difficult to build your inner pecs, even though your outer pecs are growing great. This is a troublesome area for everyone to develop. Help is here! To get the full, rounded mass you want in the entire pectoral region, you've got to perform the right exercises at the right intensity and focus intensely on that area. 

What Exercises Work The Best?

1. Close-Grip Bench Press: I know what you're thinking???close-grip bench works the triceps, right? Well, yes???but if you concentrate on very strict, slow lifting and squeeze the pecs together at the top of the extension, you'll notice it really hits your inner pecs. Really concentrate on the pecs! Try to relax your arms as much as possible, letting the pecs take the brunt of the weight. Really squeeze them at the top to get the most burn for your rep! Just so you know, you will want to drop the weight down a little from what you do your normal benching on so as to get the form down and really focus on the pecs. Once you build up this area of the pecs, you will definitely go up in overall bench press. 

How to grip the bar: Your hands should be in the range of shoulder width. See what works best for you. You may find that a few inches in from shoulder width hits the inner pecs hardest. So experiment a little with the grip to find what allows you to get the most work and stress carried by your pecs. 

How to do the movement: Bring the weight down to your chest slowly at the count of 1???2??? breathing in on the way down. Barely touch your chest before pushing the weight back up while exhaling to the same count of 1???2??? Focus entirely on letting your pecs do the work. Hold it at the top for a count of 1???2???while squeezing your pecs together. Then lower the weight back down to the same count while you inhale. Make sure this is all in one fluid, strict motion (no bouncing!). 

Sets: This is somewhat of a dispute. First of all, get your form down with lighter weight. Then, use a weight that you can get only 6-10 reps on for 3+ sets for definition and mass. For more definition, reduce the weight and go for 12-15 reps and 5+ sets. For more mass, go for 5-6 reps and heavier weight for less sets. Just remember to get your form down good and always lift slowly and strictly to get the most gains, develop the fullest pecs, and avoid ripping or tearing muscles. 

Note: To get full pectoral development, it's good to add incline and decline close-grip bench into your chest day routine. This will build and work the upper and lower mid parts of the pectorals, respectively. Use the same method as with regular flat bench close-grip bench. Build massive and full pecs!!!
2. Flyes: Use the universal fly machine for this exercise. It works extremely well for hitting the pecs. The key to working and building the inner pecs with this exercise lies in your mind. Make your pecs squeeze together at completion of the movement and really flex them at the point where your arms are brought together. Do this movement slowly and strictly. Inhale as you slowly allow the weight to fall back on the stack, widening your arms. Use a fluid motion and exhale as your pecs force the weight up and your arms back together. This can be murder on your pecs???just what you want! 

Sets, Breathing, and Lifting: Use similar breathing and lifting patterns as with close-grip bench. Do the sets similarly as well, although with flyes, it's recommended to do more sets that usual to really rip your pecs a new one.
3. Cable Crossovers: These intense pectoral isolators are especially known for etching deep striations into the pecs. Stress is placed on the entire pectorals especially the inner, lower and outer pecs, not to mention secondarily working the anterior deltoids. 

How to do the movement: With your feet shoulder width apart, grasp the handles attached to the pulleys so that your palms face towards the floor with your arms slightly bent. Your arms should be extended diagonally upward. Bring your torso a bit forward to maximize the stress on your pectorals and hold this position for the duration of the set. Exhale as you force your hands down and together, primarily using pectoral strength to bring them to a position about six inches in front of your hips. Make sure the movement is strict, slow and in a semicircular arc. At the finishing position, try to hold it for about 5 seconds as if doing a "most muscular" pose, flexing your pecs intensely. Slowly allow the weight to lower back down and your arms to raise back up to the starting position. You can also perform this exercise kneeling on the floor or with one arm at a time to increase the concentration."
http://www.bodybuildbid.com/articles/chest/champchest.html#in


----------



## Freshmuscle (Aug 13, 2010)

DeadBolt said:


> You can't fill in the gab with any certain excercises, you just need to try and make your chest as massive as possible. Genetics suck sometimes! By making your chest muscles(pecs) larger you may be able to make it look like you have filled the gab but you will never be able to only work that portion of the muscle. Thats like only working your upper abs or only working your lower abs, doesn't work.


