I was wondering lately, if the conventional chest exercises we do in the gym are really working your chest 100% to its maximal peak contraction.
Why? Because when you want to really flex/contract your pecs the only way to do it is to, cross your arms like in a fly but pushing even further to the opposite sides.
So when you do a regular fly or crossover you do not actually fully contract your chest in its full range of motion because you either hit the dumbells or the cables.
Good thinking. I think why people don’t do cross-body adduction is because of shoulder issues. In that position, a lot of stuff gets pinched. It is pretty uncomfortable for me to actively put my arm in that position even without additional resistance.
[quote]smallmike wrote:
Good thinking. I think why people don’t do cross-body adduction is because of shoulder issues. In that position, a lot of stuff gets pinched. It is pretty uncomfortable for me to actively put my arm in that position even without additional resistance.[/quote]
I’ve heard that before regarding the shoulder issues with this action, but I cant understand it clearly.
Today instead of doing bilateral cable flys, I did one arm at a time, the contraction was insane but the stabilization of the torso was an issue.
you ever seen someone in a Hammer Strength machine only using one arm but sitting with diagonally with their shoulder into the bench(instead of their back) so that they could simulate this movement?
[quote]paulieserafini wrote:
you ever seen someone in a Hammer Strength machine only using one arm but sitting with diagonally with their shoulder into the bench(instead of their back) so that they could simulate this movement?[/quote]
This type of “cross body” move comprises the majority of my chest work.
Sometimes, a lack of flexibility can prevent the arm from fully reaching across the chest. I use the other hand to assist in pulling the working arm further across, and then HOLD this super-contracted position for a second.
This produces an intense contraction towards the inside of the pec, and a crazy pump when done for high volume/t.u.t.
I wish I had those hammer strength machines man…
My chest was totally destroyed yesterday…but as I said before is so annoying having to balance your torso if you are doing the exercise with one arm at a time.
[quote]paulieserafini wrote:
you ever seen someone in a Hammer Strength machine only using one arm but sitting with diagonally with their shoulder into the bench(instead of their back) so that they could simulate this movement?[/quote]
Yup. This works great.[/quote]
Lol it does look awesome. I have yet to try it though. I just keep imagining my chest muscles Ripping and exploding from sheer force of the pump, squeeze and range of motion. haha. (really overly scared of torn muscles)
[quote]Matias A. wrote:
I was wondering lately, if the conventional chest exercises we do in the gym are really working your chest 100% to its maximal peak contraction.
Why? Because when you want to really flex/contract your pecs the only way to do it is to, cross your arms like in a fly but pushing even further to the opposite sides.
So when you do a regular fly or crossover you do not actually fully contract your chest in its full range of motion because you either hit the dumbells or the cables.
Any thoughts about this?
[/quote]
honestly, i don’t do flies or crossovers. because they are isolation exercises. i only do compound movements, so my chest day is like this:-
1-Around The Worlds 3x8
2-Barbell Bench Press - Medium Grip 3x8
3-Front Raise And Pullover 3x8
4-Straight-Arm Dumbbell Pullover 3x8
[quote]paulieserafini wrote:
you ever seen someone in a Hammer Strength machine only using one arm but sitting with diagonally with their shoulder into the bench(instead of their back) so that they could simulate this movement?[/quote]
I do them, it’s one of those moves where you can actually feel muscle fibers shredding themselves apart upon contraction, which sounds terrible, but we all know it’s awesome.
The pec deck was full one day so I tried out this fly machine and man I’m glad I did. Using it probably a year I added a ton of width to my pecs. Whats great is the angle of the arms that allow you to move in a downward angle really stretch the sides of the chest.
I also stopped doing barbell press a few years back and went to dumbbells, but recently I went back to barbell and it really gives me a pump that I just can’t get with dumbbells.
[quote]paulieserafini wrote:
you ever seen someone in a Hammer Strength machine only using one arm but sitting with diagonally with their shoulder into the bench(instead of their back) so that they could simulate this movement?[/quote]
I know I don’t have a high post count, but I’ve lurked forever and figured I’d start posting more often
I’ve adopted JM training methodologies and one of the best moves for chest that I’ve seen JM implement is a slight incline press in which one full rep consists of two partials short of lockout and one full rep with a hard squeeze.
The pump is pretty intense. You have to drop the weight a bit as well.
