Rep Range vs Motor Unit Recruitment

[GetBigs]

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]GetBigs wrote:
Also, Coach, would you please elaborate on why you wrote in your article that the dips is the best chest exercise? I did read it and it says you haven’t seen anybody with a very good chest that wasn’t strong on dips, but I don’t get something:

In case of the dip, the horizontal adduction action of the pectorals is limited because you can’t really shove your hands inward, unlike in a regular flat bench press session, right? Also, the dip is supposed to mostly work the lower portion of your chest, which if true, would leave you with a funny-looking chest, no?

Please do correct me if I’m wrong[/quote]

How are you gonna be shoving your hands inward when doing a bench press when your hands are fixed onto the bar??? And you don’t have a “lower portion of the chest”. You have the sternal portion of the pectorals and the clavicular portion. So there is an “upper” chest, but not a lower chest. There is no out chest either unless you use the Muscle Mags from the 80s as your source of anatomical info.

And if you plan on nitpicking all of my previous articles and argue about minutiae because you are pissed that I got fed up with your questions, good luck as there are hundreds of them… and don’t forget my 4 books… there might be some mistakes in there too.

Congrats, in all my years of running this forum it’s the first time that I almost lose my temper… and I’ve had PLENTY of good occasions to lose it!

[/quote]

Hey, hey, sorry, that’s not the way I intended it to sound. Seriously, I just wanted to hear your answer, in all seriousness, it wasn’t criticism, and I also didn’t intend to sound like nitpicking.

I actually was just trying to learn, I absolutely listen to you, just wanted to better understand your reasoning. If you say the dip is the best exercise for chest, I believe it is the best exercise for chest. However please allow me to mention that I read a thread about it being the primary chest exercise (on the forums, T-Nation forums) and most people said if you do so, you’re going to end up looking like you have bitch tits, seriously, that’s what they said. This doesn’t mean I’m going to take their word, but you know, there’s just an innate trait of humans, which is, if the majority says so, you tend to listen.

Again, I’m sorry, CT, you misunderstood what I typed, I believe it’s my fault. I didn’t realize the way it sounded, well, because it didn’t sound like that to me, but okay, if it offended, I am sorry, seriously.

So are you saying that you won’t get bitch tits (one in general, not you in particular) having it as your primary chest exercise?

Thank you very much for the reply, I seriously appreciate it and all your answers you’ve given me so far!

[tdthomas]

GetBig: You can a learn a lot by actually reading through the materials that are already here. I’ve been lurking for years (you’ll see that this is, I think, my first actual post), but I’ve found that every question I’ve had about programming, nutrition, etc. has had an explicit answer readily available somewhere on the site, usually in multiple spots. The top tabs and the search tool are your friends. Granted, some questions have multiple conflicting answers, but such is the nature of human understanding. Take what’s available, process it, apply it to yourself, and see where it gets you.

The reason I’m bothering to log in and comment: CT provides an enormous amount of incredibly useful information. When you hector him with question after question, it takes away from his ability to address more substantive issues on the site. And that works to the detriment of lurkers like myself.

[flipcollar]

God damn GetBigs, you don’t know when to quit. You have ALL the information you need. There is absolutely no reason to bring up a chest question on these forums again. Just stop it.

Another thing, specific to your dips issue: I’ve been reading these forums for about a decade, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen any credible poster suggest that dips give you ‘bitch tits’. Ever. I don’t know why you’re claiming that the majority of people say this. They don’t. ‘bitch tits’ most often refers to gyno, a condition of fatty tissue around the nipple developed by a hormonal imbalance, often induced by improper steroid use. It has nothing to do with exercise selection.

Let me ask you something. I do almost exclusively flat bench press and dips for chest. I’ll do some incline pressing maybe once every month or so. Sometimes I’ll go for several months at a time without incline pressing even once. Do I have bitch tits? Do I look totally imbalanced?

[flipcollar]

CT: thanks for the info in this thread, I thought your responses were really, really solid. I got something out of them. I assume others have as well. I’ve been a big fan of your training methods for years, and have worked several of your programs. I spent the summer of either 2003 or 2004 doing the Pendulum Bodybuilding template with my father. That summer he got in the best shape he’s been in over the last 20-30 years. That was the first program I ever followed to the letter. The HP Mass program was a breakthrough for my training as well, loved that program. Anyway, just figured this would be an appropriate place to share my experience. Thanks for all your hard work!

[JRT6]

I’ve been doing the total reps thing that Dan John and Waterbury like. However many sets it takes to get to 25 reps (less on some stuff). A new weight starts out with a lot of low rep sets but when it’s time to add weight I’m getting the 25 reps in two or three sets.