 

Thats true to a point.  When working your abdominals, you are working your whole muscle.  But to isolate (for lack of a better term) the lower ab muscles, you can alter the lift.  To work the lower abs, leg lifts work great.  The difference between leg lifts and a normal crunch/sit up is that your changing the axis/hinge point of the lift.  And another way to develope lower abs is to sprint and plyo's which hurt but if the desire is there should be no problem.


----------



## dave 236 (Aug 13, 2010)

DeadBolt said:


> You can't fill in the gab with any certain excercises, you just need to try and make your chest as massive as possible.  Genetics suck sometimes!  By making your chest muscles(pecs) larger you may be able to make it look like you have filled the gab but you will never be able to only work that portion of the muscle.  Thats like only working your upper abs or only working your lower abs, doesn't work.


This is about as honest an answer as it gets.In a nutshell the bigger the pecs the less gap between them.Flys help and any other squeezing movement but it all comes down to filling the empty spaces.


----------



## blergs. (Aug 13, 2010)

i like DB flyes flat for this. 
i genrally like BD flys at differing angles then the bar bell for chest workouts.


----------



## LAM (Aug 13, 2010)

it is physiologically impossible to target part of a muscle, muscles either contract as a whole or not at all.  using localized fatigue is a poor method of judging the mechanics of an exercise.


----------



## stylus187 (Aug 13, 2010)

thedude007 said:


> For some reason the middle of my chest, right where the two pex meet and between my upper and mid chest muscles, isnt very developed. How do I work right where my pex meet in the middle of my chest.


 varried angled movements on butterfly machine. I like doin one arm at a time. I can get a much tighter squeeze between my pecs, using one arm at a time. Cable crossovers upper, and lower, just remember to squeeze. works great for me.


----------



## letsgetbig (Aug 13, 2010)

flys with cables at mid chest height and squeeze the muscle like your holding a pencil , also incline, same thing squeeze..


----------



## unclem (Aug 15, 2010)

i agree with dave 100%, plus u have to have size to fill that in, it takes time but dave hit it right on the head. if your chest is small work it hard it will fill in the middle. it takes yrs not days or months to get that filled in. even on gear it still takes alot of time.


----------



## cheappinz (Aug 15, 2010)

of course you can train certain parts of a muscle...
for the pecs, if you want to hit the upper portion, an incline bench press motion will target the pec minor.  If you want to hit the lower part of the pec, a flat bench.  I've never heard of being able to hit the medial more than lateral portion of the pec.  
*The pec inserts on the sternum and inserts onto the humerus(upper arm).


----------



## Dr.Abs (Aug 18, 2010)

subbed


----------



## Phineas (Aug 18, 2010)

cheappinz said:


> of course you can train certain parts of a muscle...
> for the pecs, if you want to hit the upper portion, an incline bench press motion will target the pec minor.  If you want to hit the lower part of the pec, a flat bench.  I've never heard of being able to hit the medial more than lateral portion of the pec.
> *The pec inserts on the sternum and inserts onto the humerus(upper arm).



All muscle groups which comprise the pecs contract together. Even in shoulder presses they're contracting. Incline and decline movements will only put the slightest bit more emphasis on regions, but nothing that would be noticeable in terms of hypertrophy. Altering angles of chest-dominant work is like any other muscle group: it's just to provide a variety of stimuli.


----------



## Built (Aug 18, 2010)

*09-04-2004, 07:43 AM   How do I work the inside edge of chest *
Six years ago. 

Nice threadbump, Freshmuscle. Ask us all how we like you so far.


----------



## PushAndPull (Aug 18, 2010)

Built said:


> *09-04-2004, 07:43 AM   How do I work the inside edge of chest *
> Six years ago.
> 
> Nice threadbump, Freshmuscle. Ask us all how we like you so far.



I like him better than Dr.Abs  but that's not saying much.


----------



## MDR (Aug 18, 2010)

Built said:


> *09-04-2004, 07:43 AM   How do I work the inside edge of chest *
> Six years ago.
> 
> Nice threadbump, Freshmuscle. Ask us all how we like you so far.



Bunch of that going on lately.  I especially hate it when I don't notice the thread is years old and respond to the threadbumper.


