Best Pec Exercise?

Training
61

one thing i would like to add

growing up the bench press was my favorite exercise and my #1 strength builder, as i grew and my arms got longer that bench press became my worst enemy

i’m still pissed about it, i loved benching
i had to resort to decline dumbbell flyes to get the maximal pectoral recruitment i was looking for

trust me, i would rather bench any day, its an easy lift

those declines about tore my arms out of thier sockets , i took those babies to the floor
everyone thought i was nuts, but i had pretty good pec flexibilty, and what the heck copying “the oak” is never a terribly bad idea

just be prepared to suffer the wrath

62

[quote]Mr. Push Ups wrote:
You can quote me on this. “Incline Bench Presses are more of a front delt exercise than a pectoral exercise”

[/quote]

It depends on the angle of the incline. Obviously the higher you go, the more the shoulders take over. Using a low incline (less than 30) does what it’s supposed to do, slightly shift the emphasis higher on the chest.

And the delts are involved in all pushing exercises. There’s no way to stop them getting involved.

63

[quote]Mr. Push Ups wrote:
shrimp, nobody cares no more…if you think you can get more range of motion in a chest exercise by picking your nose, hey thats all that matters…as long as you believe it

the guy that wrote this thread has long arms like me, hes not a tree stub, hes looking to build his chest not listen to your trolling.

put up some suggestions for him or STFU!

[/quote]

Is this really necessary? It is your second CONSECUTIVE post solely devoted to a personal attack.

This does not really help your arguement. It just makes you look chilidish.

Grow up.

64

i completely agree with that

i remember the days of benching and incline benching…i used to be able to get that clavicular separation with my presses.

some people are taking it the wrong way what i said about bench presses and push ups

personally, i like benching…and its a an awesome exercise. Believe me…i hate machines. love bench presses…the only thing that throws a chill up someones spine is the fact that i feel weighted push ups and dips are unbelievable great exercises that i feel they are superior to benching.

i still bench for my strength, just my bulk phasing is purely from pushing, inverted pushing & dipping
no disrespect to flyes or pullovers either
i just have an order of importance

but i do feel 99% of every F’n machine made is worthless…unless your 78 years old and you knee to use a leg extension to keep you walking, then i’m all for machines

for the rest of us still under half a century…please grab a pull up bar or do a real exercise like a heavy back squat or one of my fav’s “the clean & press”

thats that.
I love benching
but i love dips and push ups more, especially hand stand push ups<<<<dont get me started on shoulders…save that for another day

65

[quote]redfreddy wrote:
Mr. Push Ups wrote:
shrimp, nobody cares no more…if you think you can get more range of motion in a chest exercise by picking your nose, hey thats all that matters…as long as you believe it

the guy that wrote this thread has long arms like me, hes not a tree stub, hes looking to build his chest not listen to your trolling.

put up some suggestions for him or STFU!

your a little off bu, that was about 5 hours ago the dude took off…go back to bed…or i’ll embarass you too and make you run home too…lol
WTF …you can’t even have a decent conversation in here for a couple hours without the A-Holes chiming in every couple and saying nothing about points of view or useful exercises or info

useless junk

please type up an exercise or an opion of one…hit send…then get lost…you will have made it worth your while for opening your trap

Is this really necessary? It is your second CONSECUTIVE post solely devoted to a personal attack.

This does not really help your arguement. It just makes you look chilidish.

Grow up.
[/quote]

66

[quote]redfreddy wrote:
Mr. Push Ups wrote:
shrimp, nobody cares no more…if you think you can get more range of motion in a chest exercise by picking your nose, hey thats all that matters…as long as you believe it

the guy that wrote this thread has long arms like me, hes not a tree stub, hes looking to build his chest not listen to your trolling.

put up some suggestions for him or STFU!

Is this really necessary? It is your second CONSECUTIVE post solely devoted to a personal attack.

This does not really help your arguement. It just makes you look chilidish.

Grow up.
[/quote]

since penn state beat your ass this year, i’ll just let you sulk in the shame, you probably don’t have much imput either huh?

sucks to be you.

67

Read more of the thread.

Mr Push Ups, let me get this right, you’re saying your primary mass builder is push ups? How do you add resistance? What are you doing to increase intensity? Pls post your current routine, i’m curious to what it looks like.

And please note that a bench press is NOT in a fixed position unless you’re doing it in a smith machine. The range of motion is the same as a push up. Bring the bar to your chest, your hands are in the same position they would be if you were in the bottom spot on a push up.

And what’s this right way and wrong way stuff? There’s a million ways to do exercises. Dips for example. The only wrong way is one that will cause injury. You can do them focused on the chest, or the triceps.

