Pullovers for Upper Pec Mass

Training Bodybuilding
21

[quote]sasquatch1424 wrote:
I second xilinx with muscle mind connection, I did the plate squeeze presses (@3:05 in the vid) before I bench and it helped for me

[/quote]

x2 on the squeeze press. When bench pressing, pre-exhaust with a set of the plate squeeze presses before each set. This should help you feel bench pressing in your pecs to a greater extent.

Also, make sure you’re shrugging your shoulder blades up and back when you set up on bench. That should help keep the shoulders from doing all the work.

22

[quote]shadylow wrote:
Most guys that have trouble targeting their chest are using more weight than they should and also really bad form.

Too narrow a grip and pressing the bar from their necks. Not going deep enough either. Staying in the top 1/3 of the ROM.

Lower the weight considerably and widen your grip. Press to your nipples while squeezing your shoulder blades and you should be able to feel it more.
[/quote]

Press to the nipple line on an INCLINE barbell press?

I think not.

23

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]shadylow wrote:
Most guys that have trouble targeting their chest are using more weight than they should and also really bad form.

Too narrow a grip and pressing the bar from their necks. Not going deep enough either. Staying in the top 1/3 of the ROM.

Lower the weight considerably and widen your grip. Press to your nipples while squeezing your shoulder blades and you should be able to feel it more.
[/quote]

Press to the nipple line on an INCLINE barbell press?

I think not. [/quote]

I was talking about a flat bench. I never said anything about incline.

24

[quote]shadylow wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]shadylow wrote:
Most guys that have trouble targeting their chest are using more weight than they should and also really bad form.

Too narrow a grip and pressing the bar from their necks. Not going deep enough either. Staying in the top 1/3 of the ROM.

Lower the weight considerably and widen your grip. Press to your nipples while squeezing your shoulder blades and you should be able to feel it more.
[/quote]

Press to the nipple line on an INCLINE barbell press?

I think not. [/quote]

I was talking about a flat bench. I never said anything about incline.
[/quote]

When the discussion is about the upper pecs, and all of the previous discussion pertaining to pressing is about incline pressing you can see how it would be useful to clear up that minor (/sarcasm) difference.

25

Noted.
Hopefully I didn’t confuse anyone on here. And if I did, I apologize.

26

I was just thinking about targeting the chest in general, since the OP said he had bitch tits.

27

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]hipsr4runnin wrote:
Plus arent certified bitch tits an aromatase issue?[/quote]

Either way, unless the OP is carrying a whole lot of muscle, there is a way higher chance of him carrying more fat there than anything else.

Pull Overs are not an upper chest exercise.

Incline presses are you handle that. Why make shit complicated?[/quote]

Lol I’m pretty fat for my liking right now too.

I’m not trying to make it complicates, I just never feel it on the incline press. [/quote]

That’s not the incline presses fault. Thats your fault. You need to learn how to make exercises work, based on your individual biomechanics.

Simply sitting down, grabbing the bar, and pressing it up and down with no other thought doesnt work for a lot of people. Targeting relatively small msucles (the sternal head of the pec e.g.) requires skill. Develop better MM connection, effective ROM, hand position, bar path, etc.

Dont resort to exotic movements (a lat exercise), that have little room for progression, to do the job that something very simple and effective should take care of. [/quote]

Thanks yeah i definitely need to work on the connection.

28

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]hipsr4runnin wrote:
Plus arent certified bitch tits an aromatase issue?[/quote]

Either way, unless the OP is carrying a whole lot of muscle, there is a way higher chance of him carrying more fat there than anything else.

Pull Overs are not an upper chest exercise.

Incline presses are you handle that. Why make shit complicated?[/quote]

Lol I’m pretty fat for my liking right now too.

I’m not trying to make it complicates, I just never feel it on the incline press. [/quote]

That’s not the incline presses fault. Thats your fault. You need to learn how to make exercises work, based on your individual biomechanics.

Simply sitting down, grabbing the bar, and pressing it up and down with no other thought doesnt work for a lot of people. Targeting relatively small msucles (the sternal head of the pec e.g.) requires skill. Develop better MM connection, effective ROM, hand position, bar path, etc.

Dont resort to exotic movements (a lat exercise), that have little room for progression, to do the job that something very simple and effective should take care of. [/quote]

Thanks yeah i definitely need to work on the connection. [/quote]

the pullover is most definitely a chest exercise (as well as a lat exercise)thats just basic anatomy, is not exotic and using it if it works for you is not complicating things.

29

[quote]bluebrasil wrote:

the pullover is most definitely a chest exercise (as well as a lat exercise)thats just basic anatomy, is not exotic and using it if it works for you is not complicating things.

[/quote]

That’s like saying the squat is a lower back exercise since it gets activated.

30

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bluebrasil wrote:

the pullover is most definitely a chest exercise (as well as a lat exercise)thats just basic anatomy, is not exotic and using it if it works for you is not complicating things.

[/quote]

That’s like saying the squat is a lower back exercise since it gets activated.
[/quote]

yes.

31

[quote]bluebrasil wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bluebrasil wrote:

the pullover is most definitely a chest exercise (as well as a lat exercise)thats just basic anatomy, is not exotic and using it if it works for you is not complicating things.