----------



## Phineas (Aug 18, 2010)

MDR said:


> Bunch of that going on lately.  I especially hate it when I don't notice the thread is years old and respond to the threadbumper.



Shit, I didn't notice either. 

Time to raise hell like it's 2012


----------



## unclem (Aug 18, 2010)

it dont bother me that someone talked about a thread from 20 yrs ago. its basically the same. if u dont have muscle there fill it in.


----------



## shitfacejake (Sep 20, 2011)

if you want an easy way to develop the inner pectorals, then you should do close grip bench press. but, if you would rather not use the weight room for it, then it also works to do diamond pushups.


----------



## troubador (Sep 20, 2011)

Nice, double resurrection.


----------



## Digitalash (Sep 21, 2011)

You can focus on upper or lower, but not inner or outer....


----------



## bobbo (Jan 29, 2012)

how do you better target the upper part of the chest?besides incline bench


----------



## Thresh (Jan 29, 2012)

The chest is one muscle, you can't spot train it. 


5"10
193lbs
BF = around 13% (guess)
600mg Tren E, 325mg Test Cyp week


----------



## Gazhole (Jan 29, 2012)

Bent arm decline dumbell flys with a cable. Squeeze it at the top. Only work the middle portion of the ROM to get a good burn. Do 4 sets of 20 per side so you get a great pump.

Oh, and before you do that do a lot of heavy fucking bench presses and dips.


----------



## ThreeGigs (Jan 29, 2012)

Thresh said:


> The chest is one muscle, you can't spot train it.



Incorrect, the chest has 2 heads, like the biceps. Lower (sternal) and upper (clavicular).  You can definitely emphasize one head over the other, and you can almost, but not quite, do isolation exercises targeting one head if you use a cable machine.


----------



## KILLEROFSAINTS (Jan 29, 2012)

bobbo said:


> how do you better target the upper part of the chest?besides incline bench


 low pulley crossover


----------



## KelJu (Jan 29, 2012)

shitfacejake said:


> if you want an easy way to develop the inner pectorals, then you should do close grip bench press. but, if you would rather not use the weight room for it, then it also works to do diamond pushups.



Dear God, the humanity!


----------



## Thresh (Jan 29, 2012)

ThreeGigs said:


> Incorrect, the chest has 2 heads, like the biceps. Lower (sternal) and upper (clavicular).  You can definitely emphasize one head over the other, and you can almost, but not quite, do isolation exercises targeting one head if you use a cable machine.



It's called a pectoral for a reason. All isolation exercises do is increase delt usage (incline) or increase lat usage (decline). Pec have multiple heads and connection points, but it still does the same thing, the pec contracts and brings your arm in front of your chest, one muscle action.  that's it. 

The bicep comparison is far off, rotate your forearm, shocking you contracted one bicep muscle, contract both, arm bends, do the same with your chest, you can't. 


5"10
193lbs
BF = around 13% (guess)
600mg Tren E, 325mg Test Cyp week


----------



## Gazhole (Jan 29, 2012)

shitfacejake said:


> if you want an easy way to develop the inner pectorals, then you should do close grip bench press. but, if you would rather not use the weight room for it, then it also works to do diamond pushups.



And i expect wide grip pullups make your back wider too, huh?


----------



## CowPimp (Jan 30, 2012)

Plastic surgery works great.  It's effective at doing things that are impossible naturally!


----------



## ThreeGigs (Jan 30, 2012)

Thresh said:


> It's called a pectoral for a reason. All isolation exercises do is increase delt usage (incline) or increase lat usage (decline). Pec have multiple heads and connection points, but it still does the same thing, the pec contracts and brings your arm in front of your chest, one muscle action.  that's it.
> 
> The bicep comparison is far off, rotate your forearm, shocking you contracted one bicep muscle, contract both, arm bends, do the same with your chest, you can't.



Outstretch your arms in front of you, make fists and touch your thumbs together (hands pronated). Raise your arms to just above eye level and push your fists together like you're trying to crush something between your thumbs. Viola, clavicuar head near-isolation. Works better if you can actually apply force so that your arm tries to move slightly upwards. Incline bench won't give you isolation as it only occurs near lockout with a close grip, not to mention most incline benches are at too steep an angle which, as you correctly mention, bring anterior delts into play.  Cable machine is about the only way to get near isolation, but you can definitely get 90% / 10% upper/lower activation from pecs with a cable machine.