I hope i’m not wasting my time responding to your comments. You’re insulting a lot of people who’ve put a lot more time into being good community members here than you. Chill pill mate! There’s room for everyone’s opinions here.

My push day goes

Flat bench press 3x 2-5reps
Incline DB Press 2x 6-10reps
DB Shoulder Press 2x 8-12reps
Skullcrusher 2x 8-15
Lateral DB Raise 2x 8-15

After the flat bench’s my pecs are definitely getting used. After the inclines they’re almost fried and the pump is phenomenal. If you’re only using your arms then your technique is wrong.

I don’t know what doing multiple sets of push ups would achieve as i’d be pumping out 30+ on each set, even using rest pauses and delayed eccentrics. This rep range will not cause hypertrophy and i’m not in the gym to ‘tone’.

Constant references to navy seals do not make you cool.

68

Mr. Push Ups. It’s fairly obvious you’ve made your opinion known. If all your going to do is hyjack this thread to berade people with unneeded insults, why don’t you start a new thread so that the poster doesn’t have to sift through your posts along with other replys to find the actual information he needs? You ARE acting childish. And I suppose now your going to attack the sport of rugby for my ‘attack’ on your opinion? Grow up.

69

I’d still like to know how biomechanically a pushup and bench press or any other pressing movement are that different. The movement is the same, just the parameters such as in a lying position, prone position or standing position. The same movement occurs.

good lord, it can’t be that hard to comprehend.

Next you’re going to tell us that a chinup and a lat pulldown are totally different as well.

70

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
I’d still like to know how biomechanically a pushup and bench press or any other pressing movement are that different. The movement is the same, just the parameters such as in a lying position, prone position or standing position. The same movement occurs.

good lord, it can’t be that hard to comprehend.

Next you’re going to tell us that a chinup and a lat pulldown are totally different as well.[/quote]

I think that you may be over-simplifying these exercises.

When you do a pushup you do use different muscles. Think about how your body has weight dispersed throughout and in somewhat unbalanced locations. It could be considered an unstable struture as far as lifting goes. Different stabalizing muscles are recruited in the monements. Also if you do a pushup between chairs you can work the chest more than a press. A bench is straight up and down while a pushup moves on your body’s leverages from your feet.

These principles can be applied to the chinup and pulldown as well.

71

I should clarify that I am not suggesting that the exercises are TOTALLY different just not completely the same.

72

guys, calm down.

I find that the best exercise for adding size to the chest is the pec-dec machine. not only is it a safe and stable movement, i find that it really helps to bring up the inner pecs.

good luck!

73

[quote]Mr. Push Ups wrote:
redfreddy wrote:
Mr. Push Ups wrote:
shrimp, nobody cares no more…if you think you can get more range of motion in a chest exercise by picking your nose, hey thats all that matters…as long as you believe it

the guy that wrote this thread has long arms like me, hes not a tree stub, hes looking to build his chest not listen to your trolling.

put up some suggestions for him or STFU!

Is this really necessary? It is your second CONSECUTIVE post solely devoted to a personal attack.

This does not really help your arguement. It just makes you look chilidish.

Grow up.

since penn state beat your ass this year, i’ll just let you sulk in the shame, you probably don’t have much imput either huh?

sucks to be you.[/quote]

“imput?” No, I guess I don’t…

74

[quote]maveric wrote:
jehovasfitness wrote:
I’d still like to know how biomechanically a pushup and bench press or any other pressing movement are that different. The movement is the same, just the parameters such as in a lying position, prone position or standing position. The same movement occurs.

good lord, it can’t be that hard to comprehend.

Next you’re going to tell us that a chinup and a lat pulldown are totally different as well.

I think that you may be over-simplifying these exercises.

When you do a pushup you do use different muscles. Think about how your body has weight dispersed throughout and in somewhat unbalanced locations. It could be considered an unstable struture as far as lifting goes. Different stabalizing muscles are recruited in the monements. Also if you do a pushup between chairs you can work the chest more than a press. A bench is straight up and down while a pushup moves on your body’s leverages from your feet.

These principles can be applied to the chinup and pulldown as well.[/quote]

I think you’re misunderstanding me. Yes, a pushup involves more muscles simply because we have to support our bodyweight and stabilize the trunk, as opposed to a bench press. However, fundamentally they’re the same movement, so any muscles used in a bench press will be used for a pushup, however like stated before not every muscle used in a pushup will be utilized during a bench press.

75

One last tidbit.
With respect to push ups.
I found this exercise i created very valuable. Its a combination push/pull exercise for the hamstrings but its in push up position.

For those of us with weak hamstrings, myself included, this is a killer exercise you might wanna give a looksy.
Ronnie Coleman who weighs near 300lbs and squats some 800lbs could even use this because of the leverage and heavy resistance placed on the hamstrings.

Its 5:20 A.M. here in PA, and i’m about ready to do my daily weak point training on my hamstrings.

I do 4 sets of this exercise every morning. “Hamstring Push Ups”
1- Its basically a glute/ham bodyweight raise.
2- It’s in push up position
3- you need no machine to do this on

I use my downstairs sofa to pin the bottom of my down and pivot on the knees by lifting the hips slightly off of the floor.

Execution. The stongest of hamstrings will have a tough time with this movement as you have to lift your entire upperbody with the back of your legs from a levereged position.
This is so hard most of you who try this won’t be able to do 1 rep without the use of your arms to help push you up.

Simply start curling with your hamstrings as your body comes off of the floor and into a push up position. You only you the strength of your upperbody to keep rhythm on the movement. Your hamstrings should be doing all the work. You can keep the forced reps going and tearing the hell out of those hamstrings by repping out this baby and still completing reps with help from your upperbody.

Very rare bodyweight movement with both an upperbody push and a lowerbody pulling simultaneously to perform the exercise.

If you really want to test your strength, try this movement from the 90 degree position and start lowering your upperbody to the floor. Be careful not to do a faceplant in the floor as your hamstrings will probably not be able to do 1 rep. just keep your hands up ready to stop you from doing a faceplant.

Most people can’t do 1 rep. From bottom up without the use of thier hands, or from top down without hitting the floor after going past 45 degrees.

Those of you with killer hams will still have a hard time doing this. Even Ronnie Coleman would have a hard time pulling his massive upperbody up with just the use of his hamstrings. All the leverge is focused into the hamstrings and the couple hundred pounds of upperbody mass has to be pulled by the hamstrings. You can squat 400-800lbs…its don’t matter alot of a squat is the glutes and quads taking up 100’s of those pounds. This really stresses the hamstrings like no other exercise.

Most of us guys work our biceps…but by athletic standards, biceps are kind of a very rarely needed muscle

Most of us never train our hamstrings all out or frequently…this is a much more useful and beneficial exercise to do then curls.

Hamstrings are very neglected bodypart, i took a poll one time on the easiest muscle to train one time…hamstrings came in dead last.

So here is the best exercise for them fellas. A modified glute/ham raise without a machine in the comfort of your own home.

Well i gotta go destroy the back of my legs now it’s 5:42 and i’m gonna be late for work.

Give my Hamstring Push Ups a try, never know you just might like it.
Good Luck!

76

First of all, any chest exercise, if you’re doing it correctly, will build strength and mass in the pecs, given you’re working in the proper range of reps/sets/load. Not hitting the pecs enough? Change up the angles a little: bench angle, bar/d-bell angle during both the conc. and ecc. motions, etc.

Push-ups are a great exercise but it’s pretty hard to do push-ups with enough weight to get into the 5rm range. Lots of mention of Dave Tate, Arnold, etc. as proponents of the push-up. Also lots of mention of Tate and his 600+ lb. BENCH, not 600+ push-ups.

I’ve seen lots of pics of Arnold benching huge weight, not one of him doing pushups. In this sport/lifestyle, 90% is what works for YOU, and that will vary from person to person. To each his own. Just be careful to do your homework, before saying your way is the be all, end all.

77

[quote]Big Willie Style wrote:
First of all, any chest exercise, if you’re doing it correctly, will build strength and mass in the pecs, given you’re working in the proper range of reps/sets/load. Not hitting the pecs enough? Change up the angles a little: bench angle, bar/d-bell angle during both the conc. and ecc. motions, etc.[/quote]

That would be the standard line of reasoning for many years. However, I don’t think long armed shallow chested individuals benefit “as much” performing any sort of Barbell Bench press. And in fact could cause some eventual shoulder damage because of the inferior legerage which they bring to the movement.

I assure you that you can add massive amounts of weight in many forms to the standard Push-up which would cause a good deal of hypertrophy. Again, this is not the standard thinking in the industry. But if you think about it, why wouldn’t it work?

I agree with this. And I think that anyone claiming that the only way to a great Chest is to Bench Press is very mistaken!

How about this statement instead: The most popular way to build the chest is through Barbell Bench Pressing.

Or, you could state if all body types were alike ONE way to build your chest is to Bench Press. But the fact is, many folks who have long arms and a shallow chest are “delt Benchers.”

And those people simply do not get the pectoral stimuation needed to build a great chest by performing Barbell Bench Pressing. And in fact the movement could cause some long term shoulder damage.