[/quote]

That’s like saying the squat is a lower back exercise since it gets activated.
[/quote]

yes.

[/quote]

The answer is actually, “NO”.

Squats are not “most definitely a lower back exercise” the same way you think the chest is worked with pull overs.

Just because a muscle is activated at all, it does not mean that is the best way to train it for strength and size.

You won’t be finding too many Olympias who have huge chests from years and years of avoiding presses and only doing pull overs.

Sorry.

32

Don’t overcomplicate this. Presses and flies build pecs, and always will

33

Think John mentioned this before as a reason for some of his upper chest mass

34

I like the pec minor dips, but if he is already having trouble feeling his upper pecs then that movement will probably prove even more difficult.
One that helped my upper pec development was reverse grip bench presses on a VERY slight incline (I have bad shoulders so I use Grip4orce and do them from the floor). You will have to aim a little lower on the chest, maybe not even go down as far, but “pop” the weight up and think about pushing your shoulders/shoulder blades into the bench you are laying on. This is a lighter weight exercise so I wouldn’t rely on it to build mass for too long. Also thinking about squeezing the bar together as you press can help. Good luck gettin’ that top shelf.

35

[quote]shadylow wrote:
I was just thinking about targeting the chest in general, since the OP said he had bitch tits.[/quote]

“Bitch tits” is a hormonal issue. It has nothing to do with muscle mass, or a lack thereof.

36

out of all the chest exercises i tried(for upper pecs) I had the best results from benching to neck with wide grip.

37

[quote]myosaurus wrote:
out of all the chest exercises i tried(for upper pecs) I had the best results from benching to neck with wide grip.[/quote]

How much weight do feel you have to drop, to truly benefit from this technique?

38

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bluebrasil wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bluebrasil wrote:

the pullover is most definitely a chest exercise (as well as a lat exercise)thats just basic anatomy, is not exotic and using it if it works for you is not complicating things.

[/quote]

That’s like saying the squat is a lower back exercise since it gets activated.
[/quote]

yes.

[/quote]

The answer is actually, “NO”.

Squats are not “most definitely a lower back exercise” the same way you think the chest is worked with pull overs.

Just because a muscle is activated at all, it does not mean that is the best way to train it for strength and size.

You won’t be finding too many Olympias who have huge chests from years and years of avoiding presses and only doing pull overs.

Sorry.
[/quote]

no need to be sorry, its not your fault.

actually the answer is “maybe”. I dont live in in a binary world where the answer is always 1 or 0, yes or no, on or off.

the world, including human behaviour is more analogue. So the answer is maybe yes, maybe no, depending on a lot of variables.

39

For chest activation during pressing movements (vs the shoulders), it depends much on the elbow positioning more than anything else.

Elbows out position takes the shoulders/triceps out of it more, elbows in puts more triceps/delts into it. Some tell you to take a wider grip (which is right), and this usually forces the elbows out more naturally…but it’s not the width of grip in itself as much as it’s the elbow positioning.

Obviously, if the ego gets in the way no-one would do this lift very safely/effectively. Take some load off initially, do it slow on the way down, bringing bar to neck (just till pecs stretch). Some recommend 100% ROM but I don’t like going all the way down (only until the pecs get their good stretch) because I believe that going 100% of the way down puts the shoulders into it more and takes some of the tension away from the pecs. Same goes for lockout, repeat lift as soon as bar is almost to the top. All of this ensures you keep constant tension on the pecs (without it, you can kiss goodbye to chest fatigue).

Another thing too, pecs (mostly compound movements) tend to respond best to a low-medium rep range (e.g. 6-10). I know some say the rep range doesn’t matter, but in my experience and from what I’ve seen it matters a lot. A typical arrangement would be 5-8 reps for flat bench, and 8-10 reps for incline.

PS - although you are concentrating on mind-muscle connection and tension etc, don’t think this is an excuse to just get a pump…fatigue them well - lift till failure or close. Don’t use too light a weight (which is the reason why many isolation exercises are crap as stand alone chest mass builders - they lack the ability to adequately and “comfortably” load the pecs).

40

[quote]bluebrasil wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bluebrasil wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bluebrasil wrote:

the pullover is most definitely a chest exercise (as well as a lat exercise)thats just basic anatomy, is not exotic and using it if it works for you is not complicating things.

[/quote]

That’s like saying the squat is a lower back exercise since it gets activated.
[/quote]

yes.

[/quote]

The answer is actually, “NO”.

Squats are not “most definitely a lower back exercise” the same way you think the chest is worked with pull overs.

Just because a muscle is activated at all, it does not mean that is the best way to train it for strength and size.

You won’t be finding too many Olympias who have huge chests from years and years of avoiding presses and only doing pull overs.

Sorry.
[/quote]

no need to be sorry, its not your fault.

actually the answer is “maybe”. I dont live in in a binary world where the answer is always 1 or 0, yes or no, on or off.

the world, including human behaviour is more analogue. So the answer is maybe yes, maybe no, depending on a lot of variables.

[/quote]
Post pics of “variable” physique with huge pecs from pull overs.