----------



## Thresh (Jan 30, 2012)

ThreeGigs said:


> Outstretch your arms in front of you, make fists and touch your thumbs together (hands pronated). Raise your arms to just above eye level and push your fists together like you're trying to crush something between your thumbs. Viola, clavicuar head near-isolation. Works better if you can actually apply force so that your arm tries to move slightly upwards. Incline bench won't give you isolation as it only occurs near lockout with a close grip, not to mention most incline benches are at too steep an angle which, as you correctly mention, bring anterior delts into play.  Cable machine is about the only way to get near isolation, but you can definitely get 90% / 10% upper/lower activation from pecs with a cable machine.



Well sir you provided a great rebuttal, now I'm going to have to try this  


5"10
193lbs
BF = around 13% (guess)
600mg Tren E, 325mg Test Cyp week


----------



## ThreeGigs (Jan 31, 2012)

Thresh said:


> Well sir you provided a great rebuttal, now I'm going to have to try this



Instead of two hands, just use one in front of you, pushing on a wall or something. Use your free hand to check which part of the pec is hard and which is soft. Vary the height and the angle at which you're pushing cross-body (from slightly upward to slightly downward) and you'll easily feel activation of upper, both, and lower pecs as you change the angle and hand positioning. You'll also be able to feel the front delt activate when you raise your hand too high.

If you do it in front of a mirror, turn sideways when you feel the biggest activation ratio between the upper and lower pecs and look at the angle of your arm above horizontal. That angle is the optimum angle *for you* for incline bench if clavicular head emphasis is what you're trying for. You'll probably also notice that it's a pretty shallow angle (it is for me at least) and that most non-adjustable incline benches are set up too steeply.  I've found that cable crossovers performed such that your hands are directly between the pulleys when they cross, pulling at a slight upward angle,  are better than anything I can do with a bar on a bench for upper chest.


----------



## unclem (Jan 31, 2012)

Gazhole said:


> Bent arm decline dumbell flys with a cable. Squeeze it at the top. Only work the middle portion of the ROM to get a good burn. Do 4 sets of 20 per side so you get a great pump.
> 
> Oh, and before you do that do a lot of heavy fucking bench presses and dips.


 
 i agree plus close grip bb presses if not mentioned.


----------



## carmineb (Jan 31, 2012)

well I am doing , or starting up a program again which actually identifies all angles on your chest. TWO specific exercises come to mind when it comes to inside edge of chest:

1. for this exercise, stand in front of a pulley and grab with one had. slightly bend at waistand pulley the pulley down across front of chest and so your palms almost touch opposite elbow, basically you are doing a peack conraction of crossovers only the peak portion. your chest wil almost cramp up afer doing a set or two of those,  you can also just use a dumbell since the idea behind this one is an extreme peak contraction.

2. grab a plate or a dubell and do close grip bench presses BUT do them this way. place palms on plate facinig each other no more than a few inches apart. Squeeze your palms together as you press up. the point here isnt the pressing up as much as it is the isometric movement of pressing your palms togehter across the plate or dumbell AS you press up. 

the first exercise hits the lower 1/3 of the clavicale more, the 2nd thru the middle.

I usually superset the second exercise with a light set of wife grip bench and trust me, you will barely be able to handle 50% 1RM on the wide grip bench IF you did the first exercise right!

I know it is said that you cant just isolate a particular part of a muscle, the fiber either conracts or it doesnt.... HOWEVER What is the difference between say a partial rep , a full rep or a peak contraction rep then if a fiber either contracts or it doesnt... It seems obvious to me that a fiber can contrct but not fully contract (partial) and when you do a peak contraction exercise, it is then that it fully contracts. What peak contractions do is allow teh fibers to contract strongly when they are fully contracted into a tight ball, (so to speak) so every single part of that fiber gets hit. I guess one COULD say that anything SHORT of a complete full stretch from all angles and a complete full peak contraction is never really a full rep since in the end, it is partial to it's complete range of motion. (my theory).


----------



## CowPimp (Jan 31, 2012)

unclem said:


> i agree plus close grip bb presses if not mentioned.