Note: I have no studies to back this up and I’m not sure that any have been done. I only have my personal observation over many years. If you disagree, I take no offense.

78

Good points Zeb. Basically what I was building up to in my post was my final point that 90% is what works for you. I also have a terribly hard time developing my chest. So in order to hit the pecs the way I want, I have had to adapt some exercises to suit me better.

What I find works extremely well for me is to do d-bell presses (flat, inc, dec) and keeping the triceps out of it as much as possible by never letting my elbows get lower than about 100deg or so. So instead of having your hands close to your sides at the bottom of the motion, they’d be further away somewhat similar to a wide-grip bench press.

I like this better than wide-grip bench however because I can get a greater rom, it keeps more tension on the pecs throughout the rom, and I can adjust the angles little to keep from stressing my shoulders too much (which was a problem for me in the past. doing CW and AC’s 8 week shoulder program now).

Anyways, try these d-bell presses out. Works for me :slight_smile:

It’s a pretty interesting topic to say the least since most guys desire a thick and powerful chest. Looking forward to reading more intelligent opinions

79

[quote]
jehovasfitness wrote:

Please explain to me then the biomechanical difference between a pushup and a bench press? It’s the same movement just flipped from prone to supine, and the pushup involves stabilizing the body.

I’m not saying the bench doesn’t work the triceps and shoulders as well, but to say the chest isn’t involved is suspect.Who said that? find a quote.

Mr. Push Ups wrote:
no problem…#1 push up has a greater range of motion and a more natural movement plus its not a fixed position movement, so its easier for me to target the pectorals by manipulating the angle also there is no gripping of a barbell in this movement and the bodyweight movement incorporates more motor neurons in the pectoral area for there is a body thru space movement

both use the chest, both use plenty of other muscles as well[/quote]

Mr Pushups,
you need to quit giving people advice.

i know this may be insulting, but: you haven’t a fucking clue what you are talking about.

and you like to talk a lot.

which is a dangerous, dangerous combination.

In fact, it may be the most dangerous thing in our world today: people who don’t know much but like to talk a lot.

Sorry.

80

[quote]maveric wrote:
Wow! Great responces everybody, I do appreciate the help. Yes, I do have very long arms and I can feel that my upper body takes a lot of the weight when I bench.

I am curious if someone can shed some light on “proper” dip form. I do do a weight dip - trainng with 45lbs and could probably max even more. I would say that I am using my triceps though. Hopefully someone can explain how to do this exercise for the chest. Thanks.

I think what I am going to do is continue with art of Waterbury and simply do only chest movements on my in between days. That way I will be training my whole body every other day, but training my chest every single day.

Can anyone who is familiar with AOW give me some advice on training parameters for my off days? I don’t have the experience or knowledge to know how to compliment this proram with more chest work.

I don’t think my gym has the capacity for me to do wide-gripe dips but I will definitly start doing more push-ups and variations.

Thanks again all![/quote]

Maveric,

I did Art of Waterbury for 3 weeks back in July and Aug. I’ve looked over my log to see what I might do if I were in your shoes. Since I don’t know you, my suggestions are speculative.

I suspect that you may be allowing your delts, tri’s, and back to take over when working the pecs. As a result you may be cheating your pecs out of a good growth inducing workout. You would probably benefit from supersetting a isolation exercise with a major movement. For example:

A1. fly’s, crossovers, etc.
A2. bench press, weighted pushups, etc.

On day one (10x3)I had a superset that looked like this:

B1. good mornings
B2. Dips

but I could have changed it to a giant set that looks like this:

B1. good morns.
B2. cable crossovers
B3. dips

A bit safer way to do this and a way that might work better for you would be to reverse the order and do the major movement first then finish off the pecs with the isolation move.

There’s a hundred different opinions on why one way is better that the other but either way, this will ensure that your effectively bombing the pecs while still allowing the benefits of a major movement.Also, you will be able to work within the program while still taking the prescribed off days to pursue other athletic endevours.

This may really work for you. Give it go for a few weeks or a month and if it doesn’t work out then try something else.

As far as proper dip form, it’s my opinion that the only improper dip form is one that may or does cause injury. To hit the tri’s more you would mantain a more upright position and keep your elbows tucked in, to hit the chest more you would sort of hunch over and allow your elbows to flare out some. The bottom line is if it doesn’t feel right or hurts, stop doing it and figure out the problem.

When you are done with the AOW program, I highly suggest the Waterbury Method. That program kicked ass for me. The 10x3 and 4x6 protocol propelled my bench to 370 1rm and my deadlift to 500 plus 1rm.

Keep trying different things and you will get it figured out.

Holmdog