First off, the original poster’s name was Bonedog, not DASADA- you may want to make sure the information in your own posts are correct before you go flaming others.
Secondly, what information would you like me to learn? This question comes up more often than you think; and the myth that you can specifically train this area needs to be exposed. And then you have the ignorant trainers who will prescribe cable flyes to solve the problem (a pointless all around exercise)- obviously the orignal poster thought this too as he mentioned that he did not have access to a "cable machine."
Third, Restless does have a pretty good grasp on training and nutritional issues, it's obvious if you read his posts here- you probably wouldn't know because I've never seen your name grace (well, not really) this board before.
Lastly, if you come here and ask an intellegent question, you will get an intellegent answer (from somebody). But it's not my job (or anyone else's on this board for that matter) to try to figure out what the hell someone really means when they ask a question. Regardless, that wasn't the case here; the poster was obviously ignorant, not simply "looking for a few tips to try and fill out his pecs."
My opinion of Restless comes from seeing his posts over the last few years on various boards. Anyone who knows that there’s no such thing as an inner pec should have realized that Restless said that in jest. Since this thread is getting a little ugly I’m going to post something from an old reader mail and TC’s reply.
I'm trying to build my upper, inner pecs. What exercises would you suggest? As many as possible, please, because I'm trying to use a lot of variety in my workout. How close can I make the grip on my bench press before it makes my triceps the limiting factor?
Also, do you think if I stopped working my legs, or at least worked them less often, my upper body would grow faster?
patricksepton
Patrick, you've been reading those Weider mags again, haven't you? First of all, the shape of pecs, or any other muscles, for that matter, is largely genetic. And while it's true that some larger muscle groups have bigger concentrations of slow-twitch or fast-twitch fibers in different parts of the same muscle, making one part of the pec grow independently of the other is damn hard.
What I might suggest is to perhaps do some more movements that stress the functional purpose of the pecs (to adduct the arms), like flyes and more flyes. Other than that, just work more chest (or work chest more wisely), because as the entire chest grows, so will the “inner” chest.
Wow, amazing how a simple question can be just blown apart into a HUGE debate. But, the debate is pretty much over: Joel, Restless and who ever else on this thread that said there is no such thing as a “inner pec” is correct. You know it’s always good to know some basic anatomy when training - at least I’ve always believed that. And knowing that there is a upper pectoral region and a lower is pretty basic and good to know in assisting trainees to devise a program for themselves.
So, simply: you have a weak lower pec. You can either train using a compound movement such as the bench press to hit the entire pectoral region. Or flat bench DB presses. Or really saturate the lower pec with a routine consisting of decline work. Someone suggested using a pec dec machine - that may work, too. Sounds like it's time to experiment.
I thought Poliquins response to this very question was pretty funny too:
Q: How can I better build up my inner pecs? I've tried conventional methods like dops and cable crossovers, but I've yet to develop any "cleavage." Any recommendations?
A: Yes. Have you heard of a Wonderbra? It creates a truly amazing amount of cleavage. Seriously, you are probably after a more conventional answer. Sorry, we can't give it to you. The truth is, there's no such thing as an "inner pec." If you don’t' believe us, look in any good anatomy book. People who have highly developed "inner pecs" were born with pecs that have a long belly and are consequently "thicker" closer to the sternum. Therefore, when their pecs grow, it looks like they have some "cleavage."
One can certainly make the distinction between the clavicular head (a.k.a. the upper) and a sternal (a.k.a. the lower) pec, but there's no such thing as an inner (medial) or outer (lateral) pec, unless you're a Martian. Unfortunately, there are still some fitness gurus out there who perpetuate the myth. If these guys were right and you specialized only on the inner chest work, you'd build a chest that looked like a baboon's ass.
Claiming that the inner chest can be worked specifically implies you can contract part of the muscle without contracting the rest of it. This is similar to stretching only part of a rubber band—it just doesn't work that way. There are certainly exercises that give the illusion of working a specific area of a muscle, but this is generally from minor inflammation around the attachments points- not from the concentrated use of part of the muscle.
So, in conclusion, there's no exercise selection or secret training method that can solve your training problem. Having pecs with "cleavage" is simply a matter of picking the right parents. But, there may be some hope for you yet. There are ads in one muscle magazine for those booster briefs that make you look like you're packing some serious sirloin in your shorts. Maybe after reading this answer, they'll come up with a tank-top version of the Wonderbra.
its really pretty simple if you know anything about anatomy. the fibers of the pecs run from the sternum to the humerus. (from the middle of your body away.)if you were going to work the “inner pec” you are implying that you can work part of a muscle fiber and the rest of that fiberis just resting . so the fiber closest to your sternum would be working but the rest of the fiber near the humerus would just be resting. c’mon you cant work in or out. you either work a muscle or you dont.
Could those different fibers have different strength/stress potential? If one were to work out with a weight that caused hypertrophy of the weaker fibers, but not stress the stronger fibers - could this make a difference?
No, I’m not being an ass. I’m just thinking that not all fibers are equal.
If you want to get a couple muscle biopsies done and then work in the corresponding rep range w/ the appropriate TUT, etc. then that would be an option; however, I don’t know many people who would want to do this. Also, I dont know that the lateral and medial portions of the pec major would be significantly different in fiber make-up anyhow; so it probably would be a lost cause. The problem is most likely genetics, not a trainee neglecting to work in various rep ranges, etc.
Ignorant? I guess I gave you way to much credit. I figured that anybody with a half a brian would know what I meant. You obvoiusly don’t. So why the f*** would you respond??? If your that big of a dork to write replies on questions you don’t understand, may god help you. Cause you need a life! “What info. would you like me to learn?” Hhhmmmmm. Lets think…probally info. on bodybuilding “flame”
let me clarify what i meant. each individual muscle fiber of the pecs run from the sternum to the humerus. thus you can work the upper or lower portion of the pecs by changing the arm angle. hence the incline press for the upper pecs and the flat or decline for middle or lower pecs. however, you cannot work the inner or outer pecs because that would mean you are only working part of each fiber, which is impossible. either a fiber contracts or it doesnt. using a fly movement just isolates the pecs more than with presses. and bringing your arms in and doing a close grip press only shifts more stress to the triceps. the only way to shift stress on the pecs is by changing the angle of your arms so that you are working clavicular or sternal.
This post is evidence that the average age of frequenters here is dropping all the time. My guess is the average age is not 17-18.
Press heavy, lets close this.
good point joel. not only will poliquin not answer dumb questions, but he will tell you straight to your face that youre a retard and to get the fuck out of his sight.
Sounds to me like “bonedog” and “momo” are actually one and the same person - perhaps posting under two different names to give the impression that there’s more support for his (untenable) position than is really the case? It’d be interesting if the moderator could confirm or deny this…
Oh, and I’m with MBE. I want an exercise that will bring out the central strand of dorsal forearm muscle - but only from a point starting 2.7 inches away from the elbow and terminating 3.1 inches above the wrist. On my left arm. Can anyone help? Joel, Restless, please don’t bother responding, 'cause everyone knows that you guys don’t know s***.
Yeah. Well, whatever. Judging from another recent thread, momo (or whoever he really is) has managed to make such a complete ass of himself that he won’t get any real answers to any more of his questions on this forum anyway. So that’s sorted.
On a slightly different note, how come you don’t like cable work? Just curious. (And maybe we can salvage some meaningful discussion from this thread…)
They have their place, but they shouldn’t be the staple exercise in any program. And they certainly shouldn’t be used to bring lagging body parts up to par. Honestly, anyone could do without them and be just fine.