You realize he was making fun of this whole idea right?


----------



## ThreeGigs (Jan 31, 2012)

carmineb said:


> I usually superset the second exercise with a light set of wife grip bench.



Fourth best typo ever.


----------



## ALBOB (Jan 31, 2012)

Phineas said:


> Shit, I didn't notice either.
> 
> Time to raise hell like it's 2012



Oh how ironic


----------



## bundle (Jan 31, 2012)

I think there was a post to this thread , it was ahhh 12/04 yea that was it, that was the best answer


----------



## fienelarinsare (Feb 1, 2012)

same problem


----------



## carmineb (Feb 1, 2012)

bobbo said:


> how do you better target the upper part of the chest?besides incline bench


 
i get an incredible pump in upper chest when I do smith machine flat bench to neck.  moderate weight and no jerking reps, smooth, stretch at bottom.  (I get a stretch on upper chest even more than inclines)

Also, on the pec deck machine, we all know we can vary how we sit on it from sitting on the edge of the chair to completely upright.  For me, when I want to hit the lower a little more, I sit on edge of chair AND I lift my ribcage, (like you see guys do for benching) and maybe raise my seat 1 notchand it hits lower more BUT when i want to hit upper, I sit upright, lower my seat a notch or two,  AND I roll my shoulders (slouch them forward and put my chin on my chest)  This causes my lower back to be braced but upper back/shoulders to be slightly off.  when I do the exercise, I go slow and peack contract for 2 seconds and slowlyu back.  TRUST ME, when you are done doing these, you will have a knot of muscle starting from the inner upper chest running across your clavicle to your shoulders.  You can grip the bars with thumbs in (as if you gripped them for a reverse pec deck and it hits it more)

(it works for me anyway)  I like to use rest pause on that one.  do s many as I can for 8-10, moderate weight, slow and push thru when it gets slow, no cheating, rest 10-15 seconds and do again, same weight, even if you only get 5-6.  it is usually a finisher for me when I incorporate it into my chest day.  ALSO if it is not chest day and you incorporate a pump session for chest on a different day (working in sets inbetween rests for some other body part) you can do these withou the rest pause, just to get blood flowing in there again


----------



## Ezskanken (Feb 1, 2012)

thedude007 said:


> For some reason the middle of my chest, right where the two pex meet and between my upper and mid chest muscles, isnt very developed. How do I work right where my pex meet in the middle of my chest.



Do push ups on a bench with your hands facing each other.  You'll feel it or sure!


----------



## pebble (Feb 1, 2012)

CowPimp said:


> Plastic surgery works great.  It's effective at doing things that are impossible naturally!



Oh really?  Or u could just work with the anatomical fiber alignment. Most pressing exercise do not do this. Heck even flies don't even target the clavicular head. They primarily work the seternal. Seeing as the clavicle head is attached to the medial aspect of the clavicle you can target that portion of te "chest" as long as you work with te direction of the fibers pushing up and across the body. 

Try this exercise: Videos - Flex Online and tell me u don't feel the difference compared to a regular bench press.


----------



## CowPimp (Feb 1, 2012)

pebble said:


> Oh really?  Or u could just work with the anatomical fiber alignment. Most pressing exercise do not do this. Heck even flies don't even target the clavicular head. They primarily work the seternal. Seeing as the clavicle head is attached to the medial aspect of the clavicle you can target that portion of te "chest" as long as you work with te direction of the fibers pushing up and across the body.
> 
> Try this exercise: Videos - Flex Online and tell me u don't feel the difference compared to a regular bench press.



I do think there's something to the emphasis of the sternal vs. clavicular head.  I still don't see how that affects your "inner chest."  That video doesn't really inspire confidence.

With that said, that's actually a really interesting exercise idea, as it gets a lot more shoulder transverse adduction involved than you typically get with a pressing movement.  The chest is very strong at this particular joint articulation.


----------



## jimm (Feb 2, 2012)

More food more weight.. Bench press incline decline flys cross overs ect.. dumbbell bench press.. And lots of time and dedication!


----------



## poohiron (Feb 3, 2012)

I agree that motor units are either recruited or not. Variation in recruitment order partially determines the effect elicited from the exercise used. Utilize exercises with different ranges of motion to knock off different MUs with different thresholds.


----------



## aminoman74 (Feb 4, 2012)

glose grip presses when you squeeze at the top with your chest and flyes would do it but there is no such thing as just hitting the inside of the chest.When hitting the chest the upper middle or lower is hit as a whole when working the muscle in part.


----------



## aminoman74 (Feb 4, 2012)

Thresh said:


> The chest is one muscle, you can't spot train it.
> 
> 
> 5"10
> ...


 
The chest has 3 major heads upper  middle and lower.


----------



## njc (Feb 4, 2012)

poohiron said:


> I agree that motor units are either recruited or not. Variation in recruitment order partially determines the effect elicited from the exercise used. Utilize exercises with different ranges of motion to knock off different MUs with different thresholds.


 
X2

I dont understand it when people say "ALWAYS USE FULL ROM WHEN POSSIBLE." Wrong. Maximum tension is created at the turnaround point of each rep, ie-the end of concentric concraction and eccentric contraction. Might as well spread the love and create as many differenct turnaround points as possible. Keeps the CNS guessing as well and helps to decrease stagnation of workouts.

fyi-im not saying that this will help you concentrate on building your "inner chest"


----------



## poohiron (Feb 5, 2012)

njc said:


> X2
> 
> I dont understand it when people say "ALWAYS USE FULL ROM WHEN POSSIBLE." Wrong. Maximum tension is created at the turnaround point of each rep, ie-the end of concentric concraction and eccentric contraction. Might as well spread the love and create as many differenct turnaround points as possible. Keeps the CNS guessing as well and helps to decrease stagnation of workouts.
> 
> fyi-im not saying that this will help you concentrate on building your "inner chest"


 

I don't understand why people don't actually read... Differing ranges of motion IS different from full range of motion. The point was different ranges of motion ie. exercises have different patterns of MU recruitment.


----------



## MyK (Feb 5, 2012)

best way to isolate your inner chest - clench you hand into a fist and punch yourself in the face - 5 sets of 10 works best


----------



## CowPimp (Feb 6, 2012)

poohiron said:


> I agree that motor units are either recruited or not. Variation in recruitment order partially determines the effect elicited from the exercise used. Utilize exercises with different ranges of motion to knock off different MUs with different thresholds.



Yes, but this still should have no impact on whether the "inner" or "outer" chest is preferentially recruited.  Muscle fibers always run the length of origin to insertion.  This suggests that in order for the "inner chest" to contract separately from other sections of the chest you would have to be able to contract part of a muscle fiber.  Motor units don't allow for contraction of parts of a muscle fiber.  They allow for contraction of different groups of muscle fibers.

You sometimes hear the argument that you can't isolate but you can emphasize.  Concerning the "inner" vs "outer" chest, this is a complete fallacy.  It's a biomechanical principle that tension is consistent from one end of a muscle fiber to another.


----------



## CowPimp (Feb 6, 2012)

aminoman74 said:


> The chest has 3 major heads upper  middle and lower.



The pectoralis major is comprised of two muscles: the sternal and clavicular heads.  There is also a pectoralis minor; perhaps this is what you are referring to?  If so, that muscle is located too deep to have a significant impact on your physique.  The pectoralis major and deltoids sit over top of it.


----------



## CowPimp (Feb 6, 2012)

njc said:


> X2
> 
> I dont understand it when people say "ALWAYS USE FULL ROM WHEN POSSIBLE." Wrong. Maximum tension is created at the turnaround point of each rep, ie-the end of concentric concraction and eccentric contraction. Might as well spread the love and create as many differenct turnaround points as possible. Keeps the CNS guessing as well and helps to decrease stagnation of workouts.
> 
> fyi-im not saying that this will help you concentrate on building your "inner chest"



This is now what he was suggesting.  There is a difference.  By changing up the movement pattern you cause different muscles to be called upon to differing degrees at various joint angles.  Depending on the joint angle at which the muscle must become most active to coordinate the movement, you will recruit different motor units and place tension on the muscle at differing lengths.


----------



## banker23 (Feb 6, 2012)

MyK said:


> best way to isolate your inner chest - clench you hand into a fist and punch yourself in the face - 5 sets of 10 works best


 
x2 but this is even better:


